British Universities Join iTunes

Students at a pair of universities will be able to download lectures from iTunes — so will they even bother to turn up, or will they sleep in?

If you’re a student at University College, London (UCL) or Trinity College, Dublin, a new academic service means you’ll be able to download lectures from iTunes, making the alarm clock a thing of the past.

They’re the latest addition to the so-called iTunes U, where lectures from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley and MIT are all available for free. Video and audio recordings of the Trinity College and UCL lectures will be available. They’ll be joined by the Open University, which will have 300 audio and video files relating to current courses available.

“Our aim is to partner our distance learning expertise with the power of the internet to provide mobile, flexible and personalized learning whatever your educational level, personal circumstances or technological abilities," said Open University vice-chancellor Brenda Gourley.