The iTunes store has been a great resource for educational pods and vods for sometime. I’ve been incorporating their podcasts in all of my Blackboard courses for some time now. The biggest problem I’ve had it navigating around the podcasts to find material which made the process more time consuming than it needed to be. However, the rewards far outweighed the pain.

Thanks to Steve Jobs and his friends I can now sit more comfortably because he has made the iTunes store more user-friendly by adding two new features.

The first is a back-button like then one on your web browser. It works that same way too so you won’t need any training on this feature. It may not seem like a big deal but I spend a lot of time at the iTunes store and it’s more than worth its weight in gold.

The more exciting new feature is iTunes U! Apple has recognized how significant their podcasts are to the education community and so they’ve reorganized the store to make shopping easier for educators. Thank you Apple!  

Click here to check out the iTunes U online announcement.

This primer is for you if you have no idea what a podcast is. It explains what a podcast is and why you might be interested in them. You’ll also learn several ways to find podcasts and how to play them. No, this primer does not teach you how to make a podcast. Look for that in an upcoming blog.

The podcast primer is made available by the folks at Open Culture. Click here to surf to the primer.

The Mac is my preferred computer. I’ve been using them ever since I resigned from Gateway 2000. So, I would be remiss not to blog about tech news vods focusing on Macs.

MacBreak is probably the best one you’ll encounter these days. Each program focuses on one topic. This issue is on flipit, an online protein folding game for all ages. The video is crisp and clean and the audio superb. This is one to watch as I’m sure other teachers will find material here to include in their online courses.

Click here to surf out to MacBreak’s home page. Unfortunately you will have to download the vod if you go to their website. An alternative is to go to the iTunes store and search for it in the Technology podcasts. 

Its important to keep current in my field but finding the time to read all of the professional journals is tough. I’m also responsible to pass along tools that will help my students keep informed after they graduate. Fortunately there are a number of pods and vods out there dedicated to bringing us the highlights of technology news so you can catch up while surfing the net!  

dl.tv is one of the news services I tune into occasionally. Its a vod (video podcast) so I find it more captivating and its full of geek humor. There is a new release every week. Yes, some of us actually do get geek humor. The programs vary from 30 to 40 minutes depending on the topics covered. Its fun to listen to the excitement in the hosts voices as the carry on. And dl.tv has credibility being published by Ziff-Davis; the publisher of PC Magazine.

I just viewed the July 10th, 2008 release. It includes the quirky news highlights, a product review of a solar-powered backpack, a demonstration of several “really sweet” interactive websites including Autopsy, Kaleidoscope, Crime Reports, and more . There is also a discussion on troubleshooting video delay problems.

Click here to visit dl.tv’s website to see their latest program.

How do they do it? The are sponsored by GoDaddy.com.

I like this vod so much I added I link to it on my blog.