Last week Apple expanded the free content available through iTunes U, which previously only offered lectures and videos from select universities. The new iTunes U “Beyond Campus” section will supply a host of materials ranging from recordings of Supreme Court arguments and public radio broadcasts on the civil rights movement to video interviews with sculptor Richard Serra.

Apple is launching “Beyond Campus” with six initial partners; including, public radio producer American Public Media; Smithsonian Global Sound; The Museum of Modern Art in New York; and KQED public radio and television in San Francisco.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, suggests that a larger learning catalog for anyone — in college or not — helps to broaden the appeal of Apple’s iTunes and iPod franchises. He states, “We found that there’s a lot of educational content from other parties, and we thought it’d be a great opportunity to leverage iTunes U.”

Of course, those of us exploring the iPhone for use in academic settings are waiting a bit for the other shoe to drop: namely, now that we can get to the iTunes store over WiFi, when will we be able to access iTunes U? That would make all of this great content even more useful — and would match it with the very audiences it was designed to serve. So if anyone from Apple’s reading this, why don’t you forward that suggestion on up the line. Access to iTunes U’s educational content from an iPhone or a Touch would really broaden the appeal… And the utility.

For other articles on iTunes U “Beyond Campus” check out AP and MacNN.