iTunes U for iPad Retools the Learning Experience

This is going to be great...

Taking it a step further and adding the ability for teachers to post quizes and tests... the student to be able to take it... and immediately get a response on how they did... and let past quizes and tests be available for studying so that a student can go back... look at past quizes/tests where the questions have links posted back to content that discusses the information that the question is about... how awesome would it be to be able and review past quizes... see what questions you got wrong... and then link back to the content that would allow you to study more about that particular topic...

This has potential to become a serious game changer when it comes to education.... only problem is that the suck-ass administrators in this country will be SLLLOOOWWWW to adopt it... while other countries will open embrace it... driving us further behind when it comes to education.

Blakjack said:

So its a lot like Blackboard right? A problem I have currently is accessing all of Blackboard features on my iPad. It sucks half the time. This feature needs to go mainstream ASAP!!

Click to expand...

It's nothing like Blackboard.

It's like Blackboard wanna-be, but nothing that robust. It's very simple, too simple for major College and University courses.

Clearly Apple wants to keep this to iPad only, and we'll see how well that does. But everyone knows that a MacBook Pro is a near standard for education. The question is, are they willing to spend $500 more on an iPad as well? Apple definitely needs to OWN the tablet industry for this thing to be taken seriously.

Kaibelf said:

Huh? It's giving free courses from places like Stanford, and those courses are hardly "small." Many people can't afford $120k to go to college, and this helps everyone access information. If that's not an impact then I don't know what is.

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Right but these aren't actual courses for credits in University, that will give someone a degree. Don't get me wrong, free education is amazing, and it's a great impact, but it won't replace the current Learning Systems in colleges and universities.
But it's like a better Khan Academy basically.

SKTHEPREZ said:

Have you ever participated in post-secondary education? Taken quizzes, tried to organize 15 credits worth of courses notes in a tablet notebook or annoyiyng tack folders? Forgot your one piece of notes, or had them unorganized? Well, if this was around when i was in college, I can bet I'd have been a better student. Maybe its just me?*
And in wealthy private schools? It would benefit large public schools, such as Penn State where i attended, and they needed 2-3 teacher's assistance just to pass out the notes, quizzes, study guides etc to the 300-400 kids in a single class.

Click to expand...

Yes, i recently graduated from a top Business school, so I do know what i'm talking about.
I've had those same issues, but this app is not the answer to that.
Currently, an iPad cannot replace a MacBook Pro as the essential tool in education.

All in all, this is a competitor for Khan Academy and other Open-source learning environments, not Blackboard.

Apple presumes everyone is gonna have an iPad, when let's face it.. majority of the people still like the old-school textbook. So this is gonna take a very long time, if ever, to take over the market.

Reach9 said:

All in all, this is a competitor for Khan Academy and other Open-source learning environments, not Blackboard.

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If this is intended to be a competitor for Khan Academy, it already lost.
Khan is platform independent and does not require any specific hardware to run... game over.

rjohnstone said:

If this is intended to be a competitor for Khan Academy, it already lost.
Khan is platform independent and does not require any specific hardware to run... game over.

Click to expand...

Exactly my point.

Therefore, i don't believe this is going to be Apple's more profitable initiatives. Didn't they try the textbook thing when the iPad originally came out?

Plus no school trusts a commercial company like Apple, Microsoft, Google to host data on their students grades, info, and other related information. Security is huge.

For those who were in college or know people in college recently. How many of them used an iPad in a lecture room? I've seen some students try to use one, and it's brutal.

What this needs to really take off is iCal integration for assignment due dates, grading functionality, and integrated class/professor communication tools. Bonus points for integrating Facetime.

rjohnstone said:

If this is intended to be a competitor for Khan Academy, it already lost.
Khan is platform independent and does not require any specific hardware to run... game over.

Click to expand...

Come on. Platform independent systems running on non-specific hardware are not dominating all over the place. Alone, those characteristics only count for so much. An option has to be better to make the "game over."

rjohnstone said:

Why would they?
They have a very successful platform already.

Click to expand...

Because distribution matters.

iSee said:

Come on. Platform independent systems running on non-specific hardware are not dominating all over the place. Alone, those characteristics only count for so much. An option has to be better to make the "game over."

