Biola, already an Apple campus, is now going to participate in a new “virtual university” program with iTunes.

iTunes, already known as a powerhouse in the music world, is now partnering with the academic world. In upcoming months, Biola will be uploading content onto iTunes U ( iTunes University), making university produced multimedia content available to the world. The audio and video lectures Biola uploads will be accessible to anyone who uses iTunes — Mac or PC user.

iTunes U is a division of the iTunes online store that offers free downloads of over 200,000 educational audio and video files contributed by leading universities. Among the institutions already represented on iTunes U are Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale.

Biola already podcasts chapel messages through iTunes, but the school’s iTunes U page will offer much more content.

“The bulk of it will be academic material,” said Brenda Velasco, public relations manager for Biola’s Integrated Marketing Communications Department (IMC). “We hope it will introduce Biola to new audiences.”

Biola hopes to launch its iTunes U page in the early months of 2010. IMC is taking charge of the project initially by gathering content from professors and guiding the school through Apple’s qualification process. But the long-term vision is to turn over the responsibility to the school’s individual departments, said Velasco. The iTunes U page would function as a “portal for many different groups to contribute to,” she said.

Involvement in iTunes U directly aligns with President Corey’s University Plan that will be published in upcoming months, said Velasco. One of the initiatives in the plan is to “establish a center for Christian thought at Biola.”

In addition to challenging class lectures, Biola will post content about social issues, covered from a thoughtful Christian perspective. Although the department cannot say with certainty what specific topics will be covered, they envision the iTunes U page as “a place for people to come learn what it is to be a Christian,” Velasco said.

Though many use iTunes as a music player, few Biolans have heard of iTunes U.
Daniel Menjivar, a junior history major, said he tries to spend time learning outside class. He estimates that he spends 1 to 2 hours a week listening to podcasts he downloads or gets from the school library. He is intrigued that he will be able to check out informative Biola-generated content on iTunes U for free.

Taylor Hertel, a junior communications major, was also enticed by the concept. Hertel said she would like to see Biola post some if its theology classes and biblical studies content, which she said would be useful even to students at other schools.