The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) is using iTunes U, Apple’s educational podcast service, to provide new content by McGraw-Hill Higher Education as part of a pilot program. The University is testing using McGraw-Hill’s rich-media educational content to engage students in new ways.

This initiative also is giving students the opportunity to directly participate in the development of the next generation of the digital content through research conducted in the pilot classrooms.

Kevin Strang, an instructor for physiology, said, “Having the new McGraw-Hill material available through iTunes U allowed me to enhance my course lectures with my lecture recording as well as textbook animations of core concepts.”

“We have been very happy with the adoption and success of the Podcasting initiative and iTunes U here at the University of Wisconsin,” said Kathy Christoph, the university’s director of technology. “McGraw-Hill has been very helpful in supporting our faculty and students while enriching iTunes U courses with ready-made content.”
This fall, McGraw-Hill Higher Education will support numerous iTunes U course pilots at Wisconsin. Based on feedback from the university, instructors, and students, McGraw-Hill hopes to create the next “best of breed” distributable content to enhance student learning and ease the teaching task.

“We are very excited about the opportunities for digital distribution of our content being explored through this Wisconsin pilot,” said Rik Kranenburg, president of the McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Professional, and International Group. “Our leading education materials provide a real benefit to teaching and learning in a format students and faculty are already using: iTunes and iPod.”