Makes You Smart: iTunes University

With more than 206 Million Apple iPods sold to date, I’m hoping most of you will find an iPod available to you somewhere or will download iTunes on your computer so you can start enjoying FREE Ivy League and other university lectures on MP3 or Video from iTunes U.

Official and Unoffcial Students

Suddenly, what was a 45 minute commute through downtown Toronto on crowded TTC has become the most valuable 90 minutes of my day – whatever I need to learn or improve, or whenever I want to catch up on a subject of interest iTunes U rarely dissapoints with recognizable names that make me feel just a tad more distinguished and connected every day.

You can watch videos and listen to lectures from inside Cambridge, Oxford, Duke, Stanford, Texas A&M and many more.

Educators

If you’re in the education sector, marketing for any department, iTunes U is a main consideration for inclusion in a well-rounded social media strategy.  To decide what to make availble on iTunes, ask yourself questions to clarify the purpose of your marketing goals – who do you need to have see these files and for what reason?  

If you can not or do not want to share entire lectures, consider sharing portions of them on iTunes U (that you have the rights to publish) – the majority of people who will enjoy your stuff will never register tuition, but you will be introducing them to the value and relevancy of your educators and cirriculum.  The more they enjoy your content and get real, tangible value from you, the more they will share your free content with their friends, family members and coworkers which is very easy to do on social networking platforms.

Sharing a portion or all of your lectures with the internet on iTunes U lets you enjoy additional returns on your investment in developing the lectures – from the day they are posted, until they are removed, you can continue to enjoy ongoing audiences.  You also have many options for advertising (literally) your own current programs on these video & PodCast lectures, even though the lecture itself may be a few years old.

Students are some of the most active internet users for education and research, so as long as the subject stays relevant in society you can continue to enjoy ongoing exposure for your lecutres, professors and brand by sharing your star lectures and events with the larger population on Web 2.0