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University of Wisconsin, McGraw-Hill Education Team Up to Bring the Best of Digital Learning to Students

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 09:00 CDT

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) student taking a public speaking class carefully watches a video on her laptop to see a selection of great speeches. Nearby, a student taking physiology uses his iPod to watch conceptual animation of human anatomy. A third student in her dorm room is getting some supplemental help through her desktop computer to understand the principles presented in accounting class.

All these students are using UW's iTunes U site to access new content provided through a pilot program with McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a leading global provider of high quality content and services to educational institutions and instructors.

The university had a very strong Podcasting program using Apple's iTunes U, a free, hosted content distribution system allowing colleges and universities to provide students and faculty easy access to their educational materials. Incorporating McGraw-Hill's media-rich educational content is allowing the university to enhance student learning and engage students in new ways.

This initiative also is giving students the opportunity to directly participate in the development of the next generation of the digital content through research conducted in the pilot classrooms.

"We are very excited about the opportunities for digital distribution of our content being explored through this Wisconsin pilot," said Rik Kranenburg, president of the McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Professional, and International Group. "Our leading education materials provide a real benefit to teaching and learning in a format students and faculty are already using: iTunes and iPod."

The instructors also are excited about the developments. Kevin Strang, an instructor for physiology, said, "Having the new McGraw-Hill material available through iTunes U allowed me to enhance my course lectures with my lecture recording as well as textbook animations of core concepts."

This fall, McGraw-Hill Higher Education will support numerous iTunes U course pilots at Wisconsin. Based on feedback from the university, instructors, and students, McGraw-Hill Higher Education is poised to create the next "best of breed" distributable content to enhance student learning and ease the teaching task.

"We have been very happy with the adoption and success of the Podcasting initiative and iTunes U here at the University of Wisconsin," said Kathy Christoph, the university's director of technology. "McGraw-Hill has been very helpful in supporting our faculty and students while enriching iTunes U courses with ready-made content. We could not have asked for a better partner."

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. It is a division of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education

CONTACT: Tom StantonMcGraw-Hill Education+1-212-904-2078tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.comBrian RustUniversity of Wisconsin+1-603-263-9484rust@doit.wisc.edu

Web site: http://www.mheducation.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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