Podcasts at the Fitzwilliam Museum

I just discovered this little collection to add to our lifelong learning resources. It's a series of podcasts--audio with slides--about the treasures in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.

You can either listen to the lectures and watch the slideshow online or download the podcast. Be sure if you're downloading, that after you grab the media file, you scroll down and save the pdf containing the slides for the lecture.

If you're interested in museums at all, you'll really find these lectures to be exceptional.

UC Berkeley Podcast Schedule Up

Now we know which Fall 2008 courses Berkeley has chosen to podcast. In fact, the first lectures are already online. This time frame between lecture and posting is much-improved over previous years.

So, what's available? Check it out here. You will find biology, chemistry, computer science, cyber culture, economics, education, electrical engineering, engineering, English (literature), geography, history, international studies, law, mechanical engineering, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, public health, sociology and statistics.

Of course, as you see, my favorites professors, George Brimhall and Nathan Sayre, are no where to be found. I'm hoping they will be back on the list soon.

California History Lectures

Take a look at these Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley) lectures. They're one-hour audio lectures about the history of California--seven of them:

• The California Mission as Symbol and Myth
• Like America Only More So: The Origins and Power of California's Image
• Heaven on the Half-shell: Mark Twain in California
• California's Greatest Thirst: A Glance at the Contentious History of California's Water
• An Entrepreneurial Genius: Henry J. Kaiser
• Kick Out the Southern Pacific
• A Library for California

This is an exceptional collection to supplement any lifelong learner's California history resources.

Biology at University of Hawaii

Offered by the University of Hawaii, Biology 101 Biology and Society is taught by Dr. George Wong, Botany Department.

This course website makes available 41 lecture pdf's and 18 sets of background links for some of the lectures. The only broken links found are for the Blue Planet Biomes in Lecture 7. I will see what site can be substituted for these and do an update shortly.

These materials will make a nice supplement for the lifelong learner's ecology projects.

International Relations at University of Oregon

Here's an interesting course taught by Professor Ronald Mitchell, PS205: Introduction to International Relations, at the University of Oregon.

What's available? Excellent resources, including:

• Syllabus
• Lecture notes for 20 class sessions
• Case study assignment, including a pdf of materials for assignment and links to use (great assignment for lifelong learners)
• Targeted links to websites pertinent to the course

This is definitely a course you will want to add to your independent learning resources for understanding how our world works today.

History of Science at Princeton

Take a look at History 398 Technologies and Their Societies: Historical Perspectives, taught by Professor Michael S. Mahoney.

This 2006 course website offers an enormous amount of information on the history of science, focusing on technology. Almost all of the links are active, though sadly, a few are broken. Each week has extensive readings and links to material pertinent to the current topic.

One link of note is to The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920 at Duke University. I was not familiar with this archive that contains over 9,000 images in this one collection, plus many more collections. One area which I found very interesting was the collection of advertising cookbooks from 1878 to 1929.

Lifelong learners should find this course an interesting addition to learning resources.

Geobiology at MIT

One of MIT Open Courseware offerings is 12.007 Geobiology. This course uses Steven Stanley's Earth System History and additional readings are recommended. Lecture slides (pdf's) and text lecture notes are available. Several assignments give lifelong learners guidance on how to structure learning projects. "Take-home" exams top off the materials offered.

The course home page uses this description: "The interactive Earth system: Biology in geologic, environmental and climate change throughout Earth history. Since life began it has continually shaped and re-shaped the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the solid earth. Introduces the concept of "life as a geological agent" and examines the interaction between biology and the earth system during the roughly 4 billion years since life first appeared. Topics include the origin of the solar system and the early Earth atmosphere; the origin and evolution of life and its influence on climate up through and including the modern age and the problem of global warming; the global carbon cycle; and astrobiology."

Even without podcasts, which we are always expecting in our courses now, this is an excellent independent scholar's resource.

Just a side note: The image used on the course home page is one of Ron Blakey's great maps. See this post on The Coconino Chronicles.