The Release of iTunesU from the iTunes Store

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Like many others, I was watching the flow of comments from the Apple Education Announcement this morning so I could evaluate the impact on education in general, and the local teachers I work with specifically.  While I'm excited about the potential that textbooks might be finally moving into the 21st century (hmmm....a post for another day), there was another part of the announcement that I am exultant about - the new autonomy of iTunesU. 

One of the problems of getting the excellent materials available on iTunesU into K12 classrooms has been overcoming the belief that iTunes is all about music, or for those that know a little bit more that it is all about entertainment (music, movies, and tv shows).  For some reason, people have a parallel in their minds that as App Store equals apps, iTunes Store equals tunes (aka. music).  Working to get it opened in schools that do not know much about it involves LOTS of discussions, which aren't always successful.  Now I can hopefully leave that battle behind and move to a new parallel of iTunesU equals educational material.  Having the separate app to show on my mobile devices (ok, my iOS mobile devices) will help reinforce and drive this idea. And now I am hoping this means I can tell schools that they CAN disable the iTunes Store (with the use of the iPhone Configuration Utility Tools) yet keep iTunesU available on their ever growing number of iOS devices in district.

It's nice that Apple has recognized that after four years iTunesU is all grown up and ready for its own home.

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