Digital students

Today's UK Guardian newspaper carries a special JISC supplement looking at the digital student and the way that:

technology has transformed education over the last decade. Sponsored by JISC to launch its 'Student experiences of technology' campaign, the supplement - 'Digital Student' - explores the achievements of institutions in this area and some of the future challenges as universities and colleges look to exploit technology and place the student experience at the heart of learning and teaching.

The online version of the supplement carries stories about Second Life, podcasting, iTunes U, SMS, accessibility, copyright, e-portfolios and more. Which reminds me... why doesn't our growing use of Apple's iTunes U attract more negative comment in the way that, say, Linden Lab's Second Life does? It seems to me that using iTunes U to host podcasts is significantly more closed than we'd really like it to be?

Comments

[Emmadw]

I agree with you about iTunes U; I've always resisted using podcasts from the sites that *require* that I use Tunes, rather than letting me use juice or another podcast tool.

I wonder if it's because iTunes is now seen as "mainstream", - where SecondLife is still seen a niche?

[Owen Stephens]

iTunes is a delivery platform for podcasts (albeit one that is overly restrictive) - content is open though. If you moved your podcast from iTunes you might lose traffic, but you could still distribute your podcast.

I'm not up to date with attempts of SL to allow more transfer between virtual world platforms, but I know there is work in this area. However, at heart SL is not just a delivery platform - it is a complete environment. So, deciding to deliver your 3d environment built in SL via a different route has not been an option to date.

This higher level of lock-in may be an issue?