Well I finally went out and purchased an iPod. I purchased a 16 Gb Nano. It is such an elegant device and a powerful learning tool. Ok, I know it’s not much different then books on tape or CD but what makes the device so amazing is the ability to go into iTunes and download information on demand from institutions like Harvard Business School, MIT, Princeton and Stanford. I was amazed and pleased to find that these institutions were posting audio lectures for free. There’s nothing better then free.
Go into iTunes and then click on Podcasts. Go to the Education section. Scroll down and look on the left hand side and there’s the treasure, Higher Education. And then look there’s are also language lessons … for free. How great is that?
I have become addicted to talks on innovation and design. My first podcast was a 1 hour talk presented by Tom Kelley of Ideo. Ideo is a company that innovates. They are designers and inventors. How cool is that. So on my 90 minute commute to work I can not listen and learn from lectures given at the most prestigous Universities in the U.S. and maybe the world.
That’s the big idea. It’s not that I am listening to audio recorded lectures. That’s old news. It’s that I can download hours and hours of lectures that only a few years ago simply would not be available to the general public. If knowledge is power then power is now made available to anyone with an iPod. Thank you Steve Jobs and thank you to the Universities willing to take the time to record these wonderful treasures of knowledge.
Now for the question. Is listening to a lecture going to improve my skills? Well probably not but they do get the mind thinking and that can lead to learning. I listened to several pod-casts on innovation. When I got to the office I jotted down some ideas from the talks on my white board. I plan to turn them into action items and do further research. Get the picture. The podcast is a catalyst for learning much like a good article would be.
So how can we use Pod-casting to support learning in our companies. I would simply encourage people to explore and listen to whatever they feel like. This type of exploring is what leads to learning.