Apple Educator Advantage CD booklet (1995)

Based upon my own recollection, Apple offered a program called the “Apple Educator Advantage” to educators around 1993–2004. I personally participated in the program between 1999–2003. I first recall the program as a low-interest buying program for teachers and school staff that was set up through a school district’s administration center and offered to school staff. Educators were able to make purchases at the same discounted pricing offered to school districts and then pay over time.

The Apple Educator Advantage program was started at a time before Apple Stores existed, before online purchasing was commonplace, and continued to be offered a few years after Apple Stores began opening around the United States.

This CD booklet was likely offered to school staff who participated in the Apple Educator Advantage program. This booklet is made from frosted vinyl and measures 7.5 x 9.25 inches. The front and back flap have internal pockets that hold paperwork such as software licenses, and the two inside pages can hold 2 CDs each.

This CD booklet contains the following software:

  • ClassMaster 2.0 (TECHBYTE Internation, 3.5-inch disk)
  • Apple Teacher Productivity (CD, 1994)
  • Claris Organizer (CD, 1995)
  • SuperPrint (1991)
  • Smithsonian’s America (1994)

Source: Apple

Apple Learning Series Secondary Multimedia CD collection (2001)

This Apple Learning Series Secondary Multimedia CD set contained 10 CD-ROM titles curated and sold by Apple Education as a bundle. The CDs were packaged in a 2-ring binder with vinyl pages that each held one CD-ROM.

The PDF spec sheet states that, “This product provides an outstanding collection of educator-evaluated software along with a comprehensive website that includes model student projects, step-by-step instructions, an online professional development course, and a tool that correlates the software and projects to select state and national standards.”

The set includes the following CDs:

  • Art Mania 12,000, Nova Development—A collection of clip art and quality photographic images on two CDs.
  • Cinema 4D XL, Maxon—A completely integrated 3D modeling, animation, and raytracing program.
  • Director 8 Academic, Macromedia—The standard for delivering powerful multimedia for the Internet, CD-ROMs, and DVD-ROMs.
  • Final Cut Pro 2, Apple—The all-in-one solution for professional digital video editing, compositing, and special effects. The set also included Boris Script LTD, Boris FX; Cinema 4D GO, Maxon; Commotion DV, Puffin Designs; Cleaner 5 EZ, Terran Interactive; EDL Access, Focal Point Systems; and QuickTime Pro, Apple.
  • Inspiration, Inspiration Software—A dynamic diagramming and outlining environments to help you organize ideas and information.
  • Painter Classic, Corel—An easy-to-use version of the world’s leading paint program.
  • Photoshop Elements, Adobe—An introduction to the world-standard image-editing solution.
  • SmartSound for Multimedia, Sonic Desktop—Tools to produce professional-quality soundtracks.
  • The Archives of History, MPI Multimedia—More than 100 QuickTime movies that can be used in presentations or viewed on their own.
  • The VR Worx, VR Toolbox—A complete suite of authoring tools for QuickTime VR (virtual reality).

Surprisingly, the PDF Spec Sheet for this product was still available on Apple’s website as a download as of January 2023.

Source: Apple

Apple Education Review periodical (1992)

The Apple Education Review was an 8-page periodical aimed at the education market. This is Issue 2 from the 1992–1993 school year.

This issue contained five feature articles:

  • Multimedia Turns Five: What’s going on today? (celebrating HyperCard’s fifth “birthday”)
  • Education/Business Partnership
  • Research Review: Computers and Colleagues
  • News and Events
  • Spotlight on Innovation: Good-bye to Hide-and-Seek with Policies and Laws

The publication was printed on heavy white paper in two colors (black and gold) and the pages measured 8.5 x 11 inches.

Source: Apple

Apple Education Event Materials Folder, “Managing Technology in the 90’s” (1995)

If you are an educational leader who wants to learn about managing technology—in 1995—this historic snapshot is for you!

