iTunes U, YouTube, and online collections

…. And should we care?

Terese BirdLearning Technologist, University of

LeicesterCULN CPD 2 December 2011

What shall we talk about?

• 2011 students, search, and library attitudes• How do universities use iTunes U and

YouTube?• Schools and Colleges• Libraries and Museums• Evidence of use from my project• Discussion• Try it!

Students’ main search tool is YouTube*

• Crowdsourcing – ‘wisdom of the crowd’• They have smartphones and they know how

to use them• Is it wrong?

Photo by Wisconsin Historical Images on Flickr

*for some things

What is a library?

Original situation Today

Precious information Precious information

Expensive format Format can be cheap

Particular location Can be everywhere

Controlled access Pressure to be opened up

Survey data: students’ use of technology and iTunes

63 UK Secondary, College, UG

80.6%19.4%

36.5%63.5%

33.9%66.1%

60.3%39.7%

69.8%30.2%

69.8%30.2%

USA University Students, N= 534

Universities: iTunes U and YouTube.edu

iTunes U• Lectures

– Sound-only mp3– Video mp4

• eBooks – epub• Can watch off internet• Better reputation• Harder to post• Post files on own servers• No countries blocked• 800+ uni, schools, libraries,

CERN, UNESCO• No limit on time length

YouTube.edu

• Video mp4

• Must be connected to internet

• Lesser reputation

• Easier to post

• Post files on YouTube servers

• Blocked in China, Middle East

• 100 universities

• 15 minute limit ordinarily

Universities: iTunes U and YouTube.edu

• Learning• Marketing• Collections

Schools and Colleges

• Actual learning material and CPD• To avoid YouTube• To supply multimedia without hassle

Libraries and Museums

• Apple is approaching them• Digital heritage• Multimedia• Example of new project Manufacturing Pasts –

came from My Leicestershire History

Evidence from SPIDER• “there are a large number of medical schools and medical education

groups who produce both pod casts and vod casts for medical students. the most usefull of these have been podcasts from the university of aberdeen which cover a wide range of topics, and a group called pod medics who do revision vodcasts. i tend to use these for revision, with the vodcasts when im out and not doing anything (sat on a train etc), and the podcasts when im at the gym, driving etc (I use a waterproof mp3 player to swim with while i revise)”

• “I looked for Leicester stuff on iTunes U but there wasn’t any. I wanted to see what the lectures were like. With £9000 fees starting next year, students are going to want to know what they’re paying for. I didn’t even think of looking on YouTube for Leicester lectures because YouTube is rubbish, that’s where you look at kittens on a treadmill.”

Evidence from SPIDER

Tips

•To link to a file within iTunes, left-click and select Copy Link as below. Paste into VLE or wherever. When user clicks on link, iTunes will launch or they will be prompted to download iTunes

•To link to a file from YouTube, click on its title, then copy and paste the url.

Discussion questions

• Does putting multimedia materials online solve any problems faced by libraries?

• Does using 3rd party platforms such as YouTube and iTunes U help at all? Does it hinder at all?

• Your questions?

Try these – esp the searches

• iTunes U• YouTube• YouTube.edu:

http://www.youtube.com/education• My Leicestershire History:

http://myleicestershire.org.uk/• Manufacturing Pasts:

http://tinyurl.com/manufacturingpasts