AR&D Reinventing Local Media

Posted: Oct 30, 2009 9:04 AM

Let's face it: once we graduate from school, we rarely look back. We, as an industry, don't educate ourselves nearly enough. This is a shame -- many non-media companies will pay to have their employees take a course or two. Our companies become smarter when we become smarter.

I know we don't have $4,000 tuition reimbursements sitting around. Thankfully, we have Open CourseWare, a movement that puts university lectures and coursework right on line -- and for free. You can learn from universities around the world. There are business courses to help your management skills, tech courses to help your staff learn how to edit, and courses in politics, philosophy, English - heck, you know the drill. They're all there, online, waiting for you. Here are some resources for you and your newsroom. Get yourself a little learnin'.

iTunes University

One of the lesser known uses for iTunes is its marvelous selection of podcasts, straight from the lecture halls. Schools are using iTunes to help their students, and you can benefit by virtually auditing the classes. You can watch clips from lectures - or the full lectures themselves. I recommend the Liberal Arts approach - pick classes in a variety of topics that aren't just communications, per se, but that also help you round out your knowledge.

Learn how to use Final Cut Pro from Birmingham City University, and then study "Iran Through the Looking Glass" from Brown. 

Then - why not - take Kevin Burke's fun couse, "Burke on Mayberry." Yep - it's a class on Andy Griffith. Come on - it sounds more fun than some of the gut courses you took back in the day…

M.I.T. OpenCourseWare

M.I.T. OpenCourseWare is one of the fathers of the movement, having started in 2002. Right now, there more 1900+ courses online. Notes Wikipedia:

While a few of these are limited to chronological reading lists and discussion topics, a majority provided homework problems and exams (often with solutions) and lecture notes. Some courses also include interactive web demonstrations in Java or MATLAB, complete textbooks written by MIT professors, and streaming video lectures.

The M.I.T. courses have lots of good audio/video content. Want to learn about management and leadership from the Sloan School? It's right here. 

Open CourseWare Consortium

There are classes now available from more than 100 institutions of learning aggregated at the Open CourseWare Consortium site. Listen to a lecture on corporate social responsibility from the University of Nottingham, and then learn about public policy from UC Berkeley.

Education, it is often noted, takes a lifetime. Thankfully, it doesn't take a ton of cash anymore. No, you won't get the diploma. But you will get the knowledge for free. That's a pretty good deal.