Cook clearly cares about education and Apple's legacy in the sector, and for much of the conversation he spoke of "empowering" teachers, and giving them the confidence to use technology in the classroom.

Mick Rodley is a teacher at Erskineville Public School, in Sydney, which has one-to-one iPads for years 5 and 6, and classrooms of shared devices for younger students. He says while some teachers were first intimidated by new technology moving into the classroom, most feel comfortable now, in part, thanks to the kids.

"These days, all teachers take on the role of a facilitator and supporter when it comes to using technology in the classroom. Teachers are encouraged to learn alongside the students, and students feel empowered when they can share a new way of completing a task with others, especially when that person is their teacher," Mr Rodley says.

In the US, Google's cut-price Chromebooks and free administration tools now make up the majority of devices in schools. But educators and IT professionals in Australia seem happy using a mix of technology from all vendors; with Microsoft and Google typically providing cloud services and collaboration tools on a range of devices in the classroom, including iPads.

"Sticking to strictly one platform has its advantages, but that's just not practical," says Sait Kanacevic, IT Manager at Ilim College in Melbourne. "You're not going to edit and score a movie on a Chromebook, and good luck using iCloud instead of Gmail. Using a mixed stack of technology mirrors reality."

Apple is banking on the versatility of the iPad's hardware and its vast library of apps as its advantage over Chromebooks.

"We've actually seen Garageband and iMovie used a fair bit by our students, and not just in the creative domains," Mr Kanacevic says.

"Our approach is that you can be just as creative in English or Maths as you can in the arts. It's also something the PE department is taking advantage of to analyse performance. And that's just scratching the surface."

Asked whether he was concerned about the digital divide between schools that can afford devices like the iPad, and those that cannot, Mr Cook mentions the $US100 million of technology Apple previously donated as part of the ConnectED program.

"ConnectED and was formed out of the Obama administration and it was meant to bring together the best of government, the best of public education and different companies to work together," he says, before pausing.

"It didn't exactly turn out that way."

The program was designed to encourage companies to provide free to cut-price technology to public schools, while also improving network infrastructure to get schools better internet connections. While the program didn't achieve all the goals it aspired to, Mr Cook says initiatives like it are incredibly important.

"I think the framework for it was good. The follow through by some folks wasn't as good. But those programs need to exist everywhere because we need to demonstrate — we Apple, but also society in general — that we're not talking about this for the wealthy. [Technology] is a key element of a great education, and it should be accessible to everyone."

The writer travelled to Chicago as a guest of Apple