15.05.10. Virtual world is opening up learning for all

OU students have downloaded 17 million podcasts via Apple's iTunes U service and the university has four YouTube channels

Geology students at the Open University no longer have to wait for boxes of rocks to be sent to their homes so they can examine their structure. Since February they have been able to use a virtual microscope instead. The university has always pioneered the use of new technologies to teach. First it was television. Open University programmes were (and still are) also broadcast on BBC radio. Video tapes, audio tapes and CDs followed. Today there are interactive DVDs, podcasts and the internet. The latter can be accessed through devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry. The site currently offers 301 Open University albums containing 2,588 tracks, of which 1,010 are audio and 1,478 video. Read full text here.