Apple Education - iTunes U User's Guide

2008-04-29
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 Contents

Introduction Introduction 5

Welcome to iTunes U 5
System Requirements 7
Supported Formats 7
Getting Started 8

Chapter 1 About Course Pages and Groups 9

Chapter 2 Preparing Content 13

Accessing Content 13
Creating Content and Structuring Course Pages 14
Creating Public Content 15

Chapter 3 Customizing a Course Page 17

Understanding Icons Used in iTunes U Pages 17

Editing a Course Page 18
Creating Group Types 20
Adding a Course Image 22
Adding Course Page Links 23

Chapter 4 Adding Content 25

Uploading Content 25
Using Podcasts 27
Sharing Content with Friends 27

Chapter 5 Controlling User Access 29

Understanding Credentials and User Access 29

Assigning User Access to Groups 29

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 C O N T E N T S

Chapter 6 About Track Preferences 31

Chapter 7 Using iTunes Search 35

Searching Your iTunes U Site 35

Narrowing Your Search 36
Searching Using Power Search 36

Document Revision History 37

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 I N T R O D U C T I O N

Introduction

iTunes U puts the power of the iTunes Store to work for colleges, universities, and other education
organizations, so users can easily search, download, and play education content just like they do
music, movies, and TV shows. This guide describes how you, as an instructor or course manager, can
organize and manage iTunes U courses and course content.

This section provides an overview of iTunes U, including the system requirements, formats, and
components that make up an iTunes U site and how to get started using your institution’s iTunes U
site.

Welcome to iTunes U

Apple shares common goals with education—to advance teaching, learning, and research through
innovation, and to engage and empower students. Students, as well as instructors and staff, expect
a campus environment that accommodates their digital lifestyle, adapts to their individual learning
and teaching needs, and encourages collaboration and teamwork. iTunes U provides a way to meet
all these expectations.

Welcome to iTunes U 5
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 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Introduction

Links box. In a public site where

no links are defined, iTunes U Tools
does not display the Links box. Page description
area

iTunes U
Welcome page

Narrow section layout

Links boxes. Links provide easy access to

A list of courses and other content appears. campus-related events and information.
What you can do with the courses listed
depends on your access rights.

Based on the same easy-to-use technology as the iTunes Store, iTunes U features Apple simplicity
and portability and is designed as a service for institutions to manage a broad range of audio, video,
and PDF content, and to make it available quickly and easily to students, instructors, staff, alumni,
and, optionally, the public.

iTunes U offers an experience similar to using the iTunes Store. In fact, because iTunes U pages are
displayed within the iTunes application itself, just like iTunes Store pages, navigating within iTunes
U is much like navigating within the iTunes Store. For information on how to use iTunes or the iTunes
Store, in iTunes, choose Help > iTunes Help.

With iTunes U, users can access educational content, including lectures and interviews, 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. Users can browse content and download it to their computers, Mac or PC,
regardless of their location. They can then listen to and view that content on their computers or transfer
the content to an iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV for listening or viewing on the go.

With the iTunes U easy-to-use interface and web services, instructors and staff can easily post, change,
and share content on their own without impacting their IT department. Instructors can also set a page
to allow students to upload their own content for review or to share with other students in the class.

6 Welcome to iTunes U
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 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Introduction

System Requirements

iTunes U fits seamlessly into your existing technologies and systems, allowing your site administrator
to use your existing web-based infrastructure to provide access to your iTunes U site.

iTunes U requires iTunes version 6.0 or later for Mac and Windows. Apple recommends using iTunes
version 7 and, in order to guarantee a consistent user experience, always using the latest version of
iTunes.

iTunes U works with most modern, standards-compliant browsers. Apple recommends using one of
the following browsers:

■ Safari 2.0 or later on Mac

■ Internet Explorer 6.0 or later on Windows

Note: Internet Explorer on Windows may have performance limitations when uploading files. For
more information, see the Microsoft Help and Support Site at http://support.microsoft.com/default.as-
px?scid=kb;en-us;329781.

Supported Formats

iTunes U supports the distribution of compressed audio and video files. Apple recommends using
the following formats for your iTunes U audio and video content:

■ Audio files (AAC, MP3) with appropriate file extensions (.m4a, .mp3). For best results during
playback, Apple recommends converting MP3 files greater than 32 megabytes (MB) to AAC
format. For AAC audio files, Apple recommends the following specifications:
❏ Audio Format: Baseline Low-Complexity Profile with AAC-LC (Music)
❏ Data Rate: Up to 160 Kbps
❏ Channels: Stereo in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov formats
❏ Output Sample Rate: 48 kHz
❏ Encoding Quality: Better

■ Video files (MPEG-4 with H.264 compression) with appropriate file extensions (.mp4, .m4v, .mov).
For best results with iPod, Apple recommends using MPEG-4 with H.264 compression with the
following specifications:
❏ Video Format: MPEG-4 with H.264
❏ Data Rate: Up to 1.5 Mbps
❏ Image Size: 640 x 480 pixels
❏ Frame Rate: 30 frames per second
❏ Key Frame: Every 24 frames
❏ Audio Tracks: Baseline Low-Complexity Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps

System Requirements 7
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 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Introduction

You can also use iTunes U to distribute Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

If you are using QuickTime to create and edit video content, it is recommended that you export your
videos by choosing “Movie to iPod” from the Export pop-up menu in QuickTime Pro.

Note: Some MP3 audio files, specifically ID3 version 1.x tagged files, have known issues displaying
track artwork information. To use specific artwork with these audio files, Apple recommends either
converting the files to MP3 files tagged as ID3 version 2.4 or converting the files to the AAC file type
format (.m4a).

