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OU boasts 20m iTunes downloads

by Sarah Griffiths on 30 June 2010, 10:41

Tags: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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The Open University (OU) has become the first uni worldwide to reach 20m downloads on iTunes, setting a new record.

Over 20m students and fans of the home learning institution downloaded tracks in a dedicated area, iTunes U, in Apple's music store.

The OU's popularity has soared since it launched its iTunes content in June 2008, attracting a staggering 250,000 downloads a week.

Back at the time of launch, just 1,370 students accessed the OU's student websites via their mobiles, but this number has soared to over 11,000 unique student visitors in May 2010 alone.

An OU survey found 96% of users use the materials for learning, while an upsurge in people accessing the OU student websites on mobiles has confirmed the appeal of flexible content.  In fact over half of those who downloaded content from iTunes U listen while they're doing other activities- quantum physics on a run- no problem.

Martin Bean, vice-chancellor of The Open University, says the way people learn is changing as busy lifestyles mean people actively seek out interesting content that they can watch, read or listen to when it suits them.

"New channels are helping people to fit learning in with their lifestyles, and the OU has always kept pace with the changing world of technology, which is why we are such a resounding success on iTunes U," said Bean.

Bean believes the OU's success lies in providing custom-built content for the iTunes channel, which also links to popular OU courses.

"Students are able to incorporate tracks into their studies, while informal learners anywhere in the world can tap into these excellent materials for free," he added.

Over 4.5m OU downloads from iTunesU in the past year have related to STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) accounting for about 28% of the total downloads of that year.

Anyone can download OU tracks free of charge from iTunes U.  The most popular are languages and arts, with Beginner's French taking the tile of the most downloaded. 

 



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