Serendipity35

The New Oxford American Dictionary selected "podcast" as the "Word of the Year" in 2005. But when the Pew Research Center did a survey in 2006, they found that only 12% of web users had ever used a podcast and only 1% downloaded them daily. Not exactly an explosion.

Don't get the impression from this week's posts that iTunes is the only podcasting game in town. There are other sources for podcasts. You can find lots of them at content sources - like National Public Radio (NPR) podcasts or Leo Laporte's TWiT network for tech programs. Laporte calls them "netcasts" - a term he coined when Apple began to claim they owned "podcast."

You can play an mp3 (audio-only) podcast in any variety of players - Windows Media Player, WinAmp etc. - and most video ones too. The "enhanced " podcasts - audio with synchronized still graphics (PowerPoint slides, photos etc.) are m4a and m4b files and those do require the iTunes player (if you know otherwise, PLEASE post below).

But the iTunes Music Store made it easy and that makes a big difference in people adopting a new technology. Personally, I think it is time for Apple to change some things in the "Music Store", since it sells a lot of non-music programming these days, and the podcasts are almost all free. Never liked the idea that even in our iTunes U version you still click "Get Song."

You can find the Metropolitan Museum of Art podcasts there. The first one I listened to was some of Van Gogh's letters read by Kevin Bacon. While you're museum browsing in New York City, stop by the the Museum of Modern Art and the MoMA Think Modern Lectures and their Art Mobs Guides to works at the museums. The NY Times video podcasts offers David Pogue's Circuits technology column.

Last point: There are lots of podcasts out there from colleges that we should be looking at that are NOT using iTunes. I'll put in a little plug here for Virginia Tech (my son is a student there) who have a nice podcast program at podcasts.vt.edu. You can listen to podcasts right there or copy the RSS feed URL and paste it into whatever podcast aggregator application you might use. We do something similar with the 3 podcasts that we feature on the NJIT home page. If you click one, it will take you to the NJIT on iTunes homepage, but rather than force visitors to click the GUEST login link, we offer those three right there as embedded Flash audio files. At this point, the Flash plugin is more ubiquitous than iTunes and you don't want to lose people because they don't want to go through the iTunes download process. (It's also surprising how many people won't download iTunes to their computer because "I don't have an iPod," so there is a learning or adoption curve to all this that is steeper than I expected.

Of course, we do want people to SUBSCRIBE to a podcast series so that they get new content without having to come back to the site. That has been accepted easily by students using our course section. For the rest, it sort of like getting people to comment on your blog - not easy.

 

* AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST IS AVAILABLE

I haven't been able to find an "official" or definitive list of schools that have partnered with Apple,Inc. to use iTunes U.

As soon as NJIT applied for the program last spring, I began to search for links to others schools using the service. At that point, the list was short - UC Berkeley, Duke, U Michigan & Stanford.

Since then, we have been trying to monitor new schools that offer a public face in iTunes U. We are, of course, all interested in seeing what the other schools are offering. The list here is not definitive, or official either. It is those I have found and bookmarked, but I will try to keep this post up to date until something official does appear.

If you know of a school that has a public presence on iTunes U, please add a link with a comment at the bottom of this entry (or check the podcasting category link for an updated entry on this) and I'll add it to the list. I won't be linking to schools that have podcasts available in the iTunes Music Store. Those can be found by searching within iTunes on topics like "higher education" or subjects. (Currently, that search will not produce results from any of the iTunes U sites.) Nor will I list any schools that only allow their own (authenticated by ID & password) students & faculty access. Most participating colleges (NJIT included) offer both public and private faces with the private used primarily for course materials. The schools listed here offer podcasts to the public.

There are two types of links here - one to the information page for a school on iTunes U which contains the access link, and another to directly open the school's "on iTunes U" area. Obviously, the free iTunes software is needed to use these sites.

Here are the first 20 we have found:

1. New Jersey Institute of Technology NJIT on iTunes U information & launch page or open directly in iTunes
2. Open Bowdoin College
3. Penn State on iTunes U - Open Penn State
4. Stanford on iTunes U
5. About the Duke Digital Initiative - Open Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
6. Open Harvard Extension School
7. Open University of California at Berkeley
8. Sacramento State - Open Sacramento State
9. Open Arizona State University
10. Open Texas A&M
11. Open Ross School of Business at U of Michigan
12. Santa Monica College on iTunes U
13. University of California at Berkeley
14. Queens University (Canada)
15. Open Wellesley College
16. Open Georgia College and State University
17. Open Rollins College
18. Radford College - open Radford
19. Gordon College - open Gordon College
20. Lafayette College

NJIT on iTunes U officially launched today.



