Learn something you want to learn today! Visit iTunes U.

I am deeply impressed by iTunes U.

I cyclically grow tired of listening to music (gasp!) so this has given my iPod a second life.

There is something eerily sublime about listening to Quentin Skinner’s lecture on What is Freedom? while working my way through Metro Manila traffic.

Last night while waiting for a concert to begin I listened to a lecture on how to prepare the mind to favor chances. It took the old adage, “Chance favors the prepared mind” to whole new heights and was rife with examples you have to hear to believe.

And last Friday just before my first class, I listened to an inspiring and provocative talk by Denise Clark on “how we are creating a generation of stressed-out, materialistic, and miseducated students.” It was so good that it almost made me send my class off on a free period.

iTunes U is compatible with the way I learn which is highly contextual. I learn in the pursuit of answers to practical questions and problems I encounter in my everyday life. A lot of what I know now of Asian history was built while trying to add value to an aging syllabus and improving the way I handle questions in class. Moreover, I seek out insights into teaching itself and appreciate it when I encounter speakers who can add to what I know about today’s youth and how they interact with technology, and how we teachers can prepare our students for the knowledge economy.

I highly recommend iTunes U to everyone, especially if you have a genuine love of learning that requires no external force to get you going.

You don’t even need an iPod; just a computer with iTunes on it and a healthy Internet connection. I suggest you give it a try and learn something you really want to learn today!

Tomorrow, my classes have their first mock trial in a series of three. The topic is the Sepoy rebellion and to prime myself I am listening to a lecture by Stanford historian David Abernathy on the consolidation of British power in India from the mid-18th century onwards. I don’t even have to open a book; I just enjoy the drive to work.

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3 Responses to Learn something you want to learn today! Visit iTunes U.

Hi sir!

I visited your blog and saw this entry. I was intrigued with your description of Dennis Clark’s talk, so I downloaded it. Really funny, but it had the opposite effect on me. I realized how hard others are working, and just how tight competition is out there. There are rarely students here that aim as high as Ms. Clark’s subjects (or at least none that I know of), and it made me shape up; because I realize that if I’m going to aim higher than UP for my master’s degree, I really better pick my game up. Thanks a real lot for sharing the link I think it would be nice to let students hear this, too. I wish I heard it way back in high school.