July 2008 — News
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
State Agencies Bring K-12 Education Content to iTunes U
|
|
For more than a year now, Apple's iTunes U has served as a repository of educational multimedia content and resources. While these materials have always been accessible to K-12 educators, the focus of the content has been primarily on post-secondary education. But through a new initiative launched by several state education agencies, along with the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA), K-12 now has its own home within iTunes U.
The initiative, which launched July 1, brings the creation of a K-12 destination to iTunes U, with a broad range of content from a number of state and district agencies--including Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah--as well as museums and other education-oriented institutions. As of the launch today, there are 11 sub-portals within the iTunes U K-12 destination.
The idea of the initiative, according to SETDA, is not only to bring state and district resources to K-12 educators within their own states, but to provide nationwide and global access to educational content, curricula, learning materials, news, best practices, and other resources.
"This comprehensive collection of quality digital content offers teachers and students a single location to access resources on topics from Florida history to the Navajo language to nano technologies," said Mary Ann Wolf, executive director of SETDA, in a statement released Tuesday at the NECC 2008 conference in Texas, where the initiative was unveiled. "Teachers can now access these resources in real-time to support teaching and learning. The new K-12 resources on iTunes U address the critical need to engage students through technology-based resources in the core curriculum areas."
Arizona, for example, is making its iDEAL eLearning Platform available through the new destination. It includes video and audio content covering language arts, math, science, social science, and a wide range of other topics, along with news, resources for career and technical training, teacher professional development, and student work. While the portal is administered by the Arizona Department of Education and Arizona tate University, contributions come from such diverse sources as Arizona State Parks, the Arizona Technology in Education Alliance, and the state outreach program known as Conexiones, among others.
