Get K-12 Educational Resources Via iTunes U
Jul 2nd, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Educational Podcasts, Internet TV, Video, iPods & Portable Media PlayersEducators and home-schoolers interested in getting educational multimedia for K-12 students can now find it in Apple’s iTunes U.
While iTunes U originally was created to support the distribution of educational podcasts for colleges & universities, it’s been expanded to support elementary and secondary education as part of an initiative by several state education agencies and the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA).
The new iTunes U K-12 section features content from schools and agencies in Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah. It also includes content from museums and other educational institutions.
The goal of the initiative is to provide state, national and global access to educational content, including curricula, learning materials, news, best practices and other resources.
“This comprehensive collection of quality digital content offers teachers and students a single location to access resources on topics from Florida history to the Navajo language to nano technologies,” said Mary Ann Wolf, executive director of SETDA. “The new K-12 resources on iTunes U address the critical need to engage students through technology-based resources in the core curriculum areas.
Combine podcasting, either through iTunes U or independently, with a device like the Apple TV, and you’ve got a very inexpensive platform for distributing audio, video and other materials to schools for presentation, and to student’s personal media devices for studying.
via The Journal
This is an important development in the delivery of high-quality educational video resources to parents, teachers and children who may be home-schooling or otherwise trying to bolster the learning dynamics for their families. I and my production and creative partner, Teja Arboleda, M.Ed., have been developing an educational series and had been puzzled that a delivery interface like iTunes would not have a portal for the K-12 age group and that the materials available were seemingly only geared more toward education. And as Generation D (digital) becomes parents, they will be looking for content through interfaces such as iTunes as opposed to the now historical video store or even online bookstores. This avenue will take advantage of the deep momentum that has been created through the music download phenomenon and may prove to be an exciting platform for educational services and product in addition to being a viable and valid revenue stream for content providers.
correction:
“seemingly only geared more toward education” should have read “seemingly only geared more toward ENTERTAINMENT”! ….seems to be the bias of my M.Ed., that education-focus….no apologies there!
Ukumbwa
Thanks for your feedback. I’m excited about the potential of iTunes U for kids of all ages, too.
I’d like to see similar development, though, in an open platform for this type of media, one that’s not tied to Apple or any other vendor. It took Apple to make this happen, though.