Kentucky on iTunes U

NOW AVAILABLE WITH FREE P-20 EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

Kentucky’s teachers, students, parents and communities now have access to free, state-specific academic content available through Kentucky on iTunes U. iTunes U is a dedicated area within the iTunes Store giving users public access to thousands of free lectures, videos, books and podcasts from learning institutions all over the world.

The Kentucky on iTunes U platform was announced at Woodford County High School, in conjunction with the unveiling of the school’s iPad program, which will provide every student with access to an iPad for their learning needs.

Kentucky on iTunes U provides free curriculum and instruction resources for users, including school districts and other Kentucky providers, to download and enjoy on a Mac or PC, iPad, iPhone or iPod. Content includes videos produced by school districts, instructional resources and more.

“This is the technology generation – what better way to provide learning opportunities than through the electronic devices and formats our children use almost every hour of the day,” said Gov Steve Beshear. “Kentucky on iTunes U is a great example of how our schools can employ technology to prepare our students for the highly sophisticated and competitive world that awaits them.”

“Kentucky on iTunes U provides our P-20 education community with an incredible variety of resources and information,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “This cooperative effort between the University of Kentucky, KET and the Kentucky Department of Education gives our students access to content through iTunes, a format they are already familiar with -- and with iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, learning anywhere and anytime is as easy as listening to music.”

“UK is proud to partner with Kentucky Educational Television and the Kentucky Department of Education to increase access to interactive learning tools that enhance our academic missions,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “This program, Kentucky on iTunes U, and others like the College of Education’s P-20 lab and CASTLE are bringing innovative teaching techniques to a generation rapidly integrating mobile communications into their everyday lives.”

“KET has a long history of harnessing technology to enhance and extend the learning experience,” said KET Executive Director Shae Hopkins. “Kentucky on iTunes U is a natural extension of that effort, and we’re excited to see Kentucky’s students and teachers benefit from this new partnership.”

Kentucky on iTunes U is a collaborative project with the University of Kentucky's College of Education, Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), along with school districts, government agencies and their affiliates that provide access to quality digital content resources.

Kentucky on iTunes U offers resources such as:

·         Kentucky Core Academic Standards

·         UK College of Education

·         KET’s News Quiz, Scale City, Everyday Science, Education Matters and Kentucky Life

·         Highly Effective Teaching & Learning

·         Balanced Assessment from the Leadership Networks

·         STLP | Student Technology Leadership Program

 New content will be posted frequently in categories such as curriculum, teaching and learning, educational leadership, learning resources and more.

Visit Kentucky on iTunes U at http://itunes.apple.com/us/institution/kentucky/id411806090.

SOURCE: KDE Press release

In One Ear: iTunes U Puts iPods to Good Use

This from Edutopia, Graphic by Ian Roberts:

A new online repository offers free, state-approved K-12 course materials and teacher development tools.

Eerie music creeps into listeners' earbuds as an episode of SciFi Friday begins. A male voice introduces "the podcast where science fiction film meets real science" before the show's host and her expert guest, Cameron Hastie (an ape keeper at Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo), take the mic. "A lot of people still think that apes are fairly violent," Hastie says, and she recounts how she often overhears zoo visitors describing a male gorilla's expression as mean and angry. "But it's just his normal face," she explains.

This particular episode of the radio-style talk show, available for free download from iTunes, originally followed a Utah public television broadcast of The Ape Man, a classic 1943 fright film. In her twelve-minute spiel, Hastie critiques the movie and talks about the real excitement -- and the drudgery -- that make up her typical workday.

SciFi Friday is the brainchild of Laura Hunter, director of instructional services for the Utah Education Network. "I read some studies published by the director of our natural history museum that said pop culture is a good way to get young people interested in science," says Hunter. This led her to podcasting. In other installments of the series, a physicist uses the 1953 film Atomic Blonde (Run for the Hills) to discuss Cold War fears and fission bombs, and a research entomologist from a bee-biology and bee-systematics lab debunks the so-called science in Wasp Woman, from 1959.

Dozens of episodes later, it's clear that Hunter has stumbled on a winning formula. Children of all ages, who are more accustomed to the fantastical voyages of new media such as video games and DVDs than to old-school flicks, rave about the program. The National Telecommunications Educational Association, a consortium of public television licensees, honored the show in January 2008. And now educators and students worldwide can listen in.

SciFi Friday is among the many programs available free from iTunes U, a new section of Apple's iTunes Store, which offers downloads for MP3 players. The online repository, launched in July, contains everything from course curricula and professional-development tips to student-journalism podcasts and school
announcements. The State Educational Technology Directors Association, a national organization that promotes leadership in technology to support lifelong learning, and several state education agencies have provided Apple with the K-12 content. So far, contributors in Arizona, California, Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah have uploaded materials to the site. (Edutopia video is also available.) ...