Open University Gains a Million Course Subscribers via iTunes U iPad App

Open University, the institution known for long distance learning has reported that 52 of its courses have collectively hit 50 million downloads through iTunes U in 15 months. The institution also reports that the new iTunes U iPad app that was launched only on 19^th of January this year has helped attract 1 million new subscribers to courses by the learning institution. This bit of news signifies a new direction for Apple as it seems to indicate an increased awareness for education.

The 50 million global downloads to-date is substantiated by an extra 40,000 new downloads each day. With numbers of such magnitude, Martin Bean Vice-Chancellor said in a written statement, “we know that students value our high-quality learning materials, and that is really underlined by the speed with which we have reached one million iTunes U app course subscribers.”

Open University’s courses are delivered in Apple’s iBook format in the iTunes U app itself. The module includes photos, videos along with interactive diagrams that appear beside the course texts. Courses such as ‘The New Entrepreneurs’ course has 100,000 students active via the iPad app alone, and besides that, the institution has mentioned that another six courses have managed to reach 50,000 each through the app as well.