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ASCD Offers Free Professional Development Materials On iTunes U

• By Mike Hohenbrink
• 03/05/12

Educational software and service provider ASCD has begun to offer professional development resources for educators at no cost through iTunes U.

The iTunes U site, hosted by Apple, is a free service that enablesK-12 and post-secondary educators to share educational materials. Educators will now see items from the ASCD library of materials through an ASCD channel on iTunes U.

The new ASCD channel will offer resources for educators on topics ranging from Common Core State Standards to school reform. Resources available will include discussions and tips on assessment, teacher effectiveness, strategies in the classroom, and more.

Multimedia offerings available on the channel will include audio and video, accessible anywhere through devices such as an iPad, iPhone, or an iPod touch in addition to desktop and laptop computers equipped with iTunes.

Materials available on the ASCD channel include:

• Webinars;Archived conference presentations
• ;Author interviews; and
• Video profiles of educators.

Currently, material on the ASCD iTunes U channel is taken from existing resources that are already available elsewhere. ASCD reported it will seek to develop content exclusively for iTunes U at a later time.

The ASCD channel is available by searching for "ASCD" on iTunes, or it can be accessed directly.

Users can also manage multiple ASCD feeds, which are in turn updated automatically by ASCD.

“ASCD is delighted to offer our wealth of multimedia content to educators through the new iTunes U,” said ASCD Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Gene R. Carter. “We are excited to use this technology to assist educators in accessing our professional development resources for free, anywhere and anytime. We look forward to releasing new content on iTunes U in the future.”

With members and affiliates from more than 145 countries, non-profit ASCD has more than 150,000 members around the world. More information is available at ascd.org.