Apple and University of Md. Bring Academic Downloads to iTunes U
iTunes isn’t just for tunes anymore. A mash-up between Apple and the University of Maryland has opened up the digital market place for free educational content from the university’s faculty and staff.
"The site is meant to share the University of Maryland's expertise and collective knowledge on a wide array of subjects, as well as give users a taste of university life," said Linda Martin, executive director for Web and new media strategies at the university.
Downloading iTunes / Photo courtesy © Apple
According to Martin, most of the university’s 13 colleges and schools have uploaded material to the public iTunes U site, which launched last week. The file selection showcases the depth of the university’s fields of study ranging from business to the sciences. There are also videos available, such as footage of students working at an archeological dig at the historic Wye House Farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
University officials say the public site is an offshoot of the university's academic iTunes U site, which has been in use for the past 12 months and requires a university ID to log on. Since the Fall 2008 semester, some 2,100 media files have been added to the academic site, which has seen about 19,000 hits so far.
"The real benefit is portability," said Ellen Borkowski, director of the academic support unit in the university’s office of information technology. "You are not tied to your laptop and can download important information to your iPod or other handheld device to review or study almost anywhere."
Apple started iTunes U in the iTunes Store about two years ago, with 16 universities nationwide acting as testers for the new technology that allows anyone with access to a computer and Apple's iTunes software to download, absolutely free of charge, lectures, lab videos and just about anything else related to higher education.
Hundreds of universities worldwide are now using the technology, and more than 150,000 media files are available on the public iTunes U site.
Officials say much of the material on the university’s restricted academic site will soon migrate to the public iTunes U site. "I think everyone here recognizes that this is a tremendous tool for teaching and for showing people what a great university we are," Martin said.
--PGS Staff
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