UC Davis is among the first colleges in the nation to launch the new iTunes U site. iTunes U allows users to gain free access to files, including music, podcasts, event highlights and campus news.
UC Davis on iTunes U is the gateway to the campus’ digital audio and video content via Apple’s iTunes Store, said Susanne Rockwell, university communications web editor.
“This campus resource showcases our teaching, research and public service as well as campus life,” Rockwell said in an e-mail interview.
Most of the content on UC Davis on iTunes U is free and available to the public, but some is limited to only UC Davis users with a Kerberos password.
There are two ways to use this site.
The first is to listen and watch multimedia programs about UC Davis – our teachers, the campus vision for the future and how UC Davis is making a difference through its research across the disciplines, Rockwell said.
Some videos currently available on iTunes U include the 2005 “Farm vs. Farm” video that recounts UC Davis’ upset of Stanford in football and TV host Huell Howser’s tour of UC Davis called “Road Trip: UC Davis.” The site also features brief “NewsWatch” segments about UC Davis, including a highlight on the future of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The second way to use iTunes U is to put your own audio or video files on the site. Students on the UCD campus are encouraged to post their own produced videos as well as audio recordings and podcasts.
A podcast is one or a series of digital audio or video recordings that can be published via the Internet, according to the UC Davis News Service. Individual downloads appear in a playlist called “UC Davis” in the playlist section of the iTunes application.
In fall quarter, users may be able to subscribe to a series of podcasts that have new content added over time. Submission to UC Davis on iTunes U is free for recordings in these formats: MP3, Quicktime, Windows Media or H.264.
There are four steps to publishing your own content: collect and keep the consent of those being recorded, obtain copyright clearances, submit your content via the online form and create a unique album cover. Detailed instructions can be found on itunes.ucdavis.edu.
UC Davis faculty members are also encouraged to add academic courses onto iTunes U.
Bernd Hamann, the first UCD faculty member to put up a course on the site, sees a great marketing potential for UC Davis faculty, since many students from other universities and countries may be impressed by the lectures when deciding on a university to attend for graduate studies.
“The public forum for such recorded materials is really the entire world, or at least a very large fraction of the entire world,” Hamann said. “Reaching a global audience in this way is also reflecting positively on a public and globally interested and concerned university like UC Davis.”
Currently, anyone who chooses to use UC Davis on iTunes U must have the iTunes application to download the materials. To play the audio files, however, you do not need a Macintosh, iTunes or an iPod. All you need is a player capable of playing the files.
To access UC Davis on iTunes U and find more information about the applications, go to itunes.ucdavis.edu/.
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