This is part 4 of a series of posts documenting a vist to Apple headquarters in February, 2005. For the full series, see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. and part 6.
In my last post, I outlined Apple’s business model, particularly as it relates to the higher education market. You can’t really understand why they have launched iTunes U without first understanding how they do business. And from what I’ve been able to see so far, iTunes U is exactly the opposite of what some fear it to be.
This is part 3 of a series of posts documenting a vist to Apple headquarters in February, 2005. For the full series, see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. and part 6.
If you want to understand how a company is going to treat you as a customer, you have to understand what’s in it for them. In the case of Apple and higher education, the answer is simple but not obvious.
This is part 1 of a series of posts documenting a vist to Apple headquarters in February, 2005. For the full series, see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. and part 6.
We arrived in Cupertino today. I flew JetBlue non-stop from JFK to San Jose for an amazingly low price. I have to say, JetBlue has become far and away my favorite airline.
At any rate, we had an uneventful trip and a nice dinner hosted by Apple. The real meat of the visit comes tomorrow. In the meantime, I had an interesting lunch-time conversation with Steven and Beth about the pros and cons of podcasting as an educational medium. (more…)
There’s been a lot of buzz (some positive and some negative) about Apple’s iTunes University. I’m pleased to say that I will be traveling with a number of SUNY colleagues to 1 Infinite Loop the week after next, where we will hear more about the program. I promise to blog about what I learn. In the meantime, I’d like to sketch out an idea that Patrick Masson and I have been batting around about how iTunes U could fit into an LMOS. (more…)
This post is part of a series on the concept of a Learning Management Operating System.
In the previous post, I used Google Maps as an example of an application that is built from the ground up for integration and how that can fuel rapid innovation. But in some respects, Google Maps is a bad example for an LMOS. It’s a tool, and a data provider, but not a framework for pulling tools, the way a Learning Management Operating System would be. We need another example for that. So let’s take a look at Apple’s Dashboard technology. (more…)
Last week I had the pleasure of spending most of my working week at CIT, which is SUNY’s instructional technology conference and also the largest SUNY-wide conference of the year. It was really exciting to see so many folks from all across the system engaged in thinking about how to “teach different” (to steal a phrase from Apple Computer).
Anyway, one of the talks in which I participated was a panel discussion about e-portfolios at SUNY. And I must say, I think that the e-portfolio system designs I have seen so far go about solving the problem in the wrong way. Because the right solution would turn a conventional LMS inside-out. (more…)
This is just too cool for words. Cole Camplese, a professor at Penn State, has figured out a way to use his iPod to help him grade many more (short) student writing assignments very quickly. Here’s how it works:
Best part of all: Camplese claims he already has a working system that does this.
(Found via Mark Oehlert’s eClippings.)
