Apple Thoughts: Virginia and iTunes U

"Last week, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine launched a series of new K-12 education initiatives that includes Virginia on iTunes U and a program to develop new mobile education apps to help students learn math."

Over 200 colleges and universities participate in the iTunes U program as well as over a dozen K-12 schools. There are also other agencies and groups in the program such as the Smithsonian, but it never hurts to have more. Virginia plans to use the program to support the Virginia Standards of Learning, and all content will have to be approved through the Virginia Department of Education. In conjunction with this initiative, they are also starting a Learning Apps Development Challenge for iPhone developers, to develop an application "focused on middle school mathematics standards of learning." The winner will be announced late June during the National Educational Computing Challenge.