Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Burks' Thoughts on iTunes U

Hi everyone! Today's podcast has my thoughts about Apple's new iTunes U initiative. See:

http://www.apple.com/education/solutions/itunes_u/

Here are some references:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/6828/

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/13730681.htm

http://mmeiser.com/blog/2006/01/stanford-and-apples-itunes-taking.html

http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/01/15.html

http://www.darcynorman.net/2006/01/25/itunes-u-critiques-its-not-as-simple-as-that

http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1/?p=312

The transcript of this podcast is at:

http://www.online.uillinois.edu/oakley/podcasts/iTunesU_Transcript.html

The music in today's podcast is J.S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C - BWV 553, recorded by David Sanger. See:

http://www.peoplesound.com/artist/davidsanger/

Best regards,

Burks

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posted by Burks at 5:53 AM

3 Comments:

Blogger Rich said...

Hello Burks,

I had the same web 2.0 experience of finding Meiser's blog post and I couldn't agree with him, and you, more.

There is another issue I've run across on my campus, Columbus State Community College in Columbus, OH. Our network people put a throttle on files called by iTunes in order to ration bandwidth. It takes a very long time to download your podcasts through iTunes. They arrive in seconds when I use Juice or another podcatcher.

This is unfortunate becuase I think iTunes is the best podcatcher out there -- if you are using an iPod. The podcasts are nicely organized in the iTunes client and the iPod. I have not tried all the available podcatchers, but so far, no other I have seen is as easy and elegant to use.

So I think offering a subscription through iTunes, just as you do, is a great option to give our audience, but we should give listeners an independent feed as well.

I understand the allure of iTunes U. On my campus, where there is a large contingent of people who haven't figured out Web 1.0 much less 2.0, the "sex appeal" of iTunes gets people's attention. But I agree that this is not the best option for student learning nor is it a good business decision to become so closely tied to a proprietray service to deliver content.

As an aside, in the "small world" category...

Last December I was working with a colleague to create a blog for our department. She read one of my posts where I referred to you (I think it was regarding Flickr) and she said "Burks Oakley! That's my professor!"

My colleague Heather Bailey is in your Internet and American Life course. She seems to really enjoy it . She is a very talented coder and database developer who built our department blog from scratch using asp. You can see it at: http://global.cscc.edu/tlrc/blog/index.asp.
I mirror these posts, and add other non-job related reflections, at my blogger blog.

And in case you are wondering, I think I dicovered you when someone in an Ohio Learning Network Discussion Board posted a link to Burks on Learning. I have really benefited form your podcasts. We seem to be at about the same place of learning and discovery of Web 2.0 tools and ideas. Your podcasts have been great introductions to so many resources.

Best, Rich

9:15 AM  
Blogger Burks said...

Rich - Thanks! Yes, small world, isn't it. Glad to hear that Heather is enjoying the class - she is making a fine contribution to our discussions.

Interesting to learn about bandwidth issues and iTunes. For my blog, you should be able to get the RSS feed directly at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/b2onlearning

Again, thanks for posting this comment!

-- Burks

5:54 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Great podcast - a neat summary of the issues which will be useful for explaining the possible traumas of iTUnes U to others. ;)

7:31 PM  

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