See “Adding Content” (page 25) for information on uploading these files types to your iTunes U site.
For details on preparing content, see Creating Content for iPod + iTunes located at http://www.ap-
ple.com/support/itunes_u.

Getting Started

To organize a Course page and upload content, you, as the instructor or course manager, need to log
in to your institution’s iTunes U site.

Your site administrator should provide you with your login information and instructions.

See the sections later in this guide for information on Course pages and groups, preparing content,
customizing a Course page, adding content, controlling user access, and more.

When you have finished making changes to the Course page and adding all your course content,
click End Editing in the Tools area of your Course page.

iTunes U applies changes on an ongoing basis, not only after you click End Editing. Other users of
the Course page see changes immediately after you make each change.

Click Logout in the Tools area to log out of your iTunes U site.

8 Getting Started
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C H A P T E R 1

About Course Pages and Groups

After logging in to your iTunes U site, the top-level, or root, page for your institution appears.
Depending on the specifications defined for the site, iTunes U displays a Public Feature page (reserved
for public content) or a Welcome page (normally reserved for non-public content, but can be used
for public content).

The root page can display a collection of descendant Welcome pages and Course pages. What you
can do with those pages depends on your access permissions. For example, an instructor or course
manager might have permission to edit and manage a course, but a student might only have permission
to browse the course and download information.

When you click a course title or thumbnail image in a Public Feature or Welcome page, the associated
Course page appears. Course pages contain the audio, video, or PDF content files instructors, staff,
or students upload. You can organize the content files into groups, displayed as tabs within the Course
page, to help better manage all the information.

The following is an illustration of an iTunes U Course page.

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 C H A P T E R 1
About Course Pages and Groups

Use the navigation bar to keep track of where

you are and to navigate to other areas. Drag any
segment from the navigation bar or any link in
Click Home to go to iTunes U to your desktop to create a quicklink.
the iTunes Store.

List of files
(tracks) in the
Love group.
Double-click
a track to
play a full
preview.
To control who has access to objects You can add links in the Links box
within groups, you can assign each to jump to additional information.
group different access privileges.

Within a Course page, instructors and course managers can use editing tools to create different groups
to help organize the course content, and then can assign permissions to each group to control user
access to the content.

Instructors and course managers can create the following types of groups within a Course page:

■ Simple. A Simple group populates track content in a Course page when users explicitly upload
tracks to the course in your iTunes U site.
■ Smart. A Smart group displays tracks in a Course page by performing a search of your site for
all tracks that match the criteria you specify.
■ Feed. A Feed group automatically populates track content in a Course page based on the podcast
feed URL and details you specify. Course content can be updated on a periodic basis and,
depending on your site settings, can be updated as often as every day.

For more details and information on how to create the different group types, see “Creating Group
Types” (page 20).

In addition to creating the groups for course content, the instructor or course manager might create
a group for students to upload their assignments and other work for review (for example, a group
with permissions set to Drop Box). Only the instructor and course manager (or another user with
editing access) can view all of the contents of this group. The instructor or course manager might also
create a group for students to share their work with others (for example, a group with permissions
set to Shared). Students, instructors, and course managers can view and download the contents from
a shared group.

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C H A P T E R 1
About Course Pages and Groups

Shared group Drop Box group

To create groups with specific user access, first create the group, and then assign access permissions
to the group. For details, see “Assigning User Access to Groups” (page 29).

When you upload content, you upload into a specific group. Apple recommends that you think about
how you want to organize content in the course before uploading any content. This includes
determining the number, names, and types of groups that you want to use to organize the course
content. For more information, see “Preparing Content” (page 13).

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 C H A P T E R 1
About Course Pages and Groups

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 C H A P T E R 2

Preparing Content

This section describes how instructors or course managers prepare and create course content, including
how to structure Course pages within their institution’s iTunes U site, as well as some general
guidelines for planning for public content.

Accessing Content

iTunes U is designed to provide students and instructors easy access to course content. It can also
provide access to institutional information such as on-campus events, news, sports, or a message
from your institution’s president.

Each course has its own Course page, initially created by a site administrator.

The following is an illustration of an iTunes U Course page.

Accessing Content 13
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 C H A P T E R 2
Preparing Content

Add links in the Links

Course title Instructor or box to jump to Tools area
Speaker name additional information.

Course
description

Group
name

To control who has access to You can have one or more objects (for
objects within groups, you can example, audio tracks and video tracks)
assign each group different per group. You cannot assign access
access privileges. privileges to individual objects.

The instructor or course manager creates or prepares content for the course, structures and organizes
the course and Course page, and then uploads the content to the Course page.

Creating Content and Structuring Course Pages

An instructor or course manager can create and prepare content for a course by recording lectures,
developing assignments, creating videos and podcasts, and much more. For more information, see
iTunes U Content Scenarios and Creating Content for iPod + iTunes located at http://www.apple.com/sup-
port/itunes_u/.

How a course is structured and organized depends on the instructor’s or course manager’s preferences.
Each Course page can consist of various groups, displayed as tabs, used to help organize the course.
Courses can, for example, be organized by subject matter or by media type. For example, a course
covering the life and works of F. Scott Fitzgerald could have groups organized by subject matter (life
and works) or by type of work (novels and short stories).

Alternatively, the course could be organized by media type, for example, with one group for audio
content, another group for video content, and another group for PDF content.

