Today saw the first release of an OU App for iPhone and iPod Touch from our Marketing Department into the Apple App store. Apple’s online location for mobile applications has proved very popular, with over two billion downloads of over a hundred thousand apps; so we will not get too excited about our ability to impact this particular channel. On the other hand, we are right to get excited by the ability of our fantastic team to plug in some very cool educational thinking into new and emerging platforms.
According to Paul Hogan from KMi’s Mobile Innovation Group, "this release flags the start of an exciting process into 2010. We are currently working on a set of new concept teaching Apps with OU faculty. Watch this space in the new year, and get your iPhone ready!".
This first App was produced by the OU Marketing team to promote the 2009 celebrations that mark the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th Anniversary of his book ‘On the Origin of Species’. The Darwin website has a very nice online version (using Flash) of this application that connects with some simple and fun concepts and helps you learn more about Darwin’s theory of evolution. Like the website version the App for Apple’s store is free to download, and points back to the University to lead the curious towards a learning journey with us.
The App makes good use of the built in mobile camera, so that it is very quick and easy to see yourself and your friends though the eyes of an ‘early hominid’. Maybe it will make you want to find out more about who ‘Homo Habilis’ really was!
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