Washington schools take to iTunes

They’re calling it the school that never sleeps: Washington state is bringing the classroom to iTunes with a new channel of educational podcasts and videos for teachers, students and families.

“iTunes U is one channel we can offer that organizes and
presents high quality educational content at no cost to
schools and the public,” said Superintendent of Public
Instruction Randy Dorn.

While there are plenty of online learning options available, it’s tough to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily. OSPI spokesman Nathan Olson says the familiarity and convenience of iTunes makes it easy to connect people with valuable information.

“Within iTunes you don’t have to have that kind of Pacific
Ocean experience of searching. You can narrow down what you’re looking for very quickly,” Olson says.

Olson says while the channel will initially focus on teacher development tools, it can be expanded to one day allow access to recorded and live content, so students could still attend K-12 classes even while they’re home sick.