itunes University

Researching iTunes University was very informative, however, it was also frustrating! This should be used by all professors at the University of South Alabama (the university I attend). This tool could be so useful for all students but in particular for those students with special learning differences or those who may encounter serious health problems during the semester. It is a way for teachers to post their lectures or other helpful audio and visual mechanisms so that students can review what they learned in class or see what they missed if they were unable to attend.

iTunes U could be the world’s most extensive collection of free educational media available to students and teachers. iTunesU has over 100,000 educational audio and video files available, and has quickly become a wonderful tool for mobile learning. It gives the influence of the iTunes Store to professors so that they can distribute their lessons/lectures to either their students only, or to all over the world. Professors can do this by choosing to create a password intended for students registered for their class. iTunes is compatible for most all computers, making access more readily available for most students.

Psychological research proves that students who download a podcast lecture receive higher exam results than those who attend the lecture in person. This is probably because podcasted lectures give students the opportunity to replay the lecture to better understand it. This aspect in particular, can be very helpful to those students who may have difficulty with audio learning, and can give them a chance to take better notes, or see an experiment or demonstration done again. Also, this can be used by teachers in order to see how other instructors are teaching a particular subject/topic that he/she may be having trouble conveying to their students themselves. Over all, this is a very useful tool for all learners and teachers and should be integrated into all universities.

For more information on iTunes U, click here.