Texas Education On iTunes U

Notes from Fall 2012 TCEA TECSIG Breakout Session
Kathy Ferguson
Texas Education Agency

Direct Link to Texas Education on iTunes U (Need iTunes to launch...)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/institution/texas-education/id388351943

Texas Education on iTunes U is part of Project Share.

Access Texas Education on  iTunes U through www.projectsharetexas.org in the resources feature on the home page.
or
through the iTunes store through the iTunes U button in the top navigation menu. Select iTunes U, then go to K-12 in the top right navigation menu. Find Texas Education under T, of course!
or
through the iTunes U App on your iDevice!

When you get to Texas Education in iTunes U, look at the What's New area at the top to see the latest and greatest uploads.

There are also Science Features, OnTRACK for College Readiness, and featured school districts.

All content in iTunesU is reviewed by TEA curriculum specialists.

Texas Education needs content from districts! 

Content should be classroom friendly:

• Engaging
• High Quality
• Age Appropriate
• Appropriate Classroom Length (typically no more than 10 minutes)

If you submit content, you will need cover art (600 x 600 png file works best), a title, a description, and a copyright. Copyright decisions should be made at the district level. Consider Creative Commons.

iTunes file formats can be video, audio, or PDF. If possible, develop videos with Closed Captioning.

Tech Details

• Audio files (AAC, MP3) with extensions .m4a or .mp3 - up to 500 MB
• Video files (MPEG-4) with extensions .mp4, .m4v, or .mov - up to 1 GB
• PDF or ePubs files of supplemental material (these download to the iTunes library or optionally to the iBooks app on an iOS tablet device)

How do you share your content?

• On iTunes site there is a Share Your Content link near the bottom of the right-hand navigation menu.
• Documents with guidelines for submission are included here
• After you go through the process of filling out the submit content form, TEA will send a legal agreement form which the Superintendent needs to sign off on.
• Content goes through a multi-step review process, including a technical review and a curriculum content review
• Content should not promote or advertise a commercial product.
• If you use third-party content, make sure you have copyright permission.
• Have documentation saying that you have written permission from parents to record their children and submit it for potential use on iTunesU.

Links for more info:

• www.projectsharetexas.org
• www.tea.state.tx.us/itunesu

Contact information:

• itunes@tea.state.tx.us
• Kathy.Ferguson@tea.state.tx.us
• 512-463-9400

iTunes U Unleashed! #SXSWedu

Notes from SWSWedu 2011 breakout session...

Tom Burnett, PhD
Manager Stategic Initatives
Apple, Inc.

Education Trends Near and Dear to Apple

• User Created Content
• Mobility
• Learning Communities

Digital Learning Environments: - A new sequence of learning

• Create
• Access
• Distribute

The 21st Century Learning Environment Provides Access to Numerous "Knowledge Points" - Places where students can find the information they need.

"Culture easts strategy every day of the week."
Example: Can we keep kids from using the all the technology at their disposal, or can we teach them to use it appropriately and use it for learning?

University Channels

Duke University - Approached Apple about posting lectures to iTunes and gave every incoming Freshman an iPod. Another set of Univeristies Followed - MIT, Yale, UC Berkeley, Stanford. Now, almost 500 universities worldwide have created their own iTunes U sites and are sharing their content freely with the world. For FREE!!!!

Just click the iTunes U button at the top of iTunes...

MIT Channel - Walter Lewin, Science professor and "national treasure", has his entire Physics I course lectures on their channel - FREE!! (Look up his awesome kinetic energy lecture where he tries to smash his own face!)

University of South Florida - College of Education - Lit2Go - Professional Readers have read 200 classic books; they can be downloaded and listen to for FREE! The text of the book will also display on a Touch or iPhone!

Apple provides the architecture for Universities and Colleges to create iTunes U channels for FREE!!

Beyond Campus Channels - Look under Quick Links on right side of iTunes U screen

Libraries, museums, organizations
KQED, Library of Congress, Connexions from Rice University, Kahn Academy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Supereme Court

Kahn Academy has entire courses posted in their channel.

KQUED Quest - Science lessons

Rice University Connexions - Open source textbooks - Algebra II textbook is actually on the state adoption list in California

K-12 Education Channels - 20 States Have Channels - Including Texas!

Virginia - paying for education apps to be developed - just noticed they have tech tutorials

Tennessee - Presenter's favorite channel - They are putting all of their state shared content in iTunes
Example: Four minute lesson on Nouns for 2nd Grade

iTunes U has 400,000 pieces of content, educator created, vetted, and FREE!!!

In a school setting, you can block all the rest of iTunes out and just get to iTunes U (Need to investigate how to do this...)

Trending Fast in iTunes U

• Playlists - can combine thematic information into playlists and share with students on their iPods
• ePUB - Newest format supported on iTunes; Lets you interact with content. Can make electronic "sticky notes" in books you are reading, look up words in dictionary and thesaurus. CK12 and Connexions have ePUB books in iTunes U

Burnett demonstrated creating an e-publication using Pages on a Mac. Put in text and added lectures he had downloaded from iTunes. They play within the Pages document. You can export the document as an ePub. Add the ePub to your iTunes library, sync to iPad or iPod Touch, and Presto! A self-published ePub document, customized for your students! Way cool!! I bet this doesn't work on Windows...

Top 10 Reasons to Use iTunes

10. Builds a strong statewide "band" for wuality content
9. Become part of a worldwide learning and PD community
8. Quickly get conetnt to meet needs (ie new standards)
7. Cross platform: Mac &  PC
6. Share greata content/buld community of learners and developers
5. Saves time and money
4. High quality PD - on demand
3. Anytime/anwhere access to conent
2. Aligned vetted conent ins safe environment
1. Increased student achievement!