Mac combines powerful performance with an experience that makes creating, learning and multitasking feel seamless. With MacBook Neo, that experience is becoming even more accessible for schools around the world.
This post provides additional resources to support the ‘Move to Mac’ workshop as part of Apple Professional Learning Live.
Explore the resources below for:
👨🏻🏫 Educators to further their skills
👔 Leaders to strategically plan for Mac deployment, and
🧑🏽💻 IT teams to effectively support Mac across their organisation.
👩🏽🏫 Support for Educators
One of the most common questions educators ask when switching from Windows is: Can I still do what I’ve always done? The short answer is yes - and in many cases, Mac makes those everyday workflows feel faster, simpler and more intuitive.
💻 Setup and navigate your desktop
One of the best things about Mac is how easy it is to personalise, helping your desktop feel organised, familiar and designed to work the way you do. Taking a few moments to customise your Mac can make navigating feel smoother and more efficient - helping you spend less time searching for things and more time focused on teaching, learning and creating.
In this section of the workshop, we took a tour of the Mac desktop and explored features that can help streamline everyday teaching workflows. We explored the Menu Bar and added commonly used tools like Screen Mirroring for quick access during classroom activities. We also unpacked Finder and the Dock, pinning frequently used apps and folders within this space so our important resources are always close by.
We personalised the trackpad (hello ‘right click 🙌🏻) and customised Widgets and the Control Centre, building a practical “teacher toolkit” with quick access to commonly used tools and settings.
Helpful resources:
- Use Finder on Mac
- Use Multi-Touch gestures on your Mac
- Add and customise widgets on Mac
- Use Control Centre on Mac
💻 Connect to Microsoft 365
The great thing about Mac is that it works seamlessly with the platforms and systems schools are already using every day including Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for Education. Moving to Mac doesn’t mean leaving your usual workflows behind.
During the workshop, we connected to Microsoft 365 and explored how easy it is to access files, sign into accounts and sync bookmarks and settings across apps like OneDrive, Word, Teams and Edge. Together, these small setup steps helped demonstrate how naturally Mac fits into existing school workflows and systems.
Helpful resources:
💻 Navigate your Mac
Once the basics are in place, Mac also includes a range of features that can help everyday tasks feel smoother and more efficient for teachers and students. Here we focused on some of the productivity workflows and ‘hidden gems’ that can save time, streamline tasks and support creativity.
We explored using Spotlight beyond a simple search - doing calculations, conversions and quick definitions. We experimented with AirDrop, Screen Mirroring, Screenshots, Screen recording and Siri - all tools that can support teaching, collaboration, content creation and classroom workflows.
Helpful resources:
- Search with Spotlight on Mac
- Use AirDrop on Mac
- Use AirPlay and Screen Mirroring on Mac
- Take screenshots and screen recordings on Mac
- Use Siri on Mac
👔 Support for Leaders
For school and system leaders, how you plan and communicate the opportunity to move to Mac matters as much as the technology itself. What makes the difference in a successful deployment is how leaders approach the planning, communication and professional learning for educators.
The Apple Professional Learning Specialist Experiences Catalog provides a range of in-person or virtual workshops or sessions to support staff to build their skills and confidence with Mac.
As we talked about in the session, schools can work with an Apple Professional Learning Specialist to create a customised Mac Integration in Education support plan – spanning pre-deployment sessions, foundational workshops and integration experiences to meet your educators where they’re at.
Additional helpful resources might include:
• Get in contact with an Apple Professional Learning Specialist in Australia or an Apple Professional Learning Specialist in New Zealand to help you design a bespoke professional learning plan for your organisation to move to Mac.
• Reach out to an Apple Premium Education Partner in Australia or an Apple Premium Education Partner in New Zealand to scope out a plan for your organisation to transition your current technology fleet to Mac.
• Refer to the Apple Education Communication Guide for guidance on planning the way you communicate the opportunity to Move to Mac for your community.
• The Teaching with Mac Series of posts by Michelle Forrest, an Apple Professional Learning Specialist from Australia, provide a great resource to support teachers to get more out of their Mac. View Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 here.
• Encourage teachers to complete their Apple Teacher Mac Badges and document their learning in the Apple Teacher Mac Foundations Journal.
💻 Support for IT
A well-planned deployment makes the difference between a smooth transition and one that stalls. These resources help IT teams prepare, migrate and manage at scale the move to Mac.
The Get Started with Deploying Apple in Education video series focuses on the fundamentals of Apple deployment, and how to prepare your organisation for deploying and managing Apple devices. Topics are intended to help build comprehensive knowledge around all aspects of deploying Apple Devices, as well as related topics. Learn more about Mac Deployment Planning, Apple School Manager, Managed Apple Accounts, Device Enrolment and Device Management Service.
Going further, Apple Device Support and Deployment Training delivers everything you need to learn about the technology—online and on your time. It provides school and system IT teams the opportunity to learn with self-paced, online courses. Take proctored certification exams from anywhere in the world and, after you’ve passed an exam, display your verified digital badge on professional networking sites. Whether you’re getting started in a help desk role or managing devices for an organisation, Apple Professional Training equips you with the core concepts you need.
Finally, the Apple Deployment Guide for Education takes technology managers and technical administrators through the steps of deploying Apple devices successfully in your learning environment.
🌱 Continue Learning
As shared in the Move to Mac session, you'll find two more fantastic resources below to support you as you continue to explore Mac. First up is a resource designed to support Your First Week with Mac, featuring daily challenges for educators to complete as they familiarise themselves with their new Mac. The Mac Starter Guide for Education is a great resource to dive deeper into using Mac for teaching and learning.
I hope you enjoyed the Move to Mac session as part of Apple Professional Learning Live. This workshop will be repeated weekly through until August, so please feel welcome to register for another session, or recommend this workshop to a colleague.
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