iDo! The marriage of Technology and Education
Frank J. Petronis, Author and Creator of The Apps Guide
Apple has revolutionized the way we purchase music, videos, books and apps. From iPods and music to iPhones and Apps, Apple has been building an enormous userbase. When
Apple announced the iPod in 2001, no one would have ever imagined that Apple would be responsible for “Revolutionizing Music Sales” when they secured deals with all four major corporate record labels (Universal, Sony, Warner Music Group and EMI), iTunes effectively legitimized digital music sales following the proliferation of illegal sharing sites.
Two years ago, Apple announced the iPad but again the critics were skeptical. Today,
Apple is currently dominating the mobile PC space with 22.5% of the market share leaving the skeptics on the sidelines. 84.1 Million iPads later, businesses, schools, parents and students have embraced the iPad, leaving the competition struggling to catch up; will they ever? This season, the iPad is Apple’s MVP making up 80% of Apple’s total mobile PC sales. This year more than 13 million units were sold, contributing to a 162% year over year growth. In one quarter, Apple sold about 62.8% of all tablets sold worldwide.
Eleven years in the making, Apple has been laying the groundwork for another monumental contribution to society, iTunesU. The iTunes U Program integrates with iBooks allowing students to read books, view presentations and see a list of all the assignments for a course, as well as check them off as they are completed. When a teacher sends a message or creates a new assignment, students receive a push notification with the new information.
Students simply tap them to start reading the assigned chapter. Notes taken in iBooks are consolidated for easy reviewing and if an assignment includes watching part of a video, one tap can go straight to a specific segment. iTunes U keeps documents, notes, highlights, and bookmarks up to date across the iPhone, iTouch and iPad. If a student misses a class or does not understand a concept, he or she can go back and access the information at anytime. With a stellar medium for accessing information, the combination of iPad and iTunesU is a match made in heaven. iTunesU has begun to change the way we learn, just as iTunes has changed the way we access/purchase/listen to music.
The world’s
