Collegiate Times

iTunes U is a relatively new service offered by Apple, Inc. that allows professors toupload multimedia material related to their courses. This may include movies or movie clips shown in class or supplement multimedia that will add to the students' learning experience. Along with professors from Radford, University of Michigan, University of California Berkeley and Stanford, several Virginia Tech faculty members successfully implemented iTunes U as a teaching supplement in the fall, with several more utilizing the system this semester.

Just like iTunes, the content downloaded onto iTunes U can be uploaded onto an ipod.This gives students the ability to listen to lectures and watch educational videos that relate to their courses while doing other activities.

Professors also have the capability to record their lectures and upload them onto iTunes U, allowing students to review previous lectures when studying for exams, sit in on classes that they have missed, and view the teaching methods of their prospective professors.

"The key focus is to see how faculty can leverage this for teaching and learning purposes," said Eddie Watson, assistant director of the Educational Technologies department at Tech

There are several benefits to the iTunes U, said Michael Dame, director of web communications.

"Students will have access to more resources for being informed about the university and learning about the news of what is going on here," Dame said.

Dame also explained that there are currently three weekly podcasts which are being produced on the university website. Every Monday, there is a Hokiecast which is produced by students. Every Wednesday, VT podnews is broadcasted. VT podnews is a news and events broadcast for Virginia Tech, a University Relations project.Finally, every Friday "a Touch of Tech" is released. This is also a University Relations project, which broadcasts "research and accomplishments that students may have not known about," says Dame.

With any new and unfamiliar system come drawbacks.

"Apple does not make any promises about the podcasts being backed up," Watson said.This has the potential to cause many problems if iTunes is not up and running or if material uploaded is lost.

Michael Dame said that the only drawback he can see is that "it only works with an iPod or you have to listen online."

There is also the potential that students will abuse the system, substituting these online learning tools for class time. Watson argues, however, that by putting lectures online, professors are literally reclaiming class time for those who want to learn. One of the most innovative ideas, he claims, is putting the first 20 minutes of class, when the professor usually lectures, online ahead of time for students to watch, filling that time in class with more "taste-based learning," along with group activities, creating interactively focused classes.