This glossy white folder (measuring 9.25 x 11.75 inches) has a metallic red Apple logo in the lower-right corner and contains everything that was used in an Apple Education event on August 3, 1995, titled “Managing Technology in the 90’s.” This was one of three events held in Illinois (Drury Lane Theatre, Oak Brook Terrace) during August 1995.

The folder contains the following items:

  • Embossed invitation to the event
  • Agenda
  • 2 brochures: Recommended Products At a Glance, Apple Education Series At a Glance
  • 3 handouts: Finding the Promise of Educational Technology (David Dwyer, 1993); Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Research: Teacher Beliefs and Practices; and a Bibliography of Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow sources
  • Packet of detailed information about Apple devices available at the time
  • Apple Facts (product booklet, April 1995)
  • Pad of paper for note taking

Apple Education’s aims at the time—ideas that are still viable today—were discussed in one of the brochures:

“Welcome to the Apple Education Series. We know that educators today are eager to integrate technology into the classroom. But that need requires more than just a computer—you need well-thought-out, education-specific products and programs that include hardware, software, technical support, and curriculum tools flexible enough to accommodate different teaching styles and individual student needs.”

Source: Apple

Macintosh Educational Software Guide 1992 (3.5-inch disk, 1992)

The 3.5-inch floppy disk was used in the very first Macintosh computer in 1984 after its initial introduction by Sony in 1981. By 1992 the format had evolved several times and was used as a relatively inexpensive and reliable way to share digital files before the Internet. At the time, the CD-ROM was gaining popularity, but most users had access to 3.5-inch floppy drives.

This Macintosh Educational Software Guide from 1992 contains a compressed HyperCard Stack.

HyperCard was a software application and development kit for Apple computers that allowed users to create and/or read hypermedia documents, a format that was used before the World Wide Web. The system was developed and used extensively between 1987 and 1994, and retired in 2004.

According to its accompanying envelope—found digitally, but not a part of my collection:

The “MacEduGuide ’92” compressed HyperCard stack on this floppy disk includes information about more than 1,300 software programs for students, teachers, and administrators in K-12 schools. Each product listing includes the following information:

  • Product description
  • Publisher’s name, address, and phone number
  • Education pricing (when available)
  • Grade range
  • System requirements
  • Additional items included with the software
  • Product review citations in educational software journals
  • Publisher’s policies (copy protection, site licensing, 90-day free trial, and so on)

The special features of this stack allow you to search for information using any combination of elements: title, publisher, subject and topic, specific grade or grade range, and system requirements.

You can print any or all of the product lists and product information. The “mailer” button that appears with each product description allows you to print a letter to the publisher requesting additional information.

Further, the HyperCard Stack was compressed using the .sea compression method popular at the time for Macintosh computers. While Windows primarily used .zip for compression, Apple used .sea (Self Extracting Archive). The format was built into the Macintosh Operating System at the time and did not require a “helper app” to open and decompress the file.

Sources: Macintosh Repository, Wikipedia (floppy disk, HyperCard, archive formats)

Let them learn by doing. Introducing iLife ’08 and iWork ’08. Apple Education brochure (2007)

This large, full-color brochure measures 11×17 inches and folds out into a 2-up layout with a total measurement of 22×17 inches. The brochure was provided to Apple Education customers and explains how iWork ’08 and iLife ’08 could be used in the classroom.

The cover includes three students using white MacBook notebooks with USB science probes in a classroom. Upon opening the brochure, the first spread is a striking photo of a teacher working with a student with an all-black facing page with white text (in the then-current Apple Myriad font). The text reads:

“There has never been a more exciting time to be an educator, because there have never been so many creative ways to connect with students. When you bring movies, music, and photography into the classroom, amazing things happen. Core subjects come to life; students are more inspired to communicate and collaborate; and without even realizing it, they get an enormous head start with 21st-century skills. We believe that creativity is the key to unlocking every child’s genius, and that media-rich learning is the key to greater creativity. The time has come to reimagine what’s possible, and to redefine our expectations. Rethink.”

