In this video, I delve into the transformative power of using AirDrop in conjunction with the Apple Classroom app on the iPad, a game-changer for educators. I demonstrate how seamlessly one can share a Keynote document, or any file, with an entire class instantly, bypassing the tedious process of selecting each student individually. This feature not only streamlines the file-sharing process but also significantly saves time, allowing for a more efficient and engaging classroom experience. Additionally, I explore the reverse functionality – students sending files directly to the teacher. Intriguingly, these files are automatically accepted and organised in the teacher’s inbox, with each student’s name appended to their document, eliminating any confusion over ownership. This video is an essential guide for educators looking to harness the full potential of Apple Classroom and AirDrop to enhance their teaching methods and classroom management.
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When you’ve got your student devices connected to Classroom, it opens up other things that you can do to make your teaching that little bit simpler. For example, here on my iPad, I’ve got a Keynote document that I want to share with my whole class. Normally, without Classroom, you’d have to go on AirDrop and then choose every single student individually. But with Classroom setup, that changes. When I go to AirDrop, I now have new options at the top for groups of devices. That means I’ve got my whole class as one option, and any groups that I set up in the Classroom app, maybe table or house groups or whatever it is, I can then simply tap on them, and it will AirDrop in bulk to all of those devices. The students can then accept and open the document just like a normal AirDrop. But it means for you, you haven’t got to tap 30 times onto every single device.
AirDrop also works back from the student to the teacher as well, in a slightly different way. On Classroom on a student device, when they go to AirDrop, they’ll then see your teacher account at the very top of their AirDrop list before any other devices. And when they send it to you, you don’t have to press accept 30 times and worry about missing any of them because Classroom will accept all those files for you and it will put them into your inbox on the top toolbar, which you can find here.
Even better than that, though, is when you tap onto the Inbox and you open one of those documents, you’ll realize it’s actually appended the student’s name to the file name of every document that you’ve got. You don’t have to worry about the children naming it in the right way, so you can work out whose is whose. Classroom does all of that for you based on the device name. I can simply open them or save them to my Files app straight from the Inbox in Classroom.
These AirDrop features are a really handy addition to Classroom, and if you want to find out more about Apple Classroom, check out the playlist on my end screen now where I’ve made a complete beginner’s guide to using Classroom with your students.
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