Of course, we have been podcasting courses, seminars and programs about NJIT for over a year. This project resulted from the initial efforts of NJIT's department of Instructional Technology & Media Services to start faculty thinking about using podcasts for their courses in late 2005. Now, their initial success has led to our partnership with Apple Inc. to offer our content to a wider audience. NJIT on iTunes U uses Apple's iTunes-based content distribution tool created for educational institutions.

Eighteen faculty were podcasting their audio and video for the fall 2006 semester, and they are now in NJIT on iTunes U, and new programs are being added every week. It's the choice of each instructor to offer their materials to the general public or only for their registered students. Although we must be cognizant of copyright and intellectual property, NJIT on iTunes U is now part of our efforts to bring NJIT to the world.

When the NJIT community logs in using their university ID, they will see all public material (including selected courses, admissions podcasts and seminars such as the Technology & Society Forum) that is currently available, and they will see any of their courses that offer materials.

To access the podcasts, you will need the free iTunes software on your computer. The public that clicks on the "Guests" link will automatically be taken to the NJIT welcome page.

Get These Ideas Out of Your Mind!

People still ask us, "Why subscribe? Can't I just click on a link and play it on my computer?"

You can do that, however, the beauty of podcasting is that when you subscribe to a podcast using iTunes, it will automatically download any new files being offered for that course when they become available. It's like subscribing to a magazine, rather than going out to a store and looking for the new issue each time it comes out. It's easier if you subscribe to stay up to date.

Isn't this really for distance learning courses?

Recording lectures for use later certainly began in the 1970's for distance learning, but in the past 10 years at NJIT this trend has spread to face-to-face and hybrid courses.

Why would any an instructor put his course material in the "public" area of NJIT on iTunes U?

Exposure! Your audience becomes the world. Although we must take into account issues of copyright and intellectual property, iTunes U is a great way to bring attention to NJIT and your work. It's always the choice of each instructor as to whether you put up a full course, a sample lecture or promotional material for their department, program or research. We know that initiatives such at MIT's OpenCourseWare bring tremendous attention to faculty, research and a university.

In our year of podcasting, one of our early adopters at NJIT was Dr. Norbert Elliot. He posted several of his courses on our beta site (including World Lit I and World Lit II, now available in NJIT on iTunes U) and was receiving hundreds of downloads (and some email) from around the world. What a great way to get your name out there, and what a terrific way to get comments on your "American" take on world literature.

Don't people need an iPod or mp3 player to use this service?

Definitely not! One of the biggest misconceptions about podcasting is that it requires an iPod or special hardware. You can download and play all of our podcasts on your computer whether it is a PC or Macintosh by using iTunes. If you do want to move those files to an iPod or other mobile device, that's an option. Audio files are in the mp3 format and play on many devices. Video files are MPEG-4 or .mov files. iTunes also supports the .m4a file format which is often called an "enhanced podcast." These are audio files with synchronized graphics. At NJIT, many faculty will use this format to create slide/image presentations with narration.

Is there any cost to use NJIT on iTunes U?

No. People are used to seeing the "iTunes Music Store" and although our files are located in an area of iTunes known as the "iTunes Store", all NJIT materials are free to use. If a user decides to purchase music or video through the iTunes store, you are entering into an agreement with Apple, Inc. NJIT does not pay to use iTunes U, nor does it receive any compensation from Apple, Inc.

Please visit NJIT on iTunes U and let us know about your experience.

iTunes is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

 

Some literary podcasts available in the iTunes Music Store.

Don't be afraid of the "store" word - they are all free, but you do need iTunes (also free).

Subscribe and the daily ones will drop a new one into iTunes every day that you open up the program.

• The Writer's Almanac - daily - Garrison Keillor talks about what happened in lit history & reads a short poem.
• Poetry Foundation - daily - recordings of poems, poet interviews etc.
• Meet the Writers - writers discuss their favorite books, from Barnes & Noble
• NPR Books - author interviews and book reviews from various NPR programs
• Slate Audio Book Club - critics on books
• Shakespeare-upon-iPod - nine discussions on/about Will
• The New York Times Book Review - the editor of the NYT Book Review on new books
• The Writer's Block - from KQED in San Francisco - authors reading fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama