I just recently heard a rumor that MCCCD is moving forward in its plans with Apple to bring iTunesU to the district. Representatives from the district met last semester with senior manager for iTunes, Eric Bailey, to discuss the logistic. Apparently we will get a similar set up to the Cal State system where each of the 10 Maricopa colleges will get their own iTunes site.
California State U. campuses officially adopts iTunes U – Anthony Leon, The Poly Post
Several California State University campuses, including California Polytechnic State University have decided to adopt iTunes U, a new innovative software that gives students the chance to download pod casts of items such as lectures, class notes, and campus news into their ipods. The new iTunes U Website, which was announced in June, has been operational throughout this quarter. The iTunes U service was developed and hosted by the Apple Computer, Inc., and enables students to download audio, graphic and video images onto their Macintosh or PC computers, then copy them to their iPods to listen or view anywhere. Students may also upload content to share with professors, or the class.
Each college will get 500GB of space to house those creative podcasts. That’s huge for us, especially the smaller colleges. It’s at least a generous place to start and will eleviate the stress on the campus IT departments to boost their own server space as podcasting catches on. I’m told that there are a couple of free building blocks that are being developed to link Blackboard to iTunes, so that should help us integrate podcasting into our existing course management system.
Not everyone, however, is excited about the idea of having Apple connected to the educational institution. Some see that Apple has an agenda. Jon Udell: The iTunes U agenda. Jon Udell awhile back posted about the “mixed feelings” he’s had with Stanford’s foray into the podcasting realm of iTunesU. Apple is a business out to make money; and money is what they are making currently with iTunes. It’s big business. Udell posts a response from an instructor who attended an iTunesU presentation:
Just got back from Apple’s dog and pony show about iTunes U. As you might expect, it’s pretty much all bad news. First a bunch of song and dance about RSS, about how Apple loves standards, about how they made it easy to subscribe to RSS feeds in iTunes for random podcasts, etc. etc. etc. When the iTunes U section came along, it was made explicitly clear (in that I asked about it and he told me point blank) that iTunes U is seen specifically as a driver to iTunes adoption. That’s their bottom line on the issue — iTunes U is designed explicitly as a vehicle for promoting the iTunes app. This means no RSS, everything must be done through iTunes.
I can’t say that I agree that it’s bad news, but you can’t fault the company for trying to make money. As adopters of iTunesU we can’t expect to get something for free, 300GB and maintenance of that space is not cheap. If their agenda is to push the iTunes app, I don’t have a problem with that. My guess is that the majority of students tech savvy enough to subscribe and listen to a podcast are already using iTunes. Over a year ago, Computer World reported:
“…iTunes has around 200 million users — mainstream users who have already gotten used to Apple’s music download model, said Sam Bhavnani, a senior analyst at Current Analysis Inc. in San Diego.”
Computerworld: Apple and the video iPod (October 13, 2005)
Of course we can create our own model and keep students away from the iTunes music store, but I don’t see why we should. Why not adopt something students are already familiar with? If we want for students to listen to our boring exciting educational podcasts, why not place them right beside something we know they like and already enjoy – music. In fact, Apple is willing to give colleges a percentage of sales generated from our users at the iTunes music store. I heard it’s something like 5%. That could add up to nice scholarship for a few students considering: “The company said that iTunes users are now downloading more than four million songs a week, a rate of over 200 million songs a year,” (Steve Ranger, vnunet.com 15 Oct 2004) and that was 2 years ago. I know too lazy to get the current stats. Now what could I do with 5% of 200 million?
Filed under: Apple, education, iTunes, podcasting
