First, do you want to listen to your lectures on your MP3 player or iPod? If so, the easiest way to find and download academic lectures or full courses is at the Apple iTunes music store. If you don’t already have it, download a copy of the iTunes software, and after you launch it, navigate your way to iTunes U.
(For more details on installing iTunes see get iTunes .)
On the left side of the screen you will see links to the dozens of colleges and universities which have posted content on iTunes. Unfortunately, most of the schools have very limited offerings, mainly promotional materials to attract new students.
Check out my Guide to iTunesU for recommended courses and lectures.
If you use a non-Apple brand MP3 player, you can still use iTunesU to download your lectures and courses. You’ll just have to navigate to the right folders on your hard disk to manually transfer the files to your MP3 player. IPod users can simply synch their iTunes libraries with their mobile devices.
If you would prefer to watch/listen to your lectures at your computer, you can use the iTunes software to play your downloaded lectures. You also have some other interesting options.
- You can view lectures and courses on YouTube. (See OpenCulture’s guide to university lectures on YouTube.)
- You can watch short videos featuring ideas from well-known writers and intellectuals at BigThink.com. Check out psychologist Steven Pinker discussing human nature in this 10 minute clip.
- ForaTV is another site featuring streaming video interviews and lectures by a prominent writers and intellectuals.
- The MIT Open Courseware site offers many courses in streaming video.
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Filed under: Courses, Getting started, Lectures, Tools | Tagged: iTunesU, MIT, open courseware, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCSD
