iTunes educational content downloads have topped one billion

Mar 1, 2013 08:16 GMT  ·  By

Apple has released a press statement to announce that iTunes U content downloads have shot past one billion. The announcement also reveals that over 1,200 universities and colleges and 1,200 K-12 schools and districts host over 2,500 public and thousands of private courses.

As the world’s largest online catalog of free educational content aggregated from top schools, libraries, museums and organizations, iTunes U helps educators create courses for iOS users worldwide.

Courses include lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and more.

“It’s inspiring to see what educators and students of all types are doing with iTunes U,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

“With the incredible content offered on iTunes U, students can learn like never before―there are now iTunes U courses with more than 250,000 students enrolled in them, which is a phenomenal shift in the way we teach and learn,” adds Cue.

Apple confirms that iTunes U content has just topped 1 billion downloads.

Over 1,200 universities and colleges, and 1,200 K-12 schools and districts now host more than 2,500 public courses, as well as thousands more private courses spanning arts, sciences, health and medicine, education, and business, the company says.

Apple names leading universities like Duke, Yale, Cambridge, MIT, and Oxford as institutions which “continue to extend their reach by enrolling more than 100,000 students in single iTunes U courses, with Stanford University and The Open University each surpassing 60 million content downloads.”

Speaking of the Ohio State University’s Matthew “Dr. Fus” Stoltzfus’ General Chemistry course in particular, Apple reveals that it has enrolled over 100,000 iTunes U students in its first year.

“The interest my iTunes U course receives from non-college students is overwhelming,” says Professor Stoltzfus.

“I’ve been working with high school teachers who use my iTunes U material to prepare to teach their own classes, high school students all over the world who are leveraging the course to tutor their fellow classmates, even retirees who download my iTunes U course to stay intellectually active,” Professor Stoltzfus adds.

iTunes U courses and other education content can be accessed through the iTunes U app in 155 countries around the world.