Apple updates its education programs for coding

Apple has today announced brand new updates to its coding education programs.

In a press release the company stated:

Apple today announced a new set of tools to help educators teach coding to students from grade school to college. In addition to significant enhancements to the Develop in Swift and Everyone Can Code curricula, Apple is also starting a new professional learning course for Develop in Swift, available to educators at no cost. The course is designed to supplement the need for computer science educators in the US, and helps instructors of all skill levels build foundational knowledge to teach app development with Swift. In addition, with many institutions operating remotely, Apple is adding resources for educators and parents to help ensure they have the tools they need to help students learn and grow from anywhere.

Apple's Susan Prescott said:

"Apple has worked alongside educators for 40 years, and we're especially proud to see how Develop in Swift and Everyone Can Code have been instrumental in helping teachers and students make an impact in their communities. We've seen community college students build food security apps for their campus and watched middle school educators host virtual coding clubs over summer break. As part of our commitment to help expand access to computer science education, we are thrilled to be adding a new professional learning course to help more educators, regardless of their experience, have the opportunity to learn coding and teach the next generation of developers and designers."

Apple says it has enhanced its Develop in Swift and Everyone Can Code curricula, geared towards high school and higher education students, teaching both Swift and Xcode. The new Develop in Swift curriculum has been "completely redesigned" based on educator input, and includes four new books; "Develop in Swift Explorations," "Develop in Swift AP CS Principles," and "Develop in Swift Fundamentals," which are all live today, and "Develop in Swift Data Collections," which will be available this fall." These are all free on Apple Books.

Apple has also released the next set of books in the Everyone Can Code curriculum, offering more advanced opportunities to build with Swift. Apple is also adding new guides to its remote learning resources to help parents with kids learning to code at home.

You can read the full press release here.