Click to expand...

Khan Academy doesn't require the student/teacher to purchase any proprietary hardware to use it.
That fact alone is what makes it desirable.
It also has great content and a user experience that kids enjoy.
My daughter uses Khan Academy every day.
She can access it on ANY computer.

rjohnstone said:

Khan Academy doesn't require the student/teacher to purchase any proprietary hardware to use it.
That fact alone is what makes it desirable.
It also has great content and a user experience that kids enjoy.
My daughter uses Khan Academy every day.
She can access it on ANY computer.

Click to expand...

Yeah, nobody has an iPad. They're especially unpopular amount students and academics. Nobody has this hardware already, so iTunes U is dead.

Oh, and the content totally sucks. Why didn't Apple announce a boatload of content deals at breakthrough prices?

Happy opposite day!

Turns out Khan Academy is already part of iTunes U.

Seems like folks will have to find another point to beat each other over the head with - my suggestion is whether hard boiled eggs should be eaten from the big end or the small end.

While a neat idea, schools don't have the funds to be buying students ipads, parents aren't going to shell out 500 a pop for their sons and daughters.

Lastly the device has so many other programs and games that can serve as distractions.

Under a stricter and cheaper ipad this can take off and change the industry, the current model wont put a dent in it. Though it would open extra ways to learning for those who can afford it.

iEvolution said:

Under a stricter and cheaper ipad this can take off and change the industry, the current model wont put a dent in it.

Click to expand...

I doubt we are very far away from a $199/$299 iPad2.

U phoric

Apple please add a Flash type interface done in HTML5 that allows designers to add buttons and actions maybe a timeline for interactivity-more robust than what I can see here-not just for ipads but laptops as well-why not.
We miss Flash and it would be an awesome book design feature to add a lot of what it did to this more simplistic interface. Can anyone write for HTML5 these features with javascript simplicity for designers who do not want to be programmers-most of us only use part of our brain and there is not enough time in life to be great at both for most people.

rjohnstone said:

Khan Academy doesn't require the student/teacher to purchase any proprietary hardware to use it.
That fact alone is what makes it desirable.
It also has great content and a user experience that kids enjoy.
My daughter uses Khan Academy every day.
She can access it on ANY computer.

Click to expand...

You don't need an iPad to access iTunes U. Any computer with iTunes can get it.

anjinha said:

You don't need an iPad to access iTunes U. Any computer with iTunes can get it.

Click to expand...

And you don't need iTunes U to access Khan Academy.
The iTunes U version is not the same as what you get when going directly to their site either.

IPAD use in K12 schools

I can see a definite plus for IPADS to be used in a college setting, but what about K12? I am a public high school teacher and have questions regarding cost, security, and viability about their use in the classroom. Sure, private schools can do what they want as the parents are paying to send their child to that school, but what about the public schools? Where is the money? California, my state, is broke, and we are about to take another hit across the board. Who is trained for this technology? No one where I work at. It is all good theory, but until Apple starts to drop the price on their electronics I just don't see it occuring. By the way, have you seen the way teenagers treat traditional textbooks. How long would an IPAD last? Theft, replacement costs. Who is going to pay for that? Taxpayers? What about those parents who cannot afford replacement costs for IPADS, legal and illegal? I have parents who don't speak English, have a 4th grade education and their priority is work. I don't think so. Or, the technology is given to a teacher who is adverse to technology and it ends up locked away in a closet until it is outdated. I've seen it happen. So, great in theory but a long way off. That is the reality.

rjohnstone said:

And you don't need iTunes U to access Khan Academy.
The iTunes U version is not the same as what you get when going directly to their site either.

Click to expand...

You said "Khan Academy doesn't require the student/teacher to purchase any proprietary hardware to use it."

Neither does iTunes U.

This isn't really much of a competitor to Blackboard as it may first appear by some. Several things that I can think of that may be lacking.

Grades: this seems like a way for the teacher to communicate one direction with the class. Posting things for the student to see. Sure the student has some options on his/her end, but not the same way. The University I'm at is thankfully changing away from Blackboard to Instructure (Canvas). This is a huge upgrade over the terrible blackboard. I was hoping Apple would do more of a complete overhaul, use iCloud to access in addition to an iPhone/iPad/Mac app. This is a plus, but I don't see this being implemented as much.

