An application called iTunes U started as a collection of free videos and podcasts of lectures from many universities, but after Apple decided to develop it in earnest last January, it really hit its stride. As of Thursday, users have hit one billion downloads from a repository that offers thousands of public and private courses from over 1,200 universities and colleges, plus about 1,200 K-12 schools and districts.
The service is most widely used outside of the United States, Apple announces in a press release, with 60 percent of app downloads originating from other countries. It is available in 155 nations, and educators and create courses in 30 countries. Some courses have over 250,000 students enrolled, says Eddy Cue, Apple's senior VP of Internet Software and Services.
Books downloaded in iTunes U open up in iBooks, and most courses are free. National Geographic has its own series on photography; students can take a course in virology and even particle physics, allowing people who can't afford a university education or who do not have the time to attend classes regularly to take college-level courses for free.
“Because of iTunes U, I have been able to introduce students and colleagues in China to research on the links between chronic multi-tasking, information overload and stress; discuss research publications and degree programs with students in Europe; and exchange information about the influence of neighborhood design on community levels of physical activity and obesity with students in Australia,” Professor Daniel Stokols, who hosts an Environmental Psychology course on iTunes U, said in a statement: “The opportunity to impact so many students who are gaining interest in environmental psychology by taking my free course on iTunes U has been highly rewarding and gratifying for me as an educator and learner.”
iTunes U really got its start in 2007, when Stanford University Professor Brent Izutsu uploaded several of his courses and lectures to iTunes, but it only began to join the ranks of truly successful open online courses (MOOC) such as Coursera and Udacity in 2012 when it launched the iTunes U app. While there aren't any numbers for how many people actually completed a course once they've downloaded it, iTunes U nevertheless gives new meaning to the phrase, "information wants to be free."