Instructors and course managers can structure and organize a course however they deem appropriate.
Course page groups provide a way to help subdivide and categorize courses.

14 Creating Content and Structuring Course Pages

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C H A P T E R 2
Preparing Content

Other groups might include a Drop Box for students to upload assignments for review by the instructor
and a Shared group for students to upload assignments and share their work with others in the course.
For example, in a journalism course, students might upload recorded interviews into a Drop Box
group for the instructor to review.

The uploaded content can include information fields, such as Name or Artist, to help students locate
and organize their iTunes U content after they download it to their computers, iPod music players,
iPhone, and Apple TV. Before content is uploaded, use iTunes to add or edit track information to
provide helpful details and extra information for students and others. For more information, see
“About Track Preferences” (page 31).

Keep in mind that your courses should be organized in clear categories that are relevant to your
institution, and you should develop a plan to manage your content on an ongoing basis. Keeping
your content fresh and current will help maintain the effectiveness of your iTunes U site.

After creating course content and developing a structure for the course, the instructor or course
manager can upload the content into the different groups in the Course page. Depending on how the
course is structured, the instructor or course manager can upload content to Simple, Smart, or Feed
groups in the Course page. For information on these group types, see “Creating Group Types” (page
20). For information on how to upload content to iTunes U, see “Adding Content” (page 25).

In addition to groups, instructors and course managers can add links in the Course page to point
students to more information. For example, the instructor or course manager could add a link to a
website that discusses all the films made from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works. For information on how
to add links to other information in a Course page, see “Adding Course Page Links” (page 23).

Creating Public Content

If your institution’s iTunes U site will be offered to the public, plan to include content categories
relevant to the public—for example, Public Lecture Series, Museums on Campus, Special Collections,
Digital Archives, Campus Life, or Published Research Results.

Whenever you create or update an iTunes U site for your institution, regardless of whether the site
is available to the public, Apple provides guidelines designed to help you create an effective and clear
iTunes U site. For more information, see Creating Your iTunes U Site available at http://www.ap-
ple.com/support/itunes_u.

Creating Content and Structuring Course Pages 15

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 C H A P T E R 2
Preparing Content

16 Creating Content and Structuring Course Pages

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 C H A P T E R 3

Customizing a Course Page

Your initial iTunes U site uses default page designs and layouts. This section describes how you can
edit a Course page to customize the look and feel of your course to use your institution’s logos or
graphics and make the course appear familiar to other instructors, staff, students, and alumni.

Understanding Icons Used in iTunes U Pages

When you edit pages in iTunes U, icons indicate the actions you can perform within a page.

Changes you make to your iTunes U pages apply immediately. If you want to preview your changes
before displaying them to all users of your site, make sure your site administrator first turns off all
access to the page you are editing.

Icon Description of icon Use icon to

Add icon Create a new group, add a new Links box, define new permissions and
credentials, and so on

Save icon Save changes during an editing session

Edit icon Edit text, group types and access, Links boxes, permissions and
credentials, and so on

Up Triangle icon Move objects up one level

Down Triangle icon Move objects down one level

Right Triangle icon Move objects right one position

Left Triangle icon Move objects left one position

Delete icon Delete an object

See All icon Display additional items contained in the section, Links box, and so on

Understanding Icons Used in iTunes U Pages 17

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 C H A P T E R 3
Customizing a Course Page

Icon Description of icon Use icon to

Cancel icon Cancel the current action

Upload icon Upload a new file

Replace icon Replace a file in the Upload and Manage Files webpage

Editing a Course Page

iTunes U uses Course pages to display public or non-public audio, video, and PDF content files
instructors, staff, or students upload. Course pages can be organized into groups, displayed as tabs,
to help manage content.

The following illustration shows a Course page design and layout.

Background and regular text colors are

Course image, minimum of inherited from the theme specified in
300 pixels square Instructor or the parent Welcome page.
Speaker name

Link to RSS feed

view of Links box
content

Multiple Links
boxes provide
a way to group
and highlight
information.

Group 1 tracklist area Links box colors are inherited from the theme
specified in the parent Welcome page.

18 Editing a Course Page

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C H A P T E R 3
Customizing a Course Page

When editing a Course page, keep the following in mind:

■ For optimal display within iTunes and iPod, the course image should be a minimum of 300 pixels
square, or 300 pixels tall by 300 pixels wide. Course images must be JPEG, PNG, or GIF with
appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif).
■ Course pages inherit the theme, including background, regular text, and Links box colors, specified
by your site administrator in the Edit Themes page.
■ If you create a Links box with no links, iTunes U displays only the empty Links box when you
are editing the Course page.

To edit a Course page, click a course title or thumbnail image in a Public Feature or Welcome page,
and then click Edit Page in the Tools area of the Course page you want to update. When you’re done
editing the page, click End Editing.

Use the following table as a quick reference for editing objects in the Course page.

To edit this element Take this action

Course page Click the Edit icon and edit the Course page instructor or speaker name, and
instructor or speaker then click the Save icon to save the new name.
name

Course page Click the Edit icon in the description area, edit the Course page description,
description and then click the Save icon to save the new description.

Course page group Click the Edit icon in the tab whose group name you want to change, edit the
names existing group’s name, and then click the Save icon to save the new group
name.
Notes:
■ To move a group right or left one position in the Course page, click the
Right or Left Triangle icon.
■ To delete a group from the Course page, click the tab for the group you
want to delete, and then click the Delete icon. When you delete a group,
iTunes U deletes all objects within the group.
■ To add a new group, such as a group with permissions set to Drop Box
so students can upload files for instructors to review, click the Add icon
in the tab controls section, type a name for the group, choose a group
type from the Type pop-up menu, and then click the Save icon to save
the new group. For more information on group types, see “Creating
Group Types” (page 20).

