iTunes U launches in Australia
04Jun08
Six Australian universities and one in New Zealand are poised to start distributing lectures through an Australian version of iTunes U:
The participants that will offer their teaching and research free for download on iPods are Griffith University, Swinburne University of Technology, the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, the University of NSW, the University of Western Australia and Otago University.
Filed under: australia, higheredweb, podcasting, video | 3 Comments
Tags: audio, australian highered, itunes, lectures, podcasts, video
Interesting…
“She [UWA's Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning director Denise Chalmers] conceded that plenty of information was already available on the university website but argued that “often on a university website you have to know where to go to find information, and each website is more or less amenable to that”.”
I think she has put her finger on it, ay?
actually thinking about it some more (my uni is abuzz with iTunes U). I am beginning to feel that iTunes U is like Facebook for the corporate entities that are Universities. Maybe that’s getting a bit obscure…
Oh, I don’t even know if it’s that complex
I know what you mean though, some types at unis tend to get all hot and bothered about it when after all, iTunesU is just a particular branch of the store/distribution system that is iTunes.
Sure, it’s a reasonable way to distribute your podcasts to get a broader audience and as a consumer, it’s a reasonable way to get your podcasts in one place in one nice and shiny application.
Getting involved just means distributing your product through Apple and most likely having to install iTunes on all machines on campus. It certainly is an option, although it doesn’t take care of the actual production, which is always the thing forgotten. Without content and the preparation of that content, there is no point. It’s no good talking about how you’re going to use iTunesU without a commitment to the recording, editing and production of the podcasts / lectures. And then there’s the old “just because you can record it doesn’t mean you should” issue – the educational, and let’s face it, entertainment value, of some podcasts is questionable.