It takes planning, effort, and support to build an effective iTunes U site. Following these guidelines now — before you apply — will help set you up for success.
It's a group effort.
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to assemble a team of forward-thinking leaders from a variety of disciplines, and to appoint a manager for your iTunes U project. Your team should consist of high-level decision makers like executives or administrators, as well as leaders from your IT department, communications/PR department, and teaching staff (for schools). Once you have a team put together, you’ll be better prepared to complete the application, and the group’s collective expertise and diverse points of view will provide a strong foundation for a successful site.
Your team’s first priority will be to develop plans for technical support, content creation, and marketing. Solid strategic thinking in these three areas will help your project move forward smoothly.
To expand on the strength of your core team, talk to educators, students, and other potential contributors early on—share your vision, find out how they’re using digital media in their classes, and listen to their specific needs. This open dialogue will help your team build a relevant, user-friendly site from the ground up. Once you have a base of believers, your iTunes U initiative will grow organically.
Tech skills are a must.
Building and maintaining an iTunes U site requires a certain level of in-house technical proficiency. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to include your IT department in all phases of planning and development.
Site administrators for all iTunes U sites need to understand content types, file-compression tools, and metadata requirements. They also need to be able to manage storage, perform backup, and utilize RSS feeds to notify iTunes U about your updated content. For private iTunes U sites, the technical lead needs to know how to write scripts, manage server-side applications, and integrate with authentication systems.
Making sure your IT department has the ability to support an iTunes U site is crucial to your project’s success.
Create content. And keep it coming.
When it comes to creating content, a long-term plan is needed. As you begin creating and collecting material for your site, we recommend staying true to your school or organization. The best material is that which makes you distinctive—anything that reflects your expertise, academics, or mission. Offering unique educational content is the surest way to generate interest in your site.
Whether yours is a private site or a public site in the iTunes Store, you only get one chance to make a great first impression on your audience. That’s why it’s imperative that you have a sufficient quantity—and quality—of content for launch and beyond. At a minimum, your institution should have 150 audio and video files of acceptable quality ready to go on day one, with a plan for posting updated content on a regular basis.
Promote, promote, promote.
You and your project team should have a marketing and PR plan in place for all the different audiences you’re trying to reach, whether they’re on campus or beyond. After all the planning and preparation that goes into launching your iTunes U site, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of all available communications channels to build awareness and drive traffic.
And since your marketing campaign is an extension of your site and your institution, be sure to put your best foot forward in every piece of communication.
Ready to apply?
If you've followed all the guidelines above, you're ready to begin your iTunes U application.* Apply now
Rally your team. Email this page to your colleagues.
* Before you continue please be aware that terms and conditions apply. Universities and other academic content providers must enter into an iTunes U Service Agreement before being eligible to use the iTunes U service. This is a legal agreement between your Institution and Apple stating the terms that govern your use of the iTunes U service. The individual signing this agreement must have authority to contractually bind his or her institution to the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not have authority to enter into this agreement you will be asked to provide this information as part of the application. Once the application has been submitted and approved, the listed signing authority contact will receive an e-mail requesting that they review and agree to the terms and conditions of the iTunes U Service Agreement.
iTunes U is a free service available to qualifying two- and four-year accredited, degree-granting, public or private colleges and universities in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Universities and Colleges must enter into an iTunes U Service Agreement before being eligible to use the iTunes U service. Apple reserves the right to determine eligibility.