Group type Click the Edit icon in the tab whose group type you want to change, choose
a new group type from the Type pop-up menu, and then click the Save icon
to save the new group type.
If you are changing from a Simple group to a Smart group or Feed group and
the group contains files, you must move or delete the files before changing
the group type. For more information on group types, see “Creating Group
Types” (page 20).

Editing a Course Page 19

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 C H A P T E R 3
Customizing a Course Page

To edit this element Take this action

Course page group Click the Edit icon in the tab whose group-level user access you want to define,
access and then choose the access level you want to assign to a user from the user’s
Access pop-up menu. For more information on group-level access, see
“Assigning User Access to Groups” (page 29).

Creating Group Types

Instructors and course managers can create groups, displayed as tabs, to help organize course content.
How instructors and course managers create content and structure a course can determine the types
of groups you choose to create and therefore how iTunes U populates the groups within a Course
page.

Instructors and course managers can create the following types of groups within a Course page:

■ Simple. A Simple group populates track content in a Course page when users explicitly upload
tracks to the course in your iTunes U site.
■ Smart. A Smart group displays tracks in a Course page by performing a search of your site for
all tracks that match the specified criteria.
■ Feed. A Feed group automatically populates track content in a Course page based on the specified
podcast feed URL and details. Course content can be updated on a periodic basis and, depending
on your site settings, can be updated as often as every day.
Using Feed groups, your institution can host content on a local server instead of uploading content
to Apple’s servers, allowing the content to remain inside your institution’s network. This technique
offers multiple forms of distribution from a single source, allows the content to appear in iTunes
U and other podcast aggregation destinations without multiple efforts, and allows your institution
to provide much more content than if it was all uploaded to Apple’s servers.

To create a Simple group:

1. Make sure you are editing a Course page (click Edit Page in the Tools area).

2. Click the Add icon in the tab controls section to create a new group.

3. Type a name for the new group.

4. Choose Simple from the Type pop-up menu.

5. Click the Save icon in the tab controls section to save the new group.

A Simple group populates track content in a Course page when users explicitly upload tracks to the
course in your iTunes U site.

To explicitly upload tracks to the course, click Upload And Manage Files in the Tools area of the
Course page.

To create a Smart group:

20 Creating Group Types

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C H A P T E R 3
Customizing a Course Page

1. Make sure you are editing a Course page (click Edit Page in the Tools area).

2. Click the Add icon in the tab controls section to create a new group.

3. Type a name for the new group.

4. Choose Smart from the Type pop-up menu.

5. Choose one of the following from the Rules pop-up menu:

■ All. Indicates you want iTunes U to combine rules and search for tracks that match all the
rules you define.
■ Any. Indicates you want iTunes U to search for tracks that match at least one of the rules you
define.

6. Choose the criteria you want to search from the pop-up menu.

You can choose one of the following criteria: Title, Album Name, Artist Name, Comment, Course
Description, Group Name, Course Name, Information, Keywords, Description, Lyrics, Kind.

7. Type the criteria text you want to match. For example, you can create a rule with the criteria that
“Title matches physics” or “Artist Name matches John Smith.”

If you selected Kind as your criteria, choose Audio, Video, Audio or Video, or PDF from the
pop-up menu to indicate the media file type(s) you want to match.

8. Click the Add icon to add more rules and combine rules to refine your query, or click the Save
icon to save the rule.

9. Click the Save icon in the tab controls section to save the new group.

A Smart group displays tracks in a Course page by performing a search of your site for all tracks that
match the criteria you specify. Because iTunes U performs a real-time search, tracks displayed in a
Smart group can change each time users access the group.

To create a Feed group:

1. Make sure you are editing a Course page (click Edit Page in the Tools area).

2. Click the Add icon in the tab controls section to create a new group.

3. Type a name for the new group.

4. Choose Feed from the Type pop-up menu.

5. Provide details about the new Feed group using the fields and options provided:

■ Feed URL. Type a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 2.0 full podcast feed URL. To verify that
an RSS podcast feed URL is unique, iTunes U checks the Globally Unique Identifier (GUI),
and then checks the podcast title.
■ Security. If the podcast feed URL is protected by HTTP Basic Authentication, choose HTTP
Basic Authentication from the Security pop-up menu and specify a username and password
in the fields provided. iTunes U uses the credential information to authenticate both the
podcast feed URL and the actual content when users attempt to download content.

Creating Group Types 21

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 C H A P T E R 3
Customizing a Course Page

■ Signature. To enable download authentication, choose Append SHA-256 Signature from the
Signature pop-up menu. iTunes U appends a SHA-256 Signature to both the podcast and
enclosure URLs. Specifically, iTunes U appends:
time=${TIME}&userID=${USER_IDENTIFIER}&signature=${SIGNATURE}, where:
❏ ${TIME} is the time, in seconds, when the URL was generated. Specify time as the number
of seconds from the epoch (midnight January 1, 1970), normalized to GMT.
❏ ${USER_IDENTIFIER} is the unique identifier (userIdentifier) passed to iTunes U in the
identity string for the user who created the Feed group.
❏ ${SIGNATURE} is the SHA-256 signature based on the string containing the first two
arguments ('time=${TIME}&userID=${USER_IDENTIFIER}'), signed with the shared
secret used in your transfer script.

