MUDGE’S Musings
Lots of children have been left behind, in this country where that Bush administration typical Potemkin Village of an initiative has dashed more hopes than fulfilled them; and around the world, where surviving to age 18 is a challenge, much less becoming minimally educated.
But when every child does get that laptop, UC Berkeley will be ready for them (at least when they get a little more learning under their belts!).
YouTube is now an important teaching tool at UC Berkeley.
The school announced on Wednesday that it has begun posting entire course lectures on the Web’s No.1 video-sharing site.
Berkeley officials claimed in a statement that the university is the first to make full course lectures available on YouTube. The school said that over 300 hours of videotaped courses will be available at youtube.com/ucberkeley.
Berkeley said it will continue to expand the offering. The topics of study found on YouTube included chemistry, physics, biology and even a lecture on search-engine technology given in 2005 by Google cofounder Sergey Brin.
And, all YouTube content is free to the viewer, right?
[Please click the link below for the complete article — but then please come on back!]
UC Berkeley first to post full lectures to YouTube | Tech news blog – CNET News.com
Click one of the links, and enjoy some higher ed.
In the dark, dark ages of MUDGE‘s youth, the gold standard of information for the home was Encyclopaedia Britannica. In the ’50s, owning such a set was as aspirational as the filled two car garage, and represented a considerable expense for many families.
Now, Wikipedia and its like has democratized the encyclopedia, perhaps to the detriment of nano-accuracy, but it’s brilliant and self correcting in the main, and it’s free to all. All with PC and Internet access, of course, where OLPC comes in.
Today, UC Berkeley is showing the way toward liberating higher education.
Some days even a curmudgeon can’t help but smile.
It’s it for now. Thanks,
–MUDGE
Left-handed Complement 
Where as a non-traditional student the ease and convenience of being able to catch all of my lectures on-line is appealing, I have to wonder what this will do the higher education. Will it really revolutionize it? Or will it make the teaching profession obsolete? After all what’s the point of hiring professors to hold lectures that students don’t even attend in person. Why not start recording lectures from top experts instead, and simply have tests over them at the end of the semester? I think that Youtube could become a useful tool, if it does not replace standard educational practices completely.
Square1,
An interesting perspective. After a generation in the catbird’s seat, professors are looking over their shoulders.
Many institutions are hiring adjuncts for undergraduate teaching, and the bar for tenure keeps being raised.
So the Berkeley/YouTube connection can be seen as you see it, another step toward the commoditization of higher education.
Perhaps a good thing for the parts of our world (and our nation) crying out for increased educational opportunity.
Perhaps, not so good for the career prospects of those wishing to make a profession of teaching.
Thanks so much for your contribution to this nanocorner.
–MUDGE
[…] imagine some of the older children tuning into UC Berkeley’s YouTube courses. This all can’t happen soon enough. And, you can […]
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