The center, 2-page spread is on an all-white background and outlines six features of iLife ’08 pictured along with a white MacBook. The text reads:

“Grab their attention, and don’t let go: Introducing iLife ’08. Incredibly easy tools for incredibly amazing schoolwork. Meet iLife ’08, a fully integrated suite of digital authoring tools—iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb and iDVD. Together, they let students create amazing projects such as photo books, slideshows, documentary movies, podcasts, music, and more. The tools all work together beautifully and couldn’t be more intuitive: learn just one, and you’ll soon master them all. iLife ’08 is simple enough to build confidence in kindergartners, yet powerful enough to engage the most media-savvy high schoolers—not to mention teachers and parents…”

The third and final spread, also on an all-white background, features iWork ’08 and a photo of a silver iMac. Its text reads:

“Productivity has a new best friend: Introducing iWork ’08. Simple, powerful tools that teach students real-world skills. Meet Keynote, Pages, and Numbers- otherwise known as iWork ’08. Whether you want to create cinema-quality presentations, exciting reports, or visually compelling spreadsheets, iWork ’08 themes give you a giant head start. Even the most dynamic features-from charts to movies to animation-can be added to projects in a flash, and you can easily import from and export to Microsoft Office and AppleWorks…”

The back of the brochure uses the headline “Inspiration enclosed.” It features product boxes of iWork ’08 and iLife ’08 and includes Site License pricing and contact information.

Source: Apple

The future has already arrived Apple Education brochure (April 2008)

This brochure was sent to education customers and had purple/violet space-themed cover art that resembled the Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) default wallpaper. It had the text: “The future has already arrived at www.apple.com/education/hslabs.” The text is printed in Apple Myriad, Apple’s corporate font used at the time.

The back of the mailing is all white and included address and postal information. The folded piece measures 8.5 x 14.25 inches.

The bottom of the mailing includes the following text:

© 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Boot Camp, and iLife are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft product screenshots) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. *Windows XP and Windows Vista sold separately. April 2008 L363415A

This brochure remains in its original plastic.

Source: Apple

Apple Learning Series notepads (c. 1988)

These Apple Learning Series notepads feature the logotype for the Apple Learning Series at the bottom center with a three-color logo above that depicts a highly stylized image of a person in front of a monitor. The top of the notepads have a black Apple logo.

I have been unable to date these notepads specifically, but the term “Apple Learning Series” has been used in different forms for at least the past 30 years. When I added them to my collection, they were paired with a set of similarly designed notepads for the Apple Unified School System that was introduced in 1987.

Each notepad measures 8.5 x 11 inches and is bound with a tearaway edge.

Sources: Mac Mothership

Educator Advantage pen (multicolor, black Apple logotype, c. 1990)

This pen is primarily yellow with purple, green, and red accents. The pen is printed in black in the Apple Garamond font, Apple’s corporate font at the time. The printing includes a black Apple logo, a black Apple logotype, and contact information for the Apple Educator Advantage Individual Purchase Program.

The Apple Educator Advantage Individual Purchase Program was a no-interest loan program offered by Apple for school staff in approximately the late 1990s–2000s. The program was executed by individual school districts as a payroll deduction for employees who were interested. Two of the school districts in which I served offered a version of this program.

(My collection includes the same pen, but printed with just a black Apple logotype.)

Apple Heartland Education Clock (c. 1995)

This LED clock features a transparent display with large LED-style numerals that display the time and a blinking separator of four stacked bars. It is constructed with a matte black metal frame with a black plastic base that contains the electronics, battery, and buttons to set the time on the back. The transparent LED screen has a green-gray tint.

The  front of the clock features the Apple logo in white on a black background, and a white panel reads “Heartland Education” printed in the Apple Garamond typeface in black, Apple’s corporate font that was used 1984–2003.

The clock runs on a 357 watch battery. It measures 4.375 inches tall, 3.75 inches wide, with a base measuring 2.375 inches deep, and the body just over 0.25 inch thick.

This clock was previously employee-owned and the date is approximate, based upon its design. The item is undated.