iTunes U - when the pupil is ready

I love to learn.  History, technology, public speaking, psychology, business and finance, the list is as long as the sections of the Economist magazine.

I have also found that sharing my addiction and lighting the fire of learning within others is almost as enjoyable.  Seeing people grow and shoot up to a new level is remarkably rewarding.  

Of course the converse is also true.  I am often fighting (and frequently losing) the disappointment when the spark fizzles out.  

I often forget that many times great material comes to me too and I ignore it (usually to my detriment).  

The zen proverb 'when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear' is a very helpful one.

So I have found that if I keep a steady stream of material available when Steve the student is 'ready' the material can 'appear' and become my teacher.  

In the modern world of technology having this stuff handy is a breeze. The most valuable sort of learning material (aside from the web generally) has been Apple's iTunes University .  I have been talking this up and I've been surprised that not many people are aware of it. 

If you use iTunes you have a link on the left side of the iTunes store called iTunes University.  Go there NOW. 

Lectures in every subject area.  Everything from the bi-weekly science lecture to first years students with reviews of assignments and office hour change announcement (ie why go to class when its available on iTunes?) to world leaders in every area of human endeavour lecturing and taking questions from some of the brightest people alive.  

I listened to Myron Scholes (the brains behind Long Term Capital Management ) give an hour long lecture recorded in April 2007 entitled "Why I am a Speculator".  

I listened to an entire course of lectures in Roman history recorded at Berkeley .  

I listened to Thomas L. Friedman give his seminal lecture on the "World is Flat" at MIT  and its follow up again at MIT "The World is Flat 3.0", and then the "Hot Flat and Crowded" lecture given at the LSE .

Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Open University, Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, the list is the who's who worldwide.

From the UChannel page you can see that you don't have to use iTunes if you want to keep the faith with your MS Zune or Garmin GPS or well anything.

So consider cutting back on Britney Spears and 2Pac in your iPod and load up some world class learning because you never know when you will be ready - 'when the pupil is ready the teacher will appear'.

Do me a favour, if you do find something you like shoot me an email or reply here and let me know what lit you up.

Enjoy