With the start of the the Spring 2008 semester the University of Montana began offering course podcasts to students via the iTunesU interface. iTunesU is a free service provided by Apple to universities across the US. Universities can create class sections and post related podcasts into each section. Students subscribe to their course sections, and then receive the latest podcasts when they become available. Podcasts can be played through the iTunes application on either a MAC or a PC computer, downloaded to an iPod, or transfered to a MP3 player.
So far this semester Presentation and Technology Services is supporting twelve courses on iTunesU, plus a general section for University of Montana content. The general content includes lectures from the President’s Lecture Series, President Dennison’s State of the University Address, and other lectures of community-wide appeal. This area of iTunesU is open to any member of the UM community, and can be accessed through the iTunesU link on OneStop (onestop.umt.edu).
The courses can be accessed only by students enrolled in the respective course. If a student is not enrolled within a course they will not be able to download the course podcasts. So far this semester we are averaging 110 students logging into iTunesU per week, with all log-ins totaling 450 per week. Students have downloaded nearly 300 podcasts in the first two weeks of the semester. I expect these numbers will be on the rise as the time for exams and mid-terms nears closer.
If you would like more information on iTunesU please feel free to contact me at randy.gottfried@umontana.edu, or 406-243-2857.
