Using iTunes U to host rich media content for foreign

language coursesUniversity of Massachusetts Boston

Mary Simone Spring NERALLT Conference April 16, 2010

HISTORY

• iTunes U is a service provided by Apple that since 2007 has enabled Umass Boston host content from lectures, interviews and events to the university community 24/7.

• In 2010, the Division of Education Technology pilots language course materials on iTunes U through private authentication of students and faculty.

iTunes U or Blackboard?

• Language lab materials delivered by Blackboard require more backend and front end administrative support, and training of faculty and students, and more cost.

• Faculty and students are looking for a simpler solution.

iTunes U or Blackboard?

• Students are already technology savvy about podcasts and familiar with receiving updates to course materials through RSS feeds.

• Faculty would like simple and reliable portal to deliver all media formats other than Blackboard, web servers, or 3rd party sites.

• Faculty and staff would prefer ONE “course management web portal” that is less time intensive to manage. But what about copyright?

COPYRIGHT POLICY

•All usage of iTunes U must conform to UMass Boston’s policies, including but not limited to:

•Intellectual Property Policy of UMass Boston

•Copyright Policy

•Computing and Communications Acceptable Use Policy

Spring 2010 Pilot

• Set up courses in iTunes U

Chinese 105

Spanish 101, 102, 201

• Visit Classrooms to demonstrate course

• Survey students and faculty at end of semester

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

What has been posted to iTunes U Courses

•Audio recordings•Video recording from SCOLA and YOUTUBE•Screencasts from Camtasia and Jing•PDF files•Powerpoint movies

Launch UMass Boston on iTunes U

PUBLIC ACCESS

• To access UMass Boston’s iTunes U site you must first have the iTunes application installed on your Mac or PC.

• There are two ways to access our site1) By clicking on the link on our website.http://itunesu.umb.edu2) By visiting the iTunesU store and searching for University of Massachusetts under Colleges and & Universities

PRIVATE ACCESS• Student be enrolled in a Umass Boston

course

• Student must have a Umass Boston Wiser ID

• Faculty must request a course set up on iTunes U

• Faculty upload content

• Students can have a dropbox for content

Administrative Support

• Creates an iTunesU url for faculty

• Sets up tabs for content categories

• Inputs faculty ID for iTunesU course

• Inputs student IDs to registered each student enrolled in course with iTunesU course

Administrative Work Flow

iTunes U Course DataColumn Name Sample Data Comments

Class numbr ( changes every semester)

5323 The class numbers of all the courses taken by the student, separated by commas ; unique class # for faculty one course

subject BIOL

catalog 290

session 1 Session number

sect 1 Section Number

career UGRD Undergraduate/Graduate

term 1710 Term code when the class is being taken

Hr id (faculty only) PEOPLESOFT

11111111 HR Id of the Faculty ( must be called up)

Unique_ id WISER UMS00111111 UMS number of the Instructor who is teaching the course (automatically generated)

First_ name Simone First Name of the Instructor/student

Last_ name Mary Last Name of the Instructor/student

Production Support

• Audio Recording- Audio can be recorded on your computer, laptop or using a portable digital recording device.

• Video Recording- Can be captured using a computer with a built-in web cam, a camcorder or by using a Flip Video camera which can be checked out at one of the Media Distribution centers on campus

• Screencapture- Using software for your Mac or PC you can capture video of your screen.

Production Support• UMass Boston’s- IT Media Services has several

portable recording devices for capturing video (Flip Video) or audio (RCA MP3 recorders).

• The DLS has computers with software and hardware for creating podcasts and for reformatting audio and video

• Camtasia Relay classroom capture recordings can be uploaded directly to iTunesU.

DLS staff are available to help you with creating and posting content to iTunes U

DLS staff are available to help you with creating and posting content to iTunes U

Camtasia Relay Overview

• Camtasia Relay Classroom Capture software unlimited license

• Mac and PC compatible

• Free for UMass Faculty and Staff

• Flexibile environment :

Office or home use

Camtasia Relay Overview

Camtasia Replay Profiles

•Select a profile from the box

•The profiles decide where to save your video, and other advanced settings

•Unless instructed otherwise, most users should use: UMB lecture recording 640x480

www.scola.org

8 Broadcast Channels

Download

Advantages• No iPod or other portable device is needed to listen to

podcasts on iTunes U. All content can be viewed or listened to via your computer or be loaded onto an iPod for learning on the go.

• All content in the UMass Boston iTunes U site is free. However it may be copyrighted by the content creator so it must be cleared.

• After content is downloaded you don’t need an internet connection to access material

• Faculty manage own course for easy updating

Advantages

• Free hosting and virtually unlimited capacity on iTunesU ( 1 GB to host files of all sizes

• Ability to categorize podcasts through metatags

• Centralization of language media and xml files

• Clients manage upload of xml documents and media files to their course

• Minimal training for faculty and students

• Subscribe to automatic updates with just click of button

Challenges• Private authentication is not automated making Course

manually intensive ( see Administration)

• Create an application to take care of manual tasks to automate data since we do not have direct access

• Time intensive to enroll courses ( 8 hrs one course)

• Large video files are long to download on iPod

• Some production reformating of video and print

• Copyright permission needed to transfer format or host in other than publisher sites( Media Integration-SCOLA, You Tube, Camtasia, PDF,MP3,MP4

For more information:

• For more information on UMass Boston’s iTunesU site or to begin creating content for iTunes U site please visithttp://itunesu.umb.edu

or email dls@umb.edu to set up an appointment with a

media specialist