| Kogod podcasts join iTunes U BY MATT GETTY  The Kogod School of Business recently joined iTunes U, making its podcasts available through the same popular interface millions of iPod owners use to download music and videos. Launched by Apple last year, iTunes U offers colleges and universities a free tool to post and manage podcast content through the iTunes Store.
Kogod director of marketing and communications Jennifer Cochran met with Apple staff last spring after learning about the project and submitted a business plan for Kogod’s inclusion. Launched this semester, the Kogod iTunes U site, which features the school’s colors, photos, and logo within the iTunes environment, offers audio of program brochures, information sessions, and guest speakers as well as 15 short videos of students describing their experience at Kogod. “We see it as a way to increase our visibility and enhance learning,” said Cochran. Eventually, she hopes that faculty will take advantage of the service and post lectures from classes on the site, which integrates seamlessly with Blackboard. Those lectures, she explained, would be protected on a private part of the site, but for now all of the content is public. “Right now, we just want to educate as many people as possible about the tool,” she said. In its first month, the Kogod iTunes site has already received 700 visitors who have downloaded more than 150 podcasts. To view the site, visit www.kogod.american.edu/podcast, where Kogod faculty and staff can also access an online form to request that an upcoming event be recorded. (To access the Kogod iTunes U site you will need iTunes software, which is downloadable for free at www.apple.com/itunes/download.) Cochran added that faculty or staff from the university’s other schools and colleges interested in setting up an iTunes U site of their own can contact her to learn more about the process. |
