UCL in the News: UK university offers downloadable lectures

UCL is aiming to reach wider audiences by becoming the first mainstream UK university to make audio and visual content available for download on Apple's iTunes U - an area of the iTunes store designed for universities.

UCL, together with Trinity College in Dublin and the Open University, has today lunched its iTunes platform, making lectures, interviews, seminars and news freely available to download onto iPods or computers. …

UCL's platform will also feature a virtual tour of the university's 2008 summer fine art show, weekly round-ups of news from UCL and an interview with Prof Malcolm Grant, UCL president and provost. …

Grant said: "UCL is one of the world's leading universities, with an ethos not only of excellence, but also of innovation and accessibility. It is entirely in keeping with this ethos that we engage with new technologies to further our teaching, learning and engagement with the public. We are pleased to be leading the way in Europe."

Prof Peter Mobbs, who leads the academic aspect of UCL on iTunes U, said: "Our students will be able to revisit materials presented to them in lectures, so they can learn anywhere and anytime.

"Furthermore, our students are among the world's best and brightest, and I want them to be involved in generating and sharing their own content - discovery, analysis, imaginings - through audio and visual media, in collaboration with staff and other students." …