1. iTunes and Language Instruction New Tools for Aggregating and Delivering Audio Content Andrew Ross Brown University GLOCALL Conference November 2-7, 2007

2. Project Chronology Summer 2004: Duke’s first consultations with Apple Fall 2004: Duke advises on development of proof of concept December 2004: Early alpha version May 2005: Brown, Stanford, Missouri, Michigan join project. Summer 2005: Regular weekly conference calls w/Apple begin at Brown and Duke.

3. Philosophical Considerations Comfort level in working with a corporate entity Concerns about proprietary information and delivery modes Counter to open source leanings within academic communities Intellectual property Corporate culture(s) Commodification of educational experience New models of collaboration

4. Overview of iTunes U Content distribution & exchange application Layered over the free iTunes software application Developed for use by educational institutions Currently free; application required for use Content is stored on Apple servers (for now*)

5. Course menu

6. Advanced Beginning Chinese

7. Intermediate German

8. Editing mode

9. Content

10. Usage typologies Downloadable.m4a music files (outside iTunesU) - iMix Instructor-created downloadable content (inside iTunesU) Student-created downloadable content (inside iTunesU) Student-created uploaded content – dropbox (inside iTunesU) Textbook ancillary content w/ permissions (inside iTunesU) Podcast content (through iTunesU) Enhanced podcasts (“album art” images associated with audio track segments) VODcasting and downloadable H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) Downloadable document distribution (PDF only)

11. Faculty Benefits Coolness factor in motivating students Easy distribution of materials Perceived ease of use in making multimedia materials available Challenges Comfort level with pilot expectations and process Convenience vs. pedagogy Actual creation of multimedia materials & understanding of production processes & best practices Helping faculty make better choices about the content they provide (l’embarras du choix vs. judicious application)

12. Students Benefits Coolness factor Increasing ubiquity Engaging students where they are Challenges Student expectations of a polished product & process Increased expectations for access to course multimedia materials Competition of pedagogical materials with entertainment content

13. IT support staff Increased demand for support of multimedia applications & equipment on faculty & student desktops Communications with distributed IT staff about version upgrades & support paths. Cross-unit collaboration required (network services, academic technologies, multimedia development) Buy-in from IT administration; plan for implementation over term.

14. Academic technology & library staff Digital object repositories Digital rights management Commercial content Local hosting & local control Proliferation of academic technology tools

15. What next?

16. Implications for publishing model Move away from the “total solution” model to content modules, learning objects? Delivery of material in “master” digital format for deployment in multiple formats via multiple tools? Establishment of a learning object ecology?