This presentation was delivered at the Higher Education Academy Annual Conference 3 July 2012 in Manchester, UK

1. iTunes U:
Learning and Research Channel for Students,
Showcase to the World
Terese Bird, Learning Technologist & SCORE
Research Fellow
University of Leicester
HEA Annual Conference, 3 July 2012
www.le.ac.uk

2. SPIDER Project www.le.ac.uk/spider
www.le.ac.uk

3. What will we talk about?
• iTunes U FAQs
• How universities make
use of iTunes U
• International reach
• Sustainability & VLE
connection Photo courtesy of
womensnet_gallery, Flickr

4. iTunes U: free learning since 2007

9. iTunes U how to

12. iTunes U v YouTube
YouTube iTunes U
Ease to publish Easy Not so easy
Ease to grab Easy-ish Easy
Ease to adapt Not so easy Not so easy
CC Catered but hidden Catered but hidden (?)
Formats Video Audio, video, epub, pdf
Academic quality Mixed, diluted Very Good
Internet connection Required at the time Not required at the time
Software Any browser Free iTunes software
Time limit 10 – 15 minutes* None
Restrictions Banned in China, others None
Restrictions in UK Schools don’t like Some unis don’t like
Mobile-ready Smartphones, tablets All including non-smart
iPods, best on Apple
Ads Irritating ads No ads

13. How universities make use of iTunes U
• Both current learning and marketing
• “It’s the great learning material that brings the
registrations.” (Bean, 2011)
• Research vignettes
• Library and resources
• Usually both iTunes U and YouTube

14. Download numbers Nov 2011 (Bird, 2012)

15. Current learning

16. Research-led

17. Research-led and assisting research

18. New models of distributing learning materials

20. New models of distributing learning materials
(Dredge, 2012)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/appsblog/2012/apr/03/open-university-itunes-u-app

21. International reach
3 June 2008 – 2 January 2012

22. International reach – opinions on Sina Weibo

23. International reach
Use – Twitter evidence
31 Aug – 7 Sept 2011 iTunes U tweets (Bird, 2012)
Language No. of Tweets Language No. of Tweets
English 155 Portuguese 3
Japanese 52 Croatian 2
French 34 Indonesian 2
Spanish 15 Russian 2
Turkish 5 China 1
German 3 Dutch 1
Norwegian 3 Korean 1
Polish 3 Slovak 1

24. Positive reach

25. Positive reach
Theme Example
Series Excellent videos to review Clinical Anatomy from Stanford
University, presented by R.Snell. Fifteen episodes downloadable
free from iTunesU.
@cells_nnm new lectures on iTunesU this winter. Story about
the class here: http://t.co/IuZ
Addictive TunesU courses downloaded into the iPad = life is good.
Dear iTunes, you are full of bloat but your collection of
awesome lectures on iTunesU is both brilliant and addictive
I have just discovered iTunesU...my life is now complete.
The good: I haven't use iTunes in over a week! The bad: I am
craving some iTunesU lectures…
#iTunesU #VamosAqui

26. Complement to VLE, not a substitute
• Public
• Shared with students and the world
• ‘Courses’ which start out free, then if you want
more, you must pay
• Sustainable – Apple is world’s largest company

27. The Leicester approach
• Already have YouTube
• Building a web-based OER
channel and iTunes U at the
same time
• Academics love idea of
iTunes U
• Academics are doing
multimedia; brand & post
• Slowly but surely

29. What’s your approach?
Bean, M. (Open U. (2011). Martin Bean Presentation on Open University’s
iTunes U Channel. London.
Bird, T. (2012). SPIDER: Shared Practice with iTunes U Digital Educational
Resources (p. 26).
Dredge, S. (2012). Open University signs up 1m subscribers on Apple’s iTunes
U. Guardian website. Retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/appsblog/2012/apr/03/open-
university-itunes-u-app