Apple released iTunes U 2.0 with support for creating and sharing courses a few hours ago. Although it is too early to figure out the actual impact and overall usage and adoption given the high price of Apple devices, it does look promising.
To create a course, you need to have an iPad and have to register with an Institute name and profile, which, can be edited later. I guess details will emerge as and when people start using it.
A brief description from the application is as follows:
- The new iTunes U makes it simple for students participating in private courses to pose questions on the course or any post or assignment
- Other students in the class can jump into the discussion and ask more questions or provide answers
- Teachers and students can keep up with the conversation when they receive push notifications as the discussion progresses
Create courses on iPad
- Teachers can now create and update their courses using the iTunes U app on their iPad—getting started is fast, simple, and completely free
- Provide every student a course outline, write posts, distribute assignments, upload class materials, easily track participating students, and much more
- Take advantage of the built in camera on iPad to easily capture photos or videos and upload them for course assignments
- Create materials using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote—or other apps from the App Store—and add them to your course by using “Open in iTunes U” from within each app
- Teachers affiliated with qualified institutions have the option to publish their courses to the iTunes U Catalog—making them available to everyone for free
Nitin Chandra's Blog 