How to Discover, Preview and Use Learning Materials Hosted on
iTunes U sites and the iTunes Store Podcast Directory
Using Only an iPhone or iPod touch
(for faculty & staff content developers)


Introduction. Currently, Apple Inc. offers two mobile devices, the iPhone and iPod touch. These mobile devices have many capabilities but this document is focused on how they may be used to discover, preview and directly access learning materials such as course lectures (podcast episodes) found via the iTunes Store Podcast Directory or any iTunes U site. Although this does not involve the subscription process that you may already be familiar with, it can later invoke that process on the desktop or laptop computer to which a mobile device is synchronized. Thus, a learning experience begun on-the-go can be continued on the desktop or laptop computer in round trip fashion.

Background

In order to plan and implement educational programs that use one of Apples mobile devices to directly access podcasts, it is important to understand how the client-side and server-side components work. In this background section, we examine how relevant aspects of the client side (devices) and server side (hosts) environments interoperate to facilitate direct access to podcasts without the intermediation of a desktop or laptop computer. This document assumes the following minimum hardware, software and firmware components:

  • Desktop or laptop computer: iTunes version 9.0
  • Mobile device: iPhoneOS 3.1 (iPhone) or iPhoneOS 3.1.1 (iPod touch)
The Devices. There are important similarities and differences between the iPhone and the iPod touch regarding the direct access and playback of podcasts. Both the iPhone and iPod touch have an iTunes application which is primarily a shopping cart. Although podcasts are free, the mechanism for acquiring them is the same as for paid items in the iTunes Store. The iTunes application on iPhone and iPod touch does not handle media organization and playback as the desktop iTunes application does. Those tasks are handled differently as follows:

iPhone: Podcast organization and playback on the iPhone is handled by the iPod application. This includes audio, enhanced audio and video podcasts. Podcasts downloaded directly from iTunes U by a mobile device are found by tapping the "More" iten in the Dock/Task Bar at the bottom of the screen and then tapping the iTunes U icon. Alternatively, the iTunes U icon can replace any of the other icons in the Dock/Task Bar for more rapid and convenient access.

iPod touch: Podcast organization and playback on the iPod touch is handled by two applications. The Music application organizes and plays back audio for the most part but in the case of podcasts, also handles video playback and enhanced audio podcasts (audio-annotated slideshow). The Videos application plays back video organized as Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts and iTunes U. Thus, video podcast episodes may be found in both the Music and Videos application. However, since the Music application organizes all iTunes U content, it is the most convenient access point.

The Hosts. Where the podcast media resides can be an important variable for understanding, predicting and planning the learning experience.

The iTunes Store maintains a directory of podcast channels hosted by individuals and organizations that have submitted one or more Podcast Feed URLs to Apple. This directory organizes these channels by categories and featured providers. Since the actual media is hosted by the submitter, the range of audience experience is potentially quite variable.

iTunes U Sites are hosted by Apple in California but the organization of each site is determined by the education provider (K-12, Universities & Colleges and educational resources that are Beyond Campus). Apple does not charge education providers for this service.

The iTunes Store also maintains a directory of iTunes U sites. Not all colleges and universities with an iTunes U site are listed. This may be due to a variety of reasons, most commonly because the site is still under construction.

Many education providers maintain a local web page that serves as a gateway to their iTunes U site. Colleges and universities such as GCSU use their entry page to disseminate general information about their iTunes U site as well as links to the public and authenticated sides of that site. The public side is open to all but the authenticated side constrains student access to only to those classes in which they are enrolled. Faculty assigned to the class may upload learning materials and download student submitted work.

Since the media for iTunes U sites is hosted by Apple in California, the audience experience will be less variable than podcasts accessed from the iTunes Store. However, the further away from California you are, the greater the potential for slower or interrupted access.

The USG Podcasting Server (USG PCS) does not have a browse-able public interface as the iTunes Store and iTunes U sites do. However, it is possible to subscribe to a USG PCS Podcast Channel from within an iTunes U site using the iTunes U RSS Tab feature. This tactic will expose the USG Podcast Server channel to public browsing. This can also be done on the authenticated side of an iTunes U site to constrain access to faculty and students assigned to specific academic classes.

