March 26, 2008

BCC’s I-Tunes U Site Fills 100,000 Subscriptions; Apple
Gives College New Gateway That Only Handful Of Other Colleges Have
-BCC i-Tunes Initiative Will Be Featured At 88th Annual Conference of American Association of Community Colleges Annual Conference In April-

(TOWN OF DICKINSON, NY) Broome Community College President Dr. Laurence Spraggs today highlighted that the college’s ITunes U initiative has delivered more than 100,000 subscription feeds since its debut last summer.

“The fact that we’ve surpassed the one-hundred-thousand mark illustrates the overwhelming interest that exists in college related programs, classes and activities,” said Dr. Spraggs. “There are literally thousands of individuals around the world who are exposed to Broome Community College and who download content on a daily basis.”

Broome’s I-Tunes U initiative has been so successful that Apple has provided the College with a new ITunes store gateway that is only available to a handful of the public and private academic institutions that have the I-Tunes U designation. The new site allows the College to better highlight specific programs and new content, and to display to downloads in real time. The brand new gateway has already delivered more than one-thousand podcast subscription feeds.

“The I-Tunes U initiative is one of the most successful technology initiatives the College has had to date,” said Public Affairs Officer Richard David. “The fact that Apple has provided Broome with a coveted new design that is sought after by many of the Ivy League institutions illustrates the caliber and quality of BCC’s initiative.”

According to Apple there are approximately 500 public and private academic institutions that have received the iTunes U designation over the course of the last 5 years. Approximately 30 of these institutions are featured on Apple’s iTunes U web site because of their diverse variety of content. Broome Community College is the first and only Community College to be featured on this site.

Through iTunes U, BCC students and community members can access a variety of BCC lectures, classes, discussions, debates, video news releases, audio and video interviews with college faculty and staff, campus life activities, arts and musical performances, and so much more.

iTunes U is a free, hosted service for colleges and universities that provides easy access to their educational content, including lectures and interviews, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Based on the same easy-to-use technology of the iTunes Stores, iTunes U also offers typical Apple simplicity and portability.

Through iTunes U, students can download content to their Macs or PCs, regardless of their location. They can listen to and view that content on their Mac or PC, or transfer it to an iPod for listening or viewing on the go. Instructors can easily post and change content on their own without impacting the IT department. And, of course, students can upload their own content to share with professors or with the class.

iTunes U is a very powerful way to manage a broad range of audio or video content and make it available quickly and easily to students, faculty and staff.

Broome’s I-Tunes U initiative will be highlighted at the 88th annual conference of the American Association of Community Colleges, which takes place in Philadelphia, PA from April 5-7. A delegation from the College has been invited to make a presentation. There will be Community Colleges from across the country in attendance.

BCC iTunes U can be accessed through www.sunybroome.edu.