I got this catalogue in the mail yesterday (I don’t know why, I’ve never heard of this company) and it really looks cool. They are a series of lectures by professors at major Universities - 30 minutes long, but a series of thirty or forty of them on DVD. They’re really cheap as well considering what it would cost to take a course at Notre Dame or Stanford.
Some of the titles are “Understanding the Universe: An introduction to Astronomy” by Prof. Alex Filippenko of Cal-Berkeley. 96 30 minute lectures for less than $200.
Einsteins Relativity and the Quantum Revolution - Modern Physics for non-scientists. 24 30 minute lectures for about $50.
There are all kinds of subjects on everything from math and biology to “How to listen to and understand great music” and “The Story of Human Language”. There’s courses on economics, Shakespeare, Religion, Philosophy, etc.
Has anybody purchased these before and are they as cool as they look to me right now? I’d love to get a couple of these. They even have Bart Ehrman’s course on the New Testament from UNC.
I don’t know anything about this company and I certainly don’t have any connection to it - it just looks like some really cool products that people on these boards would be interested in.
I’ve listened to some from The Teaching Company - same kind of deal. Some I’ve liked and some I haven’t. They’ve just about all been at least interesting.
Here is a thread on The Teaching Company from earlier this year. I’ve been listening and watching their courses for years. The library here doesn’t have a collection, so I usually pick ones that I can download and listen to on my ipod.
Hey, one of my colleagues has a series of lectures available. I remember him telling me about the process: he goes to a studio, records a lecture (mostly from notes, but some riffing), and at the end he gets this huge check… very nice.
The guy is brilliant, and a top-notch lecturer. I’d be tempted to listen just to hear him crack jokes. Here he is in the catalog.
I have a set or two by the Teaching Company on my iPod at all times. I’ve found that for me, at least, audio works much better than video, and can be easily carried around. Just download in mp3 format from their site. I wouldn’t say that they in any way can replace a college education, but they are often very entertaining, at least.
I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of $$$ on Teaching Co materials and I’ve watched all the courses you mentioned. I’ve enjoyed all of them. The Teaching Company DVDs are a staple for my mornings on the treadmill. They release about 3 new courses each month and I have a permanent placeholder of $250 in my monthly budget to simply buy whatever comes out. It doesn’t matter what the subject is – history, art, science, etc – any and all of it is interesting when an intelligent professor lectures.
Btw, all the courses from The Modern Scholar are also good. They have many overlapping subject areas with the Teaching Company. That’s fine with me because I like to hear the different perspectives offered up by multiple professors. A complicated piece of history like WW1 requires multiple professors, multiple books, and multiple documentaries.
I probably mentioned this in my earlier thread, but each course goes on sale at least once a year. Once you order, you’ll get supplemental catalogs and emails which have even more courses on sale. So, you’ll usually be able to buy any course you want at the sale price within a span of three months.
Also, check out your local library - that’s where I’ve been getting mine. Maybe you’ll get lucky too Recently saw the 36-part “Introduction to Classical Archaeology” DVDs. Loved loved loved it.
You all should check out iTunes U as well. I just realized the breadth of content there, free or at least mostly free. UC Berkeley alone has thousands of lectures posted. Just scratching the surface, I see MIT and Stanford with enormous catalogs of lectures as well. How did I not know about this until this week?
Yep. I taught a course with him (and five other profs) and he is just incredibly witty… even his questions to the lecturers were hilarious. And you haven’t lived until you’ve heard him recite “The Jabberwocky” in German.
