Apple Academy
At Apple Academy, the approach was based on educational methods, case studies, social changes, and personal experiences with formal and informal learning. Fostering creativity, collaboration, and a problem-solving mindset among participants. The right place to be as an initiative to professionalize designers and developers, fosters a “think outside the box” approach to delivering products that create meaningful value.
"The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and extract insights that will enable them to make the invisible visible."
Hillman Curtis
The project has always encouraged my autonomy throughout the program. Important discoveries that influence the design of environments and effective learning processes continue to emerge. The Academy is an Apple initiative aimed at the professional development of designers and developers, fostering an innovative mindset on how to create products that deliver real value.
We worked in short idea sprints lasting from 14 days to 6 months, which encouraged a concentric scope approach, dedicating 20% of the time to understanding 80% of the idea, then spent the remaining 80% focusing on implementation and structuring. This promoted critical thinking, exploration, and experimentation, guiding knowledge and skill acquisition through active participation.
Challenge
Based
Learning
Based on the interdisciplinary field of Mind, Brain, and Education Science (MBE), the Challenge Based Learning (CBL) approach encourages learners to connect with real and meaningful experiences. Throughout the program, I was encouraged to work autonomously, uncovering insights that shape the design of learning environments and effective processes. As an Apple initiative, the Academy fosters the professional growth of designers and developers through creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.
The three phases of a CBL project
Act
Evidence-based solutions are developed and implemented with an authentic audience, and the results are evaluated — demonstrating both mastery of the content and a genuine desire to make a difference.
Solution Concepts: develop ideas based on the established foundation
Solution Development: create prototypes and run tests
Implementation & Evaluation: execute the solution, analyze results, and plan next steps
The goal is to build a personal connection with a chosen topic by identifying, exploring, and developing an engaging challenge, taking full ownership of the process and deepening your understanding along the way.
Big Idea: a broad, relevant theme
Essential Questions: key questions to explore motivations and context
Challenge: a concrete problem to investigate
Engage
Investigate
From the Challenge, learners develop contextualized learning experiences and conduct rigorous, content-based research to build a foundation for actionable and sustainable solutions.
Guiding Questions: a set of questions to clarify the learning path
Resources: materials and activities used to answer the questions
Synthesis: analysis of collected data to identify patterns and themes
Selected Projects
Single-player game for Apple TV.
Skullance
A game designed to bring friends and families together through a fun, interactive, and competitive experience. Using the Apple TV Remote’s built-in compass, players had to balance their bodies and arms while navigating traps in the environment.
An app that offers a new way to learn and teach.
Tutoriall
The app was created during social distancing to help people stay meaningfully connected. It enables users to share their knowledge and explore topics contributed by the community, fostering authentic interactions and learning.
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WatchOS app to help track your daily water intake.
Dr!nk
This free app sets personalized hydration goals based on your age and weight, using data from your Health app, and lets you easily monitor your progress throughout the day to stay properly hydrated anytime, anywhere.
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