Many of us consider Harvard as our dream university or would like to study in Harvard if given a choice. But did you know that you can now have a virtual taste of Harvard via iTunes? The Harvard Extension School announced the availability of the video previews of their 15 education courses like computer science, management, environmental science, history, and the liberal arts.
The general public can access and preview those courses through iTunes U at no cost. And just like any podcast, you can download the complete two-hour introductory lectures of the above courses and subscribe for the future podcast releases of Harvard because they will continue to add more video and audio content as it becomes available.
However, since the offer of Harvard is merely a preview and not the usual free podcasts being offered by other universities which are part of their online learning programs, it is really inevitable to think that the video previews are simply promotional podcasts. It appeared to be more on business purposes rather than public service as compared with the podcast offering of UC Berkley or the free online courses of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Anyway, Harvard may be just testing the water and we just hope that they will be offering more substantial and practical educational podcasts in the future. And I know that they will because they already have the “Understanding Computers and the Internet” which is a 16-week fall term course that is currently available as a podcast. This was taught by David J. Malan and is said to be the first Harvard course that is available in podcast.
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Online Degree Study » Blog Archive » Harvard Promotes Distance Education Through iTunes // Feb 11, 2007 at 12:22 am
[…] The Harvard Extension School, the international leader in the field of continuing studies recently released a set of audio and video previews of their select online courses in podcast format. With these podcasts, students who would like to explore and feel Harvard education can freely do it by just visiting iTunes U. These course previews are composed of ten to fifteen video presentations and a two hour lecture that anybody can access and download for free. […]
» Podcasts From Top Universities Makes Online Learning More Exciting - Online Degree Study // Jun 3, 2007 at 9:21 pm
[…] Podcasts From Top Universities Makes Online Learning More Exciting With the advent of podcast contents from top universities like Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, UC Berkeley and Warrington College of Business, with the collaboration of Apple iTunes to make all these podcast readily accessible in just one location, online learning has never been this exciting. […]
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