■ “Check for changes.” To check the feed for updates on a daily basis, choose Daily from the
“Check for changes” pop-up menu and provide an email address in “Feed owner email.”
iTunes U uses the email address to report errors when the non-interactive check of the podcast
feed URL fails for any reason. When these periodic checks fail 10 times, iTunes U stops
checking the feed and no longer updates the group content.
To manually update a podcast feed, edit the group and click Apply. iTunes U creates new
tracks for new items, updates existing tracks, and deletes tracks no longer included in the
podcast feed.
■ Status. Displays the status of the last attempt to update the group’s content from the specified
podcast feed URL.

6. Click Apply to save changes.

■ Click Revert to revert any changes you made since the last save.

7. Click the Save icon in the tab controls section to save the new group.

8. Click End Editing.

Note: iTunes U creates a copy of your RSS feed and automatically populates your Feed group track
content based on the copy of the podcast feed URL and the details you specify. When users subscribe
to the feed, they are subscribing to the copy, not your RSS feed directly. Because iTunes U uses a copy
of your RSS feed, iTunes U cannot update Course page track content at the same time the RSS feed
is updated. If you choose Daily from the “Check for changes” pop-up menu, iTunes U can update
the Feed group content on a daily basis.

Adding a Course Image

A Course page includes an image that represents the course. The site administrator might have added
a default image. You can change the default image to an image specific for the course. A thumbnail
version of the image appears on pages used to navigate to the course.

Be sure to include your institution’s identity elements, including color and typeface, logos, seals, or
emblems in course artwork. The use of these identity elements helps your users to immediately
associate your course with your institution, establishes authenticity, and creates value for your content.

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 C H A P T E R 3
Customizing a Course Page

Note: Each track can have its own artwork. The artwork is displayed in the iTunes Now Playing
window when the track is selected or on the iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV during playback. If the site
administrator specifies a preference to overwrite the Artwork field, the course image replaces the
artwork for the track.

Use an image that is 300 x 300 pixels square and in one of the following formats: JPEG, PNG, or GIF.
The file must have the appropriate file extension: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .gif.

To add a course image:

1. Click a course title or thumbnail image in a Public Feature or Welcome page.

The specific Course page appears.

2. Click Edit Page in the Tools area.

3. Click the Upload icon in the upper-left corner of the course image.

iTunes U displays the Upload Artwork webpage in your default web browser so you can select
the file to upload.

4. Click Choose File.

5. Browse for a new file and select it.

6. Click Return to iTunes.

iTunes U uses the image you select as the main image in the Course page. iTunes U also
automatically creates a scaled down version of the image to display as a thumbnail in the pages
used to navigate to the course.

7. Click End Editing.

Adding Course Page Links

Add links in a Course page that point to useful information for students, such as department events,
lecture series by visiting professors, pointers to reference information that pertains to the course, or
the institution website. You use the Links box to create and edit links.

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Customizing a Course Page

To add and edit links in a Course page, click a course title or thumbnail image in a Public Feature or
Welcome page, and then click Edit Page in the Tools area of the Course page you want to update.
When you’re done editing the page, click End Editing.

Use the following table as a quick reference for how to add and edit links in a Course page Links box.

To edit this Take this action

element

Links box titles Click the Edit icon in the Links box title bar for the Links box title you want to
edit, edit the existing Links box title text, and then click the Save icon to save the
new title.
Note: If your iTunes U site is public, iTunes U displays a link (RSS) in the title bar
to an RSS feed view of the contents of the Links box. Control-click the link (or
right-click for Windows) and choose Copy iTunes Store URL from the shortcut
menu to obtain a URL containing the RSS feed.

Multiple Links Click the Add icon above the Links box to add a new Links box below the existing
boxes Links box, and then click the Save icon to save the new Links box.
Notes:
■ To move a Links box up or down one level in the Course page, click the Edit
icon for the Links box you want to move, and then click the Up or Down
Triangle icon.
■ To delete a Links box, click the Edit icon for the Links box you want to delete,
and then click the Delete icon.

Links box links Click the Edit icon in the Links box next to the link you want to edit, edit the
existing link’s title and URL, and then click the Save icon to save the link
information.
Notes:
■ To move a link up or down one level in the Links box, click the Edit icon for
the link you want to move, and then click the Up or Down Triangle icon.
■ To delete a link in the Links box, click the Edit icon for the link you want to
delete, and then click the Delete icon.
■ To add a new link to the Links box, such as to a department webpage, click
the Add icon in the Links box above where you want the new link to appear,
type a title and URL, and then save the new link by clicking the Save icon.

Note: To add links between iTunes U pages, you can copy and paste an iTunes U URL directly into
the Links box Title and URL edit box. Because the link uses the https:// URL protocol, when a user
clicks the link, the user is first redirected to a web browser and then taken to the page, group, or track
defined in the link. To avoid the trip through the web browser, use an iTunes link by changing the
https:// in the URL to itmss://. When iTunes was installed on your system, it added itself as a URL
scheme handler for itmss:// URLs. When a user tries to access an itmss:// URL, if the user has not
already established a session, iTunes U reroutes the user to the Site login URL specified by your site
administrator.

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 C H A P T E R 4

Adding Content

This section describes how you can add content to your iTunes U site by uploading content using the
iTunes U Upload and Mange Files webpage, how you can use podcasting to distribute course content,
and how you can share content using the Tell A Friend link.

Uploading Content

This section describes how you can share files by uploading content to your site. You can use iTunes U
to share audio, video, and PDF files. iTunes, which displays the iTunes U pages, is designed primarily
for audio and video files. Therefore, audio and video file types have importance within iTunes U
because the software is designed to work in conjunction with iTunes, iPod, and iPhone.

