Apple - Education - Arizona State University, Page 2

Profiles in Success: Arizona State University

Apple Innovation Speeds Adoption

Even though Sannier is such an enthusiastic evangelist for iTunes U, he admits that he and his colleagues had not embraced Apple technologies in the past. In fact, at one point ASU was a Windows-only campus. But as the IT group watched the evolution of the Mac, iPod, and iTunes U, what Sannier describes as a “sea-change” took place in a very short space of time.

An iTunes U decision is the easiest one a university CIO can make.

— Dr. Adrian Sannier

“We’ve seen this amazing transition, where we had no Macs on campus, to where everyone’s walking around with an iPod. And now half of our incoming students are bringing in Macs,” reports Sannier. “I was one of those old-time Windows guys, but I switched. When you release a product with the capabilities of iTunes U, and you look at the level of service and security it provides, and the degree to which you can integrate it throughout your infrastructure, it completely lowers all obstacles to using the Mac platform.”

Rapid Deployment, Expansion of Capabilities

In academia, Sannier says, new technology initiatives typically involve many months — if not years — of planning and evaluation, continuous rounds of discussions, and significant investments in new infrastructure and training. Once the new solution has been deployed, it can take months for users to feel comfortable with the model. In some cases, that comfort-level is forever beyond users’ reach. But ASU’s iTunes U deployment was dramatically different.

“An iTunes U decision is the easiest one a university CIO can make,” Sannier notes. “For the investments you need to put in, in terms of time and money, the returns in capabilities are just unbelievable. Inside of a month we had an integrated single sign-on, and were able to bring out an ASU-branded iTunes U site.”

“And that’s just the beginning: Working with Apple, our capabilities leap by orders of magnitude,” adds Sannier. “We’re no longer on our own linear development curve; we’re on Apple’s development curve, which is basically exponential. Every time there’s a new upgrade to iTunes U, we can expand our service offerings.”

The Communications Driver

Since the ASU on iTunes U site went live, Sannier says its use has become pervasive across the campus. Professors and students alike are actively capturing and uploading podcasts of lectures and events, as well as video clips, presentations, and other digital media to iTunes U. The presence of iTunes U also has sparked an experimental streak among all users, and is charting what Sannier believes will be the future in communications.

“We take a comprehensive approach, where we build out a ‘shell’ for every course we teach; this creates an area for faculty and students to upload content,” Sannier says. “We’re also seeing ‘microstudios’ happening, where individual faculty members are using GarageBand and other tools to create resources that enrich the curriculum, and the use of video captures and annotated podcasts. Over the course of the next year, we expect that iTunes U will touch at least 90 percent of our students.”

“iTunes U is absolutely the future of how people will distribute digital content,” concludes Sannier. “We believe iTunes U is the premier service that will drive teaching and learning at this kind of scale.”