Apple Inc. with the initial assistance of Stanford University on Wednesday announced the launch of iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store featuring free content such as course lectures, language lessons, lab demonstrations, sports highlights and campus tours provided by top US colleges and universities served up a larger sampling from 16 North American Universities ( including Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University and MIT.) with a smattering of Audio and Video podcasts and from within a broad general perspective of Disciplines.
Brian S. Brooks, associate dean of undergraduate studies and administration at University of Missouri's School of Journalism, says that the school used the service for a few classes on a trial basis last fall, and that the system worked well.
"It makes a lot of sense to deliver course content to students in a medium they're all familiar with," he says, noting that many students already use iTunes, and many own iPods. He says that the college is looking into putting materials on the iTunes service that would be available to anyone, with the hope that alumni and others interested in the university would tune in.Both Mr. Brooks and Ms. Johnson say that their biggest concern in committing to the project was security, but that Apple officials persuaded them that the system is safe.
So Apple today announced how universities across the globe can supply their materials
iTunes U has arrived, giving higher education institutions an ingenious way to get audio and video content out to their students. Presentations, performances, lectures, demonstrations, debates, tours, archival footage; school is about to become even more inspiring.
Colleges and universities build their own iTunes U sites. Faculty post content they create for their classes. Students download what they need, and go. Learning isn’t just for the classroom anymore. It’s for anytime and anyplace you’ve got a Mac, a PC, or an iPod.
Created in collaboration with colleges and universities, iTunes U makes it easier to extend learning, explore interests, learn more about a school and stay connected with an alma mater. Content from iTunes can be loaded onto an iPod with just one click and experienced on-the-go, anytime, making learning from a lecture just as simple as enjoying music.
When searching a technical archive at MIT I usually found one or two subject areas each with 30 or 40 tracks apiece, and should you decide to have a bit of a play at the itunes u site (direct link to iTunes Music Store) you may notice an interesting complimentary apology in the form of a Donation button. Nevertheless its early days when if you could consider the enormous number of qualifiable instuitions that exist in the known world, Its interesting to note that as our devices get smaller our cognitive sense of the world expands considering the latest number of Extrasolar planets we have in our minds eye.
Update: Big drawback about this new type of podcast is that it downloads your lecture into your Music Library and not in the Podcast Library. I wonder whether it has anything to do with the dowloadables File Format, or whether there is a farout Apple justification in this ?