It is recommended that your audio files be in AAC or MP3 format with the appropriate file extension
(.m4a or .mp3) and your video files be in MPEG-4 format with H.264 compression and with the
appropriate file extension (.mp4, .m4v, or .mov). PDF booklets must have the .pdf extension. For more
information, see “Supported Formats” (page 7).

Note: Internet Explorer on Windows may have performance limitations when uploading files. For
more information, see the Microsoft Help and Support Site at http://support.microsoft.com/default.as-
px?scid=kb;en-us;329781.

To upload content files:

1. Click a course title or thumbnail image in a Public Feature or Welcome page for the Course page
where you want to add content.

The specific Course page appears.

2. Click Upload And Manage Files in the Tools area.

iTunes U displays the Upload and Manage Files webpage in your default browser so you can
select the files to upload as well as the location where you want to upload the files.

3. Click a tab to indicate the group where you want to upload the files.

4. Click Add New File, click Choose File, and then select the file you want to add.

iTunes U displays a status indicator and begins uploading the file you selected. To cancel the
upload, click the Cancel icon.

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 C H A P T E R 4
Adding Content

■ Repeat this step for each file you want to add to the group.
■ Depending on the browser you are using, you may, for example, click Browse instead of
Choose File to select the track you want to add.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each group in the selected Course page.

6. Move, reorder, replace, or delete files, or edit metadata for files you previously added:

■ To move a file to another group, click the tab for the group where the file currently exists,
select the file’s checkbox, choose Move Selected Files To from the Choose Action pop-up
menu, and then choose the destination group from the pop-up menu.
■ To reorder files within a group, click the tab for the group where you want to reorder files,
and then click the file’s Up or Down Triangle icon to move the file up or down one position
in the list.
■ To replace a file, click the tab for the group where the file currently exists, click the Replace
icon for the file you want to replace, click Choose File, and then select the new file. iTunes U
displays a status indicator and begins uploading the file you selected. To cancel the upload,
click the Cancel icon. Replacing a file rather than deleting and uploading a new file is important
if you want to save previously defined bookmarks and iTunes U popularity index entries
associated with a file.
■ To delete a file, click the tab for the group where the file currently exists, and then click the
file’s Delete icon. To delete multiple files at once, select the files’ checkboxes, and then choose
Delete Files from the Choose Action pop-up menu.
■ To edit file metadata, click the file’s Edit icon, type a new file Name or Artist, and then click
the Save icon to save your metadata changes.

7. Click Done.

iTunes U displays the new content in the Course page groups and updates track or podcast
information (for example, the number of tracks per group) and controls.

Notes:

■ iTunes U only accepts files for upload that are less than 500 megabytes (MB). To create smaller
files, try editing down information within the file or using high-quality compressed file formats,
such as AAC and H.264.
■ You cannot use the Upload and Manage Files webpage to work with files within a Smart or Feed
group. iTunes U dynamically generates the contents for Smart and Feed group types. To modify
these group types, use the Course page tab editing features within iTunes U.
■ After a file is uploaded, only the instructor or course manager (or another user with editing access)
can move, reorder, replace, delete, or edit the file.

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 C H A P T E R 4
Adding Content

Using Podcasts

Podcasting provides a convenient, subscription-based model for distributing course content. Podcasting
makes your course content mobile and supports anywhere, anytime learning. Students can subscribe
to the course and have the content automatically downloaded as soon as it is made available. Podcasting
is most useful in courses where content is frequently added.

Your site administrator controls whether or not podcasting is a feature available within Course pages
at your institution. Because distributing content via podcasting might be a security concern at your
institution, it might not be available. If podcasting is available, users see a Subscribe button in the
Course page. Clicking Subscribe allows users to subscribe to the selected podcast and use the
podcasting features in iTunes.

The podcasting feature in iTunes U was created for ease of use and therefore does not require iTunes U
to re-authorize users upon each podcast download. When a user first subscribes to a course or group,
iTunes U verifies that the user has access permissions to the course or group. After the initial
subscription, iTunes U does not re-authorize the user to verify that the user still has permissions to
view or download course content. For example, if a student enrolls in a course, clicks Subscribe, and
downloads course content, the student continues to receive the podcast content even after the student
drops the course or leaves your institution.

Note: When a user subscribes to a podcast, iTunes U displays all information fields (for example,
Course name, Group name, Track name, and Comment) in the Description column in the Podcasts
library.

Sharing Content with Friends

If your site is included within the iTunes Store, users can use the Tell A Friend link in the Tools area
of courses to share content they discover with friends, thereby increasing the amount of new users
to your site. Personal references to content from friends provides a simple way for new users to
discover public content in your iTunes U site.

To send an email and share iTunes U content with friends:

1. Click Tell A Friend in the Tools area of an iTunes U site within the iTunes Store.

2. Type an email address for the friend you want to share content with and, optionally, a message
about the content.

3. Click Send.

A thank you page appears.

4. Click Done.

The Course page appears again and iTunes U sends your friend an email with a link to the content
page.

Notes:

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Adding Content

■ If you are logged in to iTunes when you click Tell A Friend, iTunes U automatically populates
the From and Your Email fields with your user information.
■ iTunes U does not save any user information you enter in the Tell A Friend page.

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 C H A P T E R 5

Controlling User Access

This section describes how you can control a user’s permissions and actions to iTunes U groups based
on a user’s credentials and the access levels you specify.

