If you had driven down the back alley behind my house this afternoon you would have seen me digging dandelions in my back yard: but you would not have known that I was also learning, first, about Catherine the Great and, second, about Cervantes, courtesy of the BBC and technology developed by Apple.
I was listening to podcasts which I had downloaded from In Our Time, a BBC 4 program in which Melvyn Bragg and his learned guests investigate the history of ideas. Apple's iTunes downloads new In Our Time programs as they are made available by BBC, once I have asked to subscribe to this series. The programs are copied to my iPod when I plug it in to my computer. Thus, I can listen to the programs on my computer or on my iPod.
One of the advantages of learning through podcasts is that one can play them again and again, something that cannot be done with a live lecture. Some professors in some educational institutions are recording their lectures and making them available as podcasts.
Learning while working or walking is one of the benefits of modern technology. It's multi-tasking, and it's fun.
Tomorrow: Aristotle.
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