The benefits of a post-secondary education are now available online, for free. iTunes U, a lesser publicized web service gaining popularity, creates a space for professors from Yale, Stanford, Duke, and UC-Berkeley, to have their lectures or courses available in podcast form.

iTunes U not only opens up the pleasures of academia to the common man, but it also allows students to enjoy lectures from the comfort of a dorm room, or an overly manicured university lawn. Professors webcast classroom sessions for students to review for exams, utilize during study group, or watch, if they skip class. Though some instructors experience a drop in classroom attendance when classes are webcast, iTunes U is still touted as a comprehensive tool for college students.

In the small, but popular, area of iTunes U, Apple has designed a space to optimize learning, increase lecture quality, and accessibility. The lectures get feedback from the student and remote listeners, and the dry, pedantic nature of the lecture becomes more appealing when it’s available right next to Rihanna and Coldplay.
 

Top Five Downloads From iTunes U

1. Ask-A- Biologist: Tiger Beetles (ASU)

2. The World is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman (MIT)

3. English Composition: Writing about Non-Fiction (FCC)

4. 92Y: George Carlin (92nd St. Y Series)

5. Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, Randy Pausch (Carnegie Mellon)