Understanding Credentials and User Access

If you have edit access for a Course page, you can define the access users have to each group within
the Course page, thus determining the activities the users can perform in each group. The combination
of a user’s credentials and the specific group access you assign to the credential defines the permissions
and actions the user has within the group.

Each user can have different access for every page, group, or hierarchy of pages within the site. The
access defined for a user at a Public Feature page, Welcome page, or Course page level is inherited
throughout all descendant pages of the site, unless overridden by a descendant page definition.

For example, if a user has download access at the site’s root Welcome page, the user automatically
receives download access to the page’s descendants. If a user has more than one credential per page
(users can have up to 100 credentials), iTunes U grants access to the page based on the highest level
of access defined by all the user’s credentials. This means that if a user has download access to a page
with one credential and Shared access to the page with another credential, the user automatically
receives the higher-level Shared access to the page. Also, if your site administrator specified a Group
Access Label for the credential, the user will have Shared access to every group within the page until
it is overridden. If the site administrator did not specify a Group Access Label for the credential when
defining access, you will not be able to assign group-level access for the credential for that user.

Note: If you have edit access for a Course page, and a Group Access Label was defined for your
credential, you receive edit access for each group within the page, and iTunes U displays your
credential and access as read-only in the Access pop-up menu. To change your group-level access,
use the Course page’s Edit Access page. For details, consult your site administrator.

Assigning User Access to Groups

The access options you select determine the permissions and actions a user can perform in the specific
iTunes U group, including whether he or she can even view the group.

Understanding Credentials and User Access 29

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 C H A P T E R 5
Controlling User Access

Use this permission For this result

No Access Users assigned No Access cannot see the group. Only the instructor and course
manager (or another user with editing access) can see the group.

Download Users assigned Download can access the group and download content from
the group. Only the instructor or course manager (or another user with editing
access) can upload content to the group.

Drop Box Users assigned Drop Box can access the group and upload content to the group.
Users with this permission see only the items they uploaded, not those of other
users. Only the instructor or course manager (or another user with editing
access) can see all of the contents.

Shared Users assigned Shared can access the group and upload and download content
from the group.

Edit Users assigned Edit can access the group and upload, download, and delete
content from the group.

When you define user access to a Course page group, iTunes U automatically updates the user’s
group-level access. This access does not change unless you explicitly change it. Even if the site
administrator updates access for the user’s credential on a parent page, iTunes U retains the access
you defined at the group level.

To assign user access to a group:

1. Make sure you are editing a Course page (click Edit Page in the Tools area).

2. Click the Edit icon in the tab whose group-level user access you want to define.

3. Choose the access level you want to assign to a user from the user’s Access pop-up menu.

iTunes U automatically updates your site access rules and assigns the permission to the user.

Note: If no Group Access Label was defined for a user’s credential in a parent page’s Edit Access
page, the user does not appear in the Access box and you cannot assign group-level access for
the user.

4. Repeat step 3 for each user you want to assign access for the selected group.

5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each group in the Course page.

6. Click End Editing.

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C H A P T E R 6

About Track Preferences

iTunes U allows the site administrator to control the information field preferences for all content
distributed through your institution’s iTunes U site. By controlling the information field preferences,
the site administrator can ensure that the fields are used consistently for all the content. The site
administrator can also specify the location where tracks are downloaded, as well as a site preference
to turn podcasting on or off for Course pages.

For example, the site administrator could specify that the Album field always contains the course
title and that the Genre field always contains the institution name. The site administrator can also set
up iTunes U so that all content from the institution’s iTunes U site appears in an institution playlist.

Any data the site administrator defines for track preferences overwrites information you previously
defined for the fields. The site administrator can overwrite a track’s Album, Artwork, Genre, Comment,
and Artist fields. To see if your site administrator has specified data for these fields, upload a file to
iTunes U and then download that same file. In iTunes, locate the file and see if the information in the
fields has changed. If a site administrator has set a preference to download content to a specific playlist,
that playlist appears in the Source list of iTunes when you download content from iTunes U.

Note: If the site administrator specifies to override comment data with upload information, instructors
and course managers cannot use the Comments field to communicate with their students. Any
comments the instructor, course manager, or student might write about content they have uploaded
are overwritten with information about when the track was uploaded to iTunes U.

The content you upload into iTunes U can include information fields, such as Name or Artist.
Information fields help students locate and organize their iTunes U content after they download it
to their computers, iPod music players, iPhone, and Apple TV. For more information on these fields,
see Creating Content for iPod + iTunes located at http://www.apple.com/support/itunes_u.

Before you upload content to your iTunes U site, use iTunes to add or edit track information to provide
helpful details and extra information for students and others (Control-click the track, choose Get Info
from the shortcut menu, click the Info tab, and then add or edit the track information fields).

If you use helpful and specific information, students can find the content more quickly and easily.
iTunes U can display the following fields for each track:

Field Suggested use

Name Track title, for example, Easter Island and Darwin or Digital Storytelling

Time Track length

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 C H A P T E R 6
About Track Preferences

Field Suggested use

Artist Instructor or Speaker name

Album Course title, Department, or Group/Person who created the content

Comment Additional information, such as assignment details or upload information

Genre Broad category, for example, by subject, by organization (such as institution name),
or by type (such as podcast)

Disc Number Order in which a disc appears in a multi-disc CD set

Track Number Order in which a track appears on a CD

Year The year a track was recorded

The information for each track appears in columns within the Course page. You can change which
columns iTunes U displays on your computer. Choose View > View Options and select the columns
you want to appear. Information in track fields other than those listed above is saved when you
upload and download a file, but iTunes U does not display the information in the Course page tracklist
area.