It is also possible to expose a USG Podcast Server channel as an iPhone-optimized web application by disseminating a server-authored URL. Example: Vintage Mac Video (best viewed on Safari for iPhone or iPod touch). In this case, Safari on the iPhone or iPod touch would be the application used to browse episodes in a given channel. Episodes can be played while a network connection is present but cannot stored on the mobile device for later playback.

Since the USG Podcasting Server resides on Peachnet, the USG Network, access should be faster and more reliable than hosts further away. This is even more so for GCSU faculty and students since this server resides on their LAN which is considerably faster than PeachNet.

Background Summary. With this background information, content developers should be better able to take into account the major variables associated with podcasting servers and Apple mobile clients as they develop and deploy learning experiences that make use of these services and devices.

The next section is much more specific and hands-on oriented. Here, I provide detailed explanations and demonstrations of the specific steps involved in using an iPhone or iPod touch to directly access podcast channels and their episodes Since there is no need for the intermediation of a desktop or laptop computer, this is truly learning on the go.

How-to

Conventions: Because the process is the same, you should read instructions for mobile access to iTunes U sites as being equally applicable to the iTunes Store Podcast Directory as well as to USG Podcasting Server channels that have been subscribed to from within an iTunes U site. An iTunes U course is a podcast channel containing a collection of learning materials called episodes, class sessions or lectures. The term mobile device refers to the iPhone and iPod touch collectively.

Goals. Our overall goal is to understand what a learner needs to know and be able to do in order to use an iPhone or iPod touch to browse iTunes U podcast channels to discover, preview and download learning materials for immediate or later playback. That knowledge will be essential in designing and deploying learning materials which travel and play well in these environments.

Apple provides very basic audience directions in this document and this video. However, content developers will need much more than this to be able to design, deploy and then evaluate learning experiences composed of podcasts accessed directly from an iPhone or iPod touch.

There are six common objectives that your audiences may have at various points in their interaction with the iTunes U portion of the iTunes Store:

  1. I want to browse a specific iTunes U site and I have the address to their iTunes U gateway web page.
  2. I want to browse a specific iTunes U site but I don't have the address totheir iTunes U gateway web page.
  3. I want to browse iTunes U sites for educational content by category, popularity or randomly.
  4. I want to conduct a keyword search for educational content available via iTunes U.
  5. I want to use an iPhone or iPod touch to preview, download and view or listen to the educational content that I discover while on-the-go.
  6. I want to continue the learning experience by synchronizing learning materials downloaded to and stored on my mobile device with the iTunes application on my desktop or laptop computer and then, optionally, subscribe to those podcast channels to receive additional learning materials as they are made available.
We can use these objectives to organize a reasonably complete and usable description of the primary variables to consider in designing mobile learning (mLearning) experiences that make use of iTunes U resources accessed primarily via the iPhone or iPod touch. Lets see where this takes us.

Objective One: I want to browse a specific iTunes U site and I have the address to their iTunes U gateway web page.

Example: GCSU on iTunes U http://itunes.gcsu.edu (not case-sensitive)

  1. Use Safari on iPhone or iPod touch to access the GCSU iTunes U gateway web page.
  2. From this point choose "Public Access" or "Course Access." The latter will require logon credentials.
  3. Optionally, create a "web clip" or bookmark to make return visits easier.
  4. Heres a screencast showing this mode of access and the creation of a web clip to facilitate return visits.
Objective Two: I want to browse a specific iTunes U site but I don't have the address to their iTunes U gateway web page.
  1. Tap the iTunes icon, then More... then iTunes U
  2. There are three browse options (What's Hot, Top Tens and Categories).
  3. Tap "What's Hot" and scroll to the bottom of the Whats Hot category to the section entitled, Find Education Providers.
  4. Tap "Universities & Colleges" to reveal an alphabetized list ofiTunes U sites and then scroll to find the institution youre looking for andtap its name.
  5. Optionally, move the iTunes U icon to the browse buttons at the bottom of the iTunes screen for faster, more convenient access in the future.
Heres a screencast showing this mode of access and the steps involved in moving the iTunes U icon to the browse buttons at the bottom of the iTunes screen.

Objective Three: I want to browse iTunes U sites for educational content by category, popularity or randomly.

