iUniversity

With the implementation of iUniversity by Apple into their iTunes program, Apple has made iTunes a legitamite tool for learning and the education process. With iTunes becoming the largest file sharing application, Apple took advantage of the application to install iUniversity, a learning tool in which students can go to download lectures, podcasts, presentations, notes, or even upload some of their own work. I personally think that this is a great tool and is something more professors should utilize for their students. Having the ability to access the information almost anytime and anyplace and being able to use a form of media that kidds are so familiar with is a huge aid to the learning process. I can understand the reluctance to provide too much information on there, because as one of the attached articles states, it could make professors obsolete. The key is to make the information supplied supplemental as opposed to complete. This will reinforce that the students continue to attend the class, and that they do some things on their own time that may be more beneficial to them than just reading out of the book. The more ways a student receives information, the better they learn, this has been well documented, so I think that if a student can listen to a lecture via podcast while they ride the bus, workout, or walk their dog, they are more likely to understand the material and have a more thorough knowledge of it and grasp on it.

Related Readings:

Article #1

Article #2

Kind of off topic...

While doing some more reasearch into iTunes (i.e. downloading games and music) I found this interesting article on all of the best of iTunes from 2009. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10411508-26.html It's kind of interesting to compare their figures with that of other sources just to see what was particularly hot, and really what the demographic of iTunes users is. It would be interesting to see this study/comparison done, because I would venture to say that the iTunes demographic they think they have nailed down, isn't as exact as they think. Just looking at the results from the "Best of 2009" article, I know there were some things that surprised me...

Hot Jams!

As a break from the monotony, I'm going to post a song that if you don't already have it, you need to go to iTunes and get it immediately:

iTunes!

For my next topic I will be discussing the emergence of iTunes and its role in our society today. Despite being one of the most popular ways to listen to, organize, and transfer music, when compared to other software of the same genre, iTunes is relatively new. Winamp, the multimedia viewer/player I used all through high school and college, hit the scene about four or five years before iTunes's release in 2001. The grandfather of them all, Microsoft's Windows Media Player (formerly just "Media Player") began being included on each release of Windows in 1991. When iTunes did get released 10 years later, it became an instant hit. As this release pointed out (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2001/jan/09itunes.html)iTunes now became a one-top-shop for the searching, downloading, burning, playing, and transferring of all music. No longer were users required to have seperate programs for each step, it could all be done in one basic and easy to use program. This review points out that fact and also takes an objective look at if iTunes was indeed an improvement over what was already in existence: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/01q1/macwldsf/mwsf-7.html#itunes I will go into detail about the benefits iTunes has in the education process as well as my own personal thoughts on the application in subsequent blogs. For now, I would suggest taking some time to check out some of the following links on iTunes, you may find out that there's more to this program than even you every day users were aware of.

Interesting article on how to use iTunes to organize your PDF files: http://lifehacker.com/software/pdf/geek-to-live--organize-your-pdf-library-with-itunes-240447.php
This is referring to moving all of your iTunes music but still maintaining the library data: http://hifiblog.com/past/2006/05/11/howto-move-your-itunes-music-while-preserving-library-data-when-you-dont-let-itunes-manage-your-music-library/
Some other good ones:
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks
http://lifehacker.com/software/itunes/hack-attack-automatically-sync-itunes-to-any-folders-175161.php
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/11itunes.html

Screencasting = fini!

Well, after posting my screencast, I though tI would just give you a brief rundown of how I made it before I moved on to my next topic. After downloading the free program "CamStudio" it was a fairly easy process; boot the program up, choose the area of the screen I wanted to record (I chose full screen), plug in a headset, hit record, and narrate what I was doing as I was doing it. Yeah, it was that easy. Completely pain-free and as simple as could be. Although the finished product wouldn't win me any awards, if I were to go further with some editing software and add title slides, captions, and even record over some of the narrative, I would have a pretty professional finished product. So now that you have an idea of both what a screencast is and how to make one, I am wrapping this topic up. If you have any further questions you can either contact me or refer to this website:

http://www.screencast.com/

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving, You will hear from me after the holidays.

Wow

It's been a long time since my last post, I just wanted to check in and let you know that I will be posting on my new topic in the upcoming days. Hope all is well with everyone!

My First Screencast

Well, here it is, my first ever screencast. I was able to download some software off of the internet to create it, and 15 minutes later I had finished my first screencast. Although it wasn't very difficult to do, I wouldn't say it is a masterpiece. Were I going to do these with regularity, I would look into obtaining some editing software as well, just to make it a little bit cleaner and more professional. I just used the basic hit record and do it all in one straight shot method; not the most desirable way to do it. Well, without further ado, here it is, my first (never know, possibly last) screencast: