"The IWMW event provides an opportunity for those involved in the provision of institutional Web services to hear about institutional case studies, national initiatives and emerging technologies and to actively participate in a number of parallel sessions."

Parallel Session: Time for iTunes U

Title:

C3: "Time for iTunes U"

Facilitator:

Barry Cornelius, Oxford University Computing Services

Abstract:

The iTunes Store is Apple's online digital media store from where music and films can be downloaded. iTunes U is an area within the Store where an educational institution can manage a site showcasing its collection of audio and visual material. Unlike the music and films, this material can be downloaded free of charge. You need the iTunes software to listen/watch any recording provided in the iTunes Store. This is available on Windows/Macs but not on Linux. If you are providing material in iTunes U, it is important to provide an alternative way of accessing this material for those people that do not have iTunes.

Until 2008, the iTunes U institutions were all in the USA: then in June 2008, iTunes U was expanded to include institutions in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the UK, the institutions were the Open University and UCL. Later, in October 2008, both Cambridge and Oxford Universities joined in. More recently, Warwick University has set up a site, and some other UK Universities a re currently preparing for iTunes U.

This workshop will look at why you should have an iTunes U site, what you need to do to be successful in iTunes U and how you can provide an alternative for those without iTunes. It will also review some of the work being done on podcasting by the JISC-funded Steeple project. There will also be time to discuss:

• the role of iTunes U: lectures, outreach, marketing
• copyright, licensing and release forms
• the metadata that should be provided
• quality issues, top-and-tailing recordings
• equipment for making recordings
• acceptable media formats

Learning Objectives:

Participants will have some understanding of:

• What the benefits are to the University?
• Impact on admissions, out-reach, fund-raising, prestige.
• What should be recorded?
• What you need to do to provide the recordings?
• Where the recordings should be stored?
• How to provide information to iTunes U?
• Ways in which you route people from iTunes U to your Web site.
• Ways in which people get more involved with your material.
• Ways in which you will succeed/fail.
• The need to provide an alternative for Linux users.

Contact Details:

Barry Cornelius
Oxford University Computing Services
13 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6NN, UK
Phone: +44 (0) 1865 273267
Email: barry.cornelius@oucs.ox.ac.uk
Web site: http://www.barrycornelius.com

Materials

Slides

[Web site]

This presentation is available on the Slideshare repository and embedded below.