Apple announces iTunes U downloads top 300 million
Downloads for Apple's iTunes U service exceeded 300 million in just over three years, making it one of the world's most popular online educational catalogs, Apple announced Tuesday.
The company said in a press release that over 800 universities throughout the world have active iTunes U sites, and nearly half of those distribute their content publicly through the iTunes Store.
"iTunes U makes it easy for people to discover and learn with content from many of the world's top institutions, said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "With such a wide selection of educational material, we're providing iTunes users with an incredible way to learn on their computer, iPhone, iPod or iPad."
New content was just added to iTunes U from universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico and Singapore. iTunes users now have access to over 350,000 audio and video files from educational institutions around the world.
iTunes U was created in collaboration with colleges and universities, and aims to make it easy to extend learning, explore interests or learn more about a school. The service has a dedicated area within the iTunes Store.
The educational service offers users public access to content from world-class institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne and Universite de Montreal. iTunes U gives anyone the chance to experience university courses, lab demonstrations, sports highlights, campus tours and special lectures.
All iTunes U content is free, and can be accessed by iTunes users on Mac or PC, or wirelessly downloaded through the mobile iTunes Store onto an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
The company said in a press release that over 800 universities throughout the world have active iTunes U sites, and nearly half of those distribute their content publicly through the iTunes Store.
"iTunes U makes it easy for people to discover and learn with content from many of the world's top institutions, said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "With such a wide selection of educational material, we're providing iTunes users with an incredible way to learn on their computer, iPhone, iPod or iPad."
New content was just added to iTunes U from universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico and Singapore. iTunes users now have access to over 350,000 audio and video files from educational institutions around the world.
iTunes U was created in collaboration with colleges and universities, and aims to make it easy to extend learning, explore interests or learn more about a school. The service has a dedicated area within the iTunes Store.
The educational service offers users public access to content from world-class institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne and Universite de Montreal. iTunes U gives anyone the chance to experience university courses, lab demonstrations, sports highlights, campus tours and special lectures.
All iTunes U content is free, and can be accessed by iTunes users on Mac or PC, or wirelessly downloaded through the mobile iTunes Store onto an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
Comments
Now where are the announcements for the Apple "new goodies coming your way soon" event?
Universite de Montreal a world class school? Really? I am surprised
There are 100s of different education facilities contributing content for iTunes .... some of these are: Auburn, Baylor, Boston U, Clemson U, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Queen's U, Oxford, Berkely, UCLA, Vanderbilt ..... just to name a few .... perhaps you've heard of some of these?
There are other categories that are filled with audio, video clips & movies that are highly entertaining and informative.
I read of a long haul trucker that downloads 4 or 5 audio lectures and "learns while driving" ..... not a bad idea, imho.
If you haven't checked out iTunes U yet .... you're missing out on a fantastic opportunity .... one that, so far, has been largely overlooked by a lot of people, including Apple competitors.
Not sure how these lectures fit into the Stanford curriculum (some of them are from the Continuing Studies Program, some appear to be regular classes), but they're generally more of an overview of the concepts as opposed to hardcore math heavy physics. Still, they're way meatier than the usual TV "physics for dummies" fare. Of course, rumpled physics professors aren't as telegenic as TV presenters, and there aren't any fun CG animations, but the information density is comparatively off the charts.
Given the actual costs of enrolling in any of these classes, I delighted to have access for free.
We had a faculty member who normally teaches just a couple sections of a course on religions (among others), and his course was highlighted on the iTunes U landing page one week. His course got over 100,000 downloads in just a few weeks.
In the course of a normal teaching career, reaching that many face-to-face "hits" would be impossible.
No real surprise that they would become the most popular in this area, being free and on a device you already have is just means it's anyone else doesn't stand a chance. Doesn't mean though that it's better, of the 300 million there could be 200 million like me that just downloaded a load of stuff because they thought it looked good but never got round to listening to any of it.