What is NJIT on iTunes U?
With NJIT on iTunes U, you can make your recorded lectures, seminars, even PDF documents available to your students in a secure password-protected environment.

When you log in to NJIT on iTunes U with your UCID and password, you will see all public material (including selected courses, admissions podcasts and seminars such as the Technology & Society Forum) that is currently available.

How does copyright work with NJIT on iTunes U?

Apple has the right to store NJIT content that is uploaded to Apple servers and to serve NJIT content through the NJIT on iTunes U site.  Apple also has the option to use NJIT content for promotional, marketing, and demonstration purposes. However, individual faculty and NJIT retain all ownership rights, including copyright, patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property of the content uploaded to NJIT on  iTunes U. 

For more information please see NJIT's Copyright Policy.

How do you get started using NJIT on iTunes U?
First off, do  you have the free iTunes software on your computer? If not, it's a free download. After you log in, iTunes will open and automatically bring you to the NJIT welcome page.

Why would someone subscribe to a course or series?
You may ask, "Why subscribe? Can't I just click on a link and play it on my computer?" You can do that, however, the beauty of podcasting is that when you subscribe to a podcast using iTunes, it will automatically download any new files being offered for that course when they become available. It's like subscribing to a magazine, rather than going out to a store and looking for the new issue each time it comes out. It's easier if you subscribe to stay up to date. And it's easy to unsubscribe at any time.

How can I get my courses in NJIT on iTunes U?
Although NJIT on iTunes U only launched in January 2007, we have been podcasting courses, seminars and programs about the university for the past year. Eighteen faculty were podcasting their audio and video for the fall 2006 semester. Almost all of those courses are being moved to iTunes U and new ones are being added every week.

We hope that you will discover that students find getting materials like lectures as podcasts beneficial to their classroom experience and be motivated to put materials online too. Throughout 2007, we will be offering workshops on getting your course into NJIT on iTunes U.  Contact us at itunes.admin@njit

Isn't this really for distance learning courses?
Recording lectures for use later certainly began in the 1970's for distance learning, but in the past 10 years at NJIT this trend has spread to face-to-face and hybrid courses.

Why would any an instructor put his course material in the "public" area of NJIT on iTunes U?
Exposure! Your audience becomes the world. Although we must take into account issues of copyright and intellectual property, iTunes U is a great way to bring attention to NJIT and your work. It's the choice of each instructor as to whether you put up a full course, a sample lecture or promotional material for your department, program or research. Initiatives such at MIT's OpenCourseWare bring tremendous attention to faculty, research and a university.

Don't people need an iPod or mp3 player to use this service?
Definitely not! One of the biggest misconceptions about podcasting is that it requires an iPod or special hardware. You can download and play all podcasts on your computer whether it is a PC or Macintosh as long as you have iTunes installed.

If you want to move those files to an iPod or other mobile device, that's an option. Audio files are in the mp3 format and play on many devices. Video files are MPEG-4 or .mov.  iTunes also supports the .m4a file format which is often called an "enhanced podcast." These are audio files with synchronized graphics. At NJIT, many faculty will use this format to create slide presentations with narration.

What do I have to do after I subscribe to a program?
iTunes will check daily (that's the default setting - you can have it check every hour, every week or manually  in your iTunes podcast settings) for the latest materials for all your subscriptions.  If a new file is available, it will download this automatically.  You can also click the "Refresh" button to check for the latest files if you think something new should be available for that course.

Is there any cost for students or faculty to use NJIT on iTunes U?
No. Although our files are located in an area of iTunes known as the "iTunes Store", all NJIT materials are free to use. If a user decides to purchase music or video through the iTunes store, you are entering into an agreement with Apple, Inc.