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NZ Tops the iTunes Educational Chart
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
New Zealand's Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) has surpassed world-renowned universities Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford to top the list of most popular education downloads on iTunes.
(via Stuff.co.nz) SIT's Intensive English series has spent the past three weeks atop a list of content offered through iTunes University, a free education area within the Apple iTunes online music and video store.
SIT is the first organisation outside the United States or United Kingdom to occupy the No1 spot, from a stable of more than 300 education providers worldwide.
Internationally renowned universities Cambridge and Oxford in the UK and Stanford, Texas A&M, MIT and UCLA in the US are some of the bigger names in SIT's cyber shadow.
Having launched slightly more than a year ago, the SIT iTunes U internet site now pulls in an average of 170,000 visitors a week from more than 100 countries. More US students download its content than Kiwis. It has proved so popular that Apple used images from the SIT site to promote iTunes U throughout Australasia in October.
SIT distance learning manager Teri McClelland said US universities were "perplexed" to see an institute from New Zealand topping the list. "Coming into the office to have a message on my phone from Apple congratulating me was pretty cool," she said.
While most institutions had simply posted video and audio of their lectures to iTunes U since its inception in 2007, SIT used the forum to showcase its educational television series, broadcast locally and on Sky TV as part of its distance learning programme, Ms McClelland said.
The intensive English series combines one-on-one tutelage with light-hearted skits, illustrating how English is used in everyday life.
New Zealand universities Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago also have a presence on iTunes U.
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