Note: For non-encrypted PDF files, iTunes U maps PDF fields to iTunes U information fields. For
example, iTunes U maps the PDF Author field to the iTunes U track Artist field and the PDF Subject
field to the track Album field.

When a user downloads an object from iTunes U (for example, a track or podcast), depending on
how the site administrator set up your site and defined your track preferences, along with which
button the user clicks, iTunes copies the object to the iTunes library, Podcasts library, or Source list,
such as the institution playlist. For more details, see the following table:

When you click this iTunes U takes this action

button

Get (or Get Song or Get Downloads the selected object into your iTunes library, as well as into your
Movie) institution’s playlist, if specified by your site administrator.

Get Track(s) Downloads all objects in the selected Course page into your iTunes library,
as well as into your institution’s playlist, if specified by your site
administrator.

Subscribe Subscribes to the podcast and downloads the most recent episode into your
iTunes Podcasts library. As new episodes become available, if you are
connected to the Internet, the iTunes application automatically downloads
the new episodes. Recently added episodes that have not been downloaded
to iTunes appear dimmed. For more information on podcasts, see the iTunes
online help.

When a user double-clicks an object to preview content, iTunes U previews the entire track, not just
30 seconds. If users have trouble previewing an object, you can check the following items.

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C H A P T E R 6
About Track Preferences

■ Available bandwidth. A video might not preview due to low bandwidth, as it takes several
minutes to download enough content to begin playing a few frames of the video.
■ Video encoding. A video might not preview if the video was encoded in a way that requires more
data to be downloaded before it can begin playing certain frames.
■ Video format. A video might not preview if the video is not flattened. Flatten all movies in
iTunes U using the Self Contained option in QuickTime Pro.

Note: To download an object from an iTunes U page or group, users must have download access to
the specific page or group.

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 C H A P T E R 6
About Track Preferences

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 C H A P T E R 7

Using iTunes Search

This section describes how to use the iTunes search field (in the upper-right corner of the iTunes
window) to find information in your iTunes U site, including how to add additional keywords for
your search, narrow your search, and use the iTunes Power Search tool.

Searching Your iTunes U Site

You can use the iTunes search field to quickly locate items in your iTunes U site. When you search
for items within your iTunes U site, iTunes U displays results that contain the text you entered based
on matches within specific fields, including page name, group name, track title, artist name, album
name, comments, lyrics, and course descriptions.

To find an item in your iTunes U site:

1. Click the search field.

2. Type the text you want to find.

3. Press the Return key.

In the top half of the Search Results window, iTunes U displays up to four unique iTunes U pages
that contain the most relevant matches to the text you entered (for example, a track title match
has a higher relevance than another information field match). Clicking a page in the Search Results
window displays the Welcome page, Public Feature page, or Course page with the first tab
selected.

In the tracklist area of the Search Results window, iTunes U displays the items that contain the
text you entered, sorted by relevance.

To view comments matching the search results for the Comment column, make sure iTunes is
displaying the Comment column (choose View > View Options).

To see all your items again, click the Back button in the navigation bar.

For MPEG-4 files, you can also search on keyword, description, and information fields. iTunes sets
the information field when a user edits the Grouping field in the iTunes Get Info page for an MPEG-4
file. For ID3-compliant files, you can also search on the TIT1 and TIT3 fields. iTunes sets the ID3 TIT1
field when a user edits the Grouping field in the iTunes Get Info page for an ID3-compliant file.

Searching Your iTunes U Site 35

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 C H A P T E R 7
Using iTunes Search

To add additional keywords for iTunes U to search:

1. Control-click the track where you want to add keywords, then choose Get Info from the shortcut
menu that appears.

2. Click the Info tab.

3. Add keywords to the Grouping field.

When searching your iTunes U site, after a track title, keywords in the Grouping field have the
second-highest matching relevance.

4. Click OK.

Narrowing Your Search

If your iTunes U site is included in the iTunes Store directory and you search your site from within
the iTunes Store, your initial search returns all matches throughout all iTunes U sites, as well as all
matches throughout the iTunes Store.

To narrow your initial search to your iTunes U site:

1. Click the iTunes U category in the Search Results window.

2. Click Power Search.

3. Type a title, description, or institution name in the search fields.

4. Click Search or press the Enter key.

Searching Using Power Search

To add a power search tool within your iTunes U site:

1. Click Power Search in the QUICK LINKS box within iTunes U in the iTunes Store.

2. Click the iTunes U category in the Search Results window.

3. Type your institution name in the Institution search field.

4. Click Search or press the Enter key.

5. Drag the Search Results navigation bar to an open plain text file. For example:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?media=iTunesU
&searchButton=submit&titleTerm=&descriptionTerm=&institutionTerm=cupertinou

6. Copy and paste the URL from step 5 into a new link in a Links box within your iTunes U site.

36 Narrowing Your Search

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R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y

Document Revision History

This table describes the changes to Apple Education - iTunes U User's Guide.

Date Notes

2008-04-29 This release includes the following updates to the iTunes U service:
Welcome page enhancements, including description text, multiple Links
boxes, and narrow or wide sections; Themes, providing a new functionality
that allows your site administrator to create a set of color and appearances
settings, define them as a theme, and apply them to each page in your
iTunes U site; iTunes U in the iTunes Store now includes a Tell A Friend
link in every Course page; plus additional enhancements and bug fixes.

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 R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y
Document Revision History

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