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iTunes U Goes Public

Give your students access to your podcasts and other course audio, video and PDF files through Apple's cross-platform iTunes.

Greetings,

We have some exciting news to share! WSU’s public iTunes U has been activated. Go to...

www.wright.edu/itunes

iTunes U is a free digital repository service hosted by Apple. iTunes U has been fully operational for password protected classes for several months. After a successful beta testing period, a general announcement was made to the faculty on August 28,2007.

WSU’s iTunes U has been structured primarily with the student in mind, based on the natural language philosophy of the Semantic Web. For instance, students requiring a handbook need only go to the “Handbooks” tab within the “Categorical Publications” Course of the “Publications” Section. Students may subscribe to the “Handbooks” tab to get all handbooks in PDF form; any updates are able to be delivered automatically when a new handbook document is published, or students may simply download any singular handbook. Additionally, certain courses have unique tabs, called “Smart Tabs”, which have been labeled “All”. The “All” Smart Tabs aggregate all files in the Course into one tab. So, if a student only wants to subscribe to one tab in the course, they can do so, if the “All” Tab is present. Acrobat PDF files can be Podcasts too.

iTunes U does not equal free music from Apple. iTunes U is simply built upon the same back-end server infrastructure as the Apple iTunes Music store. With iTunes U, content can be easily Podcast; when a document within a Podcast is updated, end-users subscribed to the Podcast have the ability to get the latest content. Once a user has downloaded content, the file is kept in their local iTunes Library. Content may be portable, so users can view or listen to the content while on the go. No coding is required to publish a movie, Adobe Acrobat PDF document, or web link. Content can be public or private.

iTunes U is different than WebCT, Course Studio, Eres (electronic reserves), WINGS and the Wright State Website. iTunes U is a digital content repository for university-related, digital audio or video files, Podcasts, and PDF documents. The first difference between iTunes U and other resource sites is the content has the capability of being mobile. Another difference between iTunes U and other resource sites is the the ability to Podcast. Podcasting is considered ‘push technology’ meaning when new files are uploaded to a Podcast, the files are automatically ‘pushed’ to the subscribers of the Podcast, if a user (subscriber) sets their iTunes’ Podcast preferences accordingly. Wright State University’s iTunes U is set up for Podcasting site-wide; each course tab is a Podcast. A Podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by the syndication, subscription, and automatic download features of media files. A third distinction of iTunes U is the search capability. The search in WSU’s iTunes U is restricted only to WSU’s iTunes U and, therefore, is much more focused. WSU’s iTunes U is not only a delivery mechanism for audio and video files, but has been deliberately designed as a whole new document delivery system, utilizing ‘push technology’, or Podcasting to complement the WSU family of websites and online- services. The iTunes client software has been officially supported by the University for years.

Faculty can request a course be listed in iTunes U by visiting the following link.

Academic courses will be listed within the private, password protected, section of iTunes U. When faculty sign onto iTunes U, they only see the course(s) listed they have requested. Students only see the courses they are currently registered in. Others not registered in a course, will not see the course listed. Until access roles and software limitations are fully worked out, all files should be sent to Center for Teaching and Learning’s Distance Learning / Multimedia Production facility, located in 011 Dunbar Library, for uploading to iTunes U. You may also contact Bryan A. Beverly directly. We also have an on-line drop-box setup as well. The iTunes U drop-box is simply a password-protected CTL shared drive to exchange files. Contact Bryan for the iTunes U drop-box instructions. We are currently working to develop an automated process for faculty and students to be able to upload content to the private section of iTunes U within their respective courses. We are also working with the Library to create an automated upload process for students in the new Podcasting room on the 2nd floor near STAC. Public content may go through an approval process involving Marketing and Communications and / or the appropriate University department. Student groups will need approval from appropriate personnel in the Office of Student Activities. We will be publishing a style guide in the future, and work out a more sophisticated credential scheme for upload ability, and then train key individuals across campus to distribute the publication of certain WSU content.

Please review the web-browser, web-browser settings, and iTunes requirements documented in the frequently asked questions.

 

Need Help? Contact the Help Desk. http://www.wright.edu/cats/help/