Thing #18 - Explore OpenCourseWare or iTunes U

In the spirit of encouraging the pursuit of lifelong learning, we are asking you to take a look at some sites that provide university level educational materials free to the public. These online resources can supply extra study materials to assist you in courses at CSU East Bay as well as help you learn about new subjects once you graduate.

There are two options for this assignment. One is to take a look at OpenCourseWare at MIT. The other requires that you have the program iTunes loaded on your computer so that you can explore iTunesU. Hopefully, in the near future, CSUEB will be joining the ranks of those schools providing lectures and other materials on iTunesU.

Directions:
1. Go to one of the following: iTunesU at Berkeley OR MIT OpenCourseWare (in order to pick iTunes U, you must have iTunes installed on your computer)
2. Pick a subject and then a course within that subject.
3. Check out the materials available, listen to part of a podcast or lecture, and/or read some lecture notes/handouts.
4. Post the following to your blog:

• Name of the course and course instructor
• Two new things you learned about the subject matter covered in the course

Blog post due: Wednesday, February 21st by 9pm.

Thing #17 - Podcasting

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You already learned about how RSS feeds automatically send web updates to your Google reader account. Podcasting takes this same idea of content delivery and applies it to digital media, including radio programs, videos, music, class lectures and more.

Just as web feeds are sent to your RSS reader, podcast feeds are automatically delivered to your podcast aggregator, or "podcatcher." Several of these are available online, and Apple's itunes (free) has a built-in podcatcher that downloads podcasts to your computer and syncs with your ipod. There are also several similar podcatchers you can install on your computer available here.

For this thing, you will explore the world of podcasting by finding and subscribing to a few 'casts of your choice.

1. Subscribe to 2 podcasts and listen to a few episodes. One of your podcasts has to be related to psychology, political science or sociology (even better if it covers your topic), but the other one is entirely your choice. Give me the names of the podcasts, why you chose them, who makes them, and what the 'cast is about.

• If you have installed itunes, you can find podcasts by going to the itunes store and choosing "podcasts" from the store menu. From there, search for, browse and subscribe to podcasts.
• If you don't use itunes and prefer not to install third-party software, never fear--there's a free, web-based podcatcher/digital audio wonderland called Odeo. You'll need to create a user account, then browse or search through podcasts. When you find something you like, select "add to playlist" to subcribe.

2. What is your take on podcasting? Do you feel it is a useful method of information discovery and communication? Why or why not? (100 words minimum)


Resources:

NPR Podcast Directory
Podcast Alley
Podzinger