iTunes U
About iTunes U
An online ePortfolio where teachers become instructors, creating courses using their iPad. Courses can be created as;
- Self Paced - Students go at their own speed through content/assignments/
- In Session - Students follow along as instructed and complete assignments by a given deadline.
Enrolment:
Teachers provide students with an enrolment code to enter the teachers iTunes U online classroom. Once students enter the course/classroom, their name automatically appears on the teacher register. An added bonus to iTunes U register is that teachers can check when each student last accessed their course.
Course Content:
Course content is uploaded within the 'Outline' section of iTunes U. Teachers can quickly build lessons by importing docs, worksheets, web links, photos and videos. iTunes apps such as books, podcasts and primary sources can also be introduced into each lesson.
Assignments:
Teachers can post assignments to class through iTunes U. Students can hand-in their assignment using iTunes U. The submission of work can take the format of presentations/ worksheets/ videos/ books or any work in another app that will open in iTunes U such as iMovie, iBooks, Book Creator, Animoto...etc.
iTunes U has a build in grade book for teachers to track the progress of their students. Using the gradebook, teachers can see when assignments were last viewed, if assignments were viewed, when assignments were completed and grade assignments.
Discussions:
A nice feature within the 'Discussion' section is that teachers can turn on/off the discussions. When the feature is turned on, any student can begin the discussion. The teacher can monitor or participate in the discussions. Students can also ask questions to the teacher privately through the private discussion feature. Using the private discussion feature, teachers can also provide extra help or extra feedback to students.