Make no mistake, I love my iPad but: The thing that I felt was its biggest shortcoming from day one will prevent its triumph in the classroom: the lack of proper handwriting input.
We need a stylus with a proper fine tip (and good handwriting recognition wouldn't hurt) to take notes in real time during a class - and the ability to write/draw freeform notes into any iBook.
I know what Steve thought about styluses - well he was wrong about that one.

diamond3 said:

This isn't really much of a competitor to Blackboard as it may first appear by some. Several things that I can think of that may be lacking.

Grades: this seems like a way for the teacher to communicate one direction with the class. Posting things for the student to see. Sure the student has some options on his/her end, but not the same way. The University I'm at is thankfully changing away from Blackboard to Instructure (Canvas). This is a huge upgrade over the terrible blackboard. I was hoping Apple would do more of a complete overhaul, use iCloud to access in addition to an iPhone/iPad/Mac app. This is a plus, but I don't see this being implemented as much.

Click to expand...

Do you go to school in Utah?
I wonder how well Canvas will do. It's open source, so thats a major issue for some schools regarding that. Most schools are skeptical of "free" software, especially something like this.

If it isn't an issue for you, can you please PM me your pros and cons of Canvas when/if you use it?

anjinha said:

You said "Khan Academy doesn't require the student/teacher to purchase any proprietary hardware to use it."

Neither does iTunes U.

Click to expand...

I believe he was referring to the new iTunes U app for iPad when he said that.

Anyway, this is clearly a competitor to Khan Academy and Code Academy and other up and coming free learning sites.
Unfortunately, it will probably take years for textbooks to come onto the iPad exclusively.. if ever.

Apple revolutionizing the Music Industry with iTunes was only possible because iTunes was on every computer, Windows or Mac. Clearly that's not the case with iBooks 2 on the iPad, as Apple wants to be the only tablet seller (which i doubt will be possible).

Saladinos said:

Yeah, nobody has an iPad. They're especially unpopular amount students and academics. Nobody has this hardware already, so iTunes U is dead.

Oh, and the content totally sucks. Why didn't Apple announce a boatload of content deals at breakthrough prices?

Happy opposite day!

Click to expand...

Clearly you're having trouble understanding.

This textbook thing is going to take off like the blazes.

Many text books that my daughter and my son bought for university cost over $200. They each pay over $1,000 per year on text books. And the reason is low rates of production. They don't sell texts books by the millions but by the tens of thousands and so the costs of production is mighty steep.

And for the next year she goes to sell the books to others who might take the class but the version has changed (updated).

bbeagle said:

I use my original iPad 1 (bought on launch day of 3G) every day for about 10 hours a day.

Click to expand...

I hope Chazwatson doesn't read this. He might go off on another one of his looking down isn't ergonomic spiels.

Reach9 said:

Do you go to school in Utah?
I wonder how well Canvas will do. It's open source, so thats a major issue for some schools regarding that. Most schools are skeptical of "free" software, especially something like this.

If it isn't an issue for you, can you please PM me your pros and cons of Canvas when/if you use it?

Click to expand...

Well, I'm fortunate enough to have graduated and finished up my last classes last semester. Unfortunately I only had the opportunity to log into blackboard for college and never had a class trialling Canvas. From what I've heard talking to people has been a positive experience for Canvas compared to the continual complaining about blackboard. Although, I think our blackboard wasn't the latest version because we could never use the apps.

A few features I like about Canvas that I didn't have with Blackboard. Subscribe to a calendar. I also like how you can control how you receive notifications at every level via SMS or email.

I'm sure I'll hear more from my friends over the next few semesters. As far as the open source being a concern. I don't see what the problem is. I don't really know much on how everything works, but everything is stored on the the Utah educational network unless it's being rerouted somewhere else. What's your worry with the open source?

Downloaded the app, and downloaded the iPhone development course

This seems like a very nice way of adding some solid structure to the existing iTunes U Content. It's just a shame that, like iBooks 2, it's crashed on my iPad 1 five times in the <1hr that I tried it out.

These two new apps have just overtaken Safari in terms of how regularly I experience stability issues on my iPad under iOS 5.x






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