For those of you who are looking to expand your mental horizons in 2008, my son has clued me into the world of i-Pod U, a series of lectures and courses from major universities that are available for free on the i-tunes music store.
You don't even need an i-pod, you can listen to the lectures right on your computer, but an i-pod makes them portable--great for plane rides or long walks. I perused the offerings a bit last night and was impressed. MIT and Cal Berkeley are in the forefront of offering entire courses, in keeping with their open coursework philosophy. These schools were among the first to file share among peers so it makes sense that they are course sharing with the world. Others like Penn and Yale offer lectures from dignitaries that visit campus, and the Writers House at Penn has an interesting selection of talks from some prominent writers.
Stanford also has a most intriguing selection, including one that I plan on downloading for an upcoming plane ride about Hannibal crossing the Alps. Apparently it explains ones of the great mysteries of history: how Hannibal actually crossed the alps on elephant. If you've ever flown over or skied the Alps, you have got to be amazed at this accomplishment.
It is probably only a matter of time before more universities jump on this bandwagon. I know Princeton offered an on-line course (for $30!) this semester devoted entirely to reading War and Peace. The culmination of the class was a trip to NYC to see the recent Met production of the mega-opera. I was intrigued but never actually signed up.
This is another way that technology is changing the way we gather information and I think it's important to keep all channels open.
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