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Universities all over the world are increasingly using the iTunes U education area of the online service to distribute material to students and beyond, with the global figure for downloads from iTunes U now reaching a staggering 250 million.
iTunes U claims to bring the ‘power of the iTunes Store to education’, with downloads now available from most leading universities and many utilising the service to put lectures, video clips and materials in reach of a students, other educators and learners all over the world. Just last month Oxford University announced that there had been more than three million downloads of its tracks on iTunes U, with a talk by the Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, amongst the most popular downloads. Other academic downloads that have proven hits include an anatomy film created by the University of Warwick's medical school.
See the video below for an introduction to iTunes U:
The latest university to find success on iTunes U is the Open University, which is claiming a world record for the number of iTunes downloads as the first to reach 20 million, the BBC reports.
The Open University is pioneering the use of the internet to reach its students and began putting material on Apple's iTunes U service in June 2008. In just two years it has had 20 million items downloaded, including a range of free downloads to support courses and learning materials, including video and audio clips and tutorials. Downloads are available to the general public as well as students.
The biggest single hit download from the Open University is Beginner's French and more than a quarter of downloads are attributed to the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths.
The university says that mobile phones are increasingly being used to download their tracks. Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of the Open University, says that the growth of the iTunes U concept reflects the changing ways that people are learning.
He said:
‘The way people want to learn is changing. Many now actively seek out content they are interested in and which they can watch, read or listen to when it suits them. New channels are helping people to fit learning in with their lifestyles, and the OU has always kept pace with the changing world of technology.’
For more information about iTunes U, click here.
What are your thoughts on this story? Do you use iTunes U? If so, what do you find it particularly useful for? Do you think this service can be utilised across the education sector, especially as mobile phones and other technology become increasingly commonplace amongst younger pupils? Log in or register for free to share your thoughts and opinions with the rest of the bee-it community. |
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