  1. Tap the iTunes icon, then More... then iTunes U. There are three browse options (What's Hot, Top Tens and Categories).
  2. Explore content organized under the three tabs (What's Hot, Top Tens and Categories) instead of seeking out a specific institution.
Objective Four: I want to conduct a keyword search for educational content.

iTunes U is a subset of the iTunes Store. The search function is global to the iTunes store where hits are reported as coming from major categories such as Albums, Songs, TV, Audiobooks, Podcasts and iTunes U. Thus, you may want to instruct students to scroll to the search results for iTunes U after conducting a search. Effective meta data tagging in your content creation work flow will make the search function even more useful.

Objective Five: I want to use an iPhone or iPod touch to preview, download and view or listen to the educational content that I discover while on-the-go.

  1. Episodes can be previewed with a single tap on the title. If you are looking at an episode in Top Tens or Categories, double tapping that title will bring up the channel from which the episode was chosen. Tapping
  2. on the cost button (free) will invoke the download button. Tapping download
  3. will do just that and indicate progress with a flashing badge in the
  4. lower-right cornet of the screen. More detailed feedback on download progress
  5. can be gotten by tapping the More button and then tapping Downloads.
  6. All downloaded episodes will be found in the Musi application on the iPod touch or in the iPod application on the iPhone. Episodes will be grouped by channel with a Get More Episodes link that leads back to the iTunes U podcast channel from which these episodes came. NOTE: Episodes gotten from a channel on the authenticated side of an iTunes U site will also display a Get More Episodes link. However, this link will not take you back to that channel. Instead, you will see a place holder image of the channel/course and a link that leads to the public side of the providers iTunes U site.
Objective Six: I want to continue the learning experience by synchronizing learning materials downloaded to and stored on my mobile device with the iTunes application on my desktop or laptop computer and then, optionally, subscribe to those podcast channels to receive additional learning materials as they are made available.
  1. Once downloaded to the mobile device, one may view or listen to these iTunes U learning materials without need for network connectivity.
  2. Synchronizing the mobile device with the computer to which it is paired will result in all downloaded iTunes U material being copied to the Podcast Library in iTunes 9 on the desktop or laptop computer and then being erased from the mobile device. Counter-intuitively, the iTunes U Library is not used in this situation but is used when iTunes 9 is directly employed to get an episode or subscribe to a channel in iTunes U. This is probably a bug that will be corrected in a future version of iTunes 9.
  3. Post-synchronization, learners will find the iTunes U channel in the Podcast Library of iTunes 9 with a Subscribe button that can be used to assure that additional episodes will be discovered and downloaded as they become available. They may also elect to sync the channel back to the mobile device to effect ubiquitous access to the learning materials. This is why the materials are deleted from the mobile device upon sync -- to avoid duplicates. NOTE: The current software will sometimes create two identically named channels in the Podcast Library, one with a Subscribe button and video episodes, the other without a Subscribe button and audio episodes. This is another bug that we expect to see resolved soon.
  4. Currently, PDF files in an iTunes U course are not visible or readable from an Apple mobile device. Consequently, they are unavailable to learners until they synchronize back to their desktop or laptop computer and subscribe to the iTunes U channel. Obviously, this has important implications for content developers designing courseware for an iTunes U environment. Either PDFs should not be used or students should be instructed not to access the learning materials using an Apple mobile device. The safest course is simply not to use PDF files. This is unfortunate because PDF files can be an important part of an online course.
Conclusions

The prospect of on-the-go learning is an exciting one and Apple has taken an important step toward that goal by implementing access to podcasts in the iTunes Store Podcast Directory and iTunes U via its mobile devices.

The current implementation is somewhat usable, especially if learners and educational content developers are made aware of the two most serious problems with this new feature. Those problems are 1) no PDFs allowed and 2) synching back to a desktop or laptop computer is not at all intuitive or user friendly.

Educational content designers can adjust their work to this situation by eschewing PDFs and providing instructions to students with work-around tactics for bi-directional synching. Some will simply instruct learners to confine their studies to a desktop or laptop computer rather than be constrained by these issues.

We hope that Apple will address these two issues very soon so that the full potential of on-the-go learning can be realized. In the meantime, filing bugreports might help.