Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Do you learn from watching?


Ask any professional educator and they will talk about how people learn differently. There are those that read and understand. Then, some just put on the skis and do it. Last, there are those of us who watch someone else doing something and they get it.

Since so much of what is on the internet about leadership is based on our ability to learn from the written word, I decided to start a search of the websites that specialize in compiling significant videos of thought leaders. Following are three examples:

TED – Technology, Education and Design - Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.
MIT World Distributed Intelligence - MIT World is a free and open site that provides on demand video of significant public events at MIT. MIT World's video index contains more than 600 videos.
The Leap - Hosted by David Belasco of USC Marshall School of Business to provide “Inspiration, empowerment and a kick in the ass.”
eCorner – Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner - Entrepreneurial thought leaders lecture series that take place every Wednesday during the academic year.
Manager Tools - a weekly podcast talking about new tools and easy techniques you can use to help achieve your management and career objectives.
YouTube EDU/Leadership - dedicated exclusively to videos from the more than 100 schools--ranging from Grand Rapids Community College to Harvard Business School
iTunesU/Business/Management - More than 170 schools offer content free to the public on Apple's iTunes U, which originated in 2004 as a way for colleges to distribute content privately to their own students. (downside - requires you register for iTunes)
Academic Earth/Entrepreneurship - Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.

Please comment on this posting and add the URL links for the sites you believe add to this library.

6 comments:

Nathan Parker said...

Two more good resources:

http://lifehacker.com/5188342/top-10-tools-for-a-free-online-education

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikiversity

I find that using Google Reader to aggregate all types of blogs (news, personal interest, industry, etc.) helps me keep informed and up-to-date, often citing many of the videos mentioned here.

Kerry Palmer said...

What a fantastic resource! I plan to consult these sites frequently. Thanks so much!

John Bishop said...

nparker13 - would you share a little more for the less experienced readers on how to use Google Reader?

John

Nathan Parker said...

John,

