COSA on iTunes U provides free college-and-career-readiness standards-aligned course content for Oregon classroom teachers in the four core subject areas of mathematics, science, social studies and English language arts. COSA on iTunes U makes it easy for teachers to access high-quality digital content that aligns to college and career readiness standards from the App Store, iBookstore, the iTunes Store, and other web-based sources that align to college and career readiness standards.

In the first phase of the COSA on iTunes U initiative, digital content for 12 middle and high school courses was created and curated by 50 Oregon teachers COSA brought together in May for two days of collaborative course development.  The teachers, with support from COSA, have continued since then to work in online content teams to refine and augment content in each of the courses. Participating districts in the first phase of the project include: Beaverton, Bend-La Pine, Canby, Cascade, Central Point, Corvallis, Creswell, Eagle Point, Eugene, Forest Grove, Grant County, Gresham-Barlow, Ione, McMinnville, Newberg, Parkrose, Portland, Tillamook and Willamina.  A second phase of the initiative is anticipated during the 2014-15 school year.

To access COSA on iTunes U course content, go to COSA on iTunes U.

For more information, please contact: Colin Cameron.

iTunes U and COSA

With more than 1 billion downloads, iTunes U is the world’s largest online catalog of free educational content that helps educators create courses, including lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabi, and offers them to millions of iOS users around the world.  COSA was prompted to launch this initiative by the increasing number of iPad implementations in Oregon school districts, the desire among Oregon educators to provide more student-centered and college-and-career-readiness-aligned instruction, and the fiscal challenges Oregon schools experience in trying to purchase both digital curriculum and digital devices for student use.