Apple Distinguished School

Our Story

UCSI International School Kuala Lumpur’s journey towards becoming recognised as an Apple Distinguished School started at the school’s onset in January 2021. The school and its teachers have sought to utilise EdTech and Apple technology to inspire our learners, encouraging them to imagine new possibilities so that they can impact the world around them. The core team which put together our Apple Distinguished School application included Matt Atlas, USA, Group Head of EdTech; Ava Zang, China, Mandarin Teacher, Shannon Baldwin, Canada, ICT and Makerspace Teacher, Fernando Canadillas, Spain, Spanish Teacher and Julia Jaafar, Malaysia, Malay Teacher.

Inspire

In art, students were looking at different types of architecture – Greek, Roman and Egyptian. By using technology, students were able to take their learning to a deeper lever that inspired their own creations. Students used Room Plan to digitally map the physical world so they could better understand this connection, and then they used Room Planner to create their own personally inspired design.

Imagine

For our school production, our performing arts team really wanted students to visualise the costumes on the cast without having to physically create each design. Students imagined and digitally sketched potential costumes on their iPads and then placed them on the characters using Augmented Reality. In the end, the AR costumes were compared to the final costumes as a way to reflect on the process.

Impact

Students were challenged to build and launch a water rocket during STEAM Week. To take this idea further, one class integrated iPad tools such as Measure (to measure physical distances), Slo-Mo (to record heights with accuracy), Voice Memos (to measure lengths of time) and Keynote (to present the results) to make the experience more impactful. The event was surely a highlight for many students.