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There is a change in how education is being distributed, from elementary school to the college and university level. This is the time to ask yourself, "What do you want to learn?" I posed the question because there may be a free or open source education content that can fit your limited time availability, your energy and your desire to learn a subject.
These are the beginning stages of an educational transformation. There is phenomenal educational content waiting for engagement. The class you need to feed your soul maybe as close as an mp3 recording or a video ready for download.
What You Need
Actually, you might not need anything more than what you have installed on your computer. A connection to the Internet, a software media player or two and time. If you have an audio mp3 player, a multimedia player or cell phone that can play mp3 and video files you are good to go. You don’t necessarily need an Apple Nano, iTouch or iPhone to access content, but it doesn’t hurt either.
If you don’t have iTunes you can download it from the Apple website. Always check out the specs to make sure that your system can handle the software and that you have sufficient hard drive space for the program. Windows users will also need to download the QuickTime player to view certain content.
If you already have a Windows version of the QuickTime player make sure it is the most current version. And a new addition there is now documents in the Adobe PDF in iTunes for certain courses. This means you need to have a current version of the Adobe Reader or alternative software that can open that file format.
Apple iTunesU
Accessing iTunesU is easier than it use to be. All you have to do enter the iTunes store, locate the menu bar toward the top of the screen and select iTunesU. The content provides range from K-12 school districts, college and universities, (American) National Public Radio, American Public Media, The British Broadcasting Corporation, and many libraries, educational non-profit organizations, museums and more.
There is a Power search option that will help you target specific content providers and also help you locate closed captioned media inside of iTunes. You will find class lectures, presentations or special seminar events that have been recorded; either as an audio, video or document. You can select one file or subscribe to an entire course.
This means that if you had a hankering for Philosophy and the Human Situation from the (UK) Open University it is yours to listen or download. Free. No Charge. Bupkis. Same with Einstein and the Mind of God from American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith program. It gets better because there are transcripts for the audio and discussion questions.
There are lectures and courses about Shakespeare, writing, health, science, introductory college courses, and content from the Library of Congress. Yes it is American centric but there is content from the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries.
The content is not restricted to the computer or an Apple device. If you have an audio mp3 or multimedia player you can transfer content that is not under Digital Rights Management to your non-Apple player.
If you are a Windows user go to the iTunesU folder (top left hand side of the screen), click you mouse button on top of the icon that represents your content, then click your secondary mouse button for the sub-menu. Next, select Show in Windows Explorer.
This will take you to the folder on your computer that contains your downloaded educational content. From there you should be able to copy the content to your media device of choice. Video will be in the QuickTime format which is why you need to have a copy of the QuickTime player on your system.
Sound too good to be true huh? Well in a way, yes, it is. There are a few caveats.
Such as audio presentations. You might want to view what the professor or lecturer is describing. If there are no transcripts or supporting documentation you are on your own. Many of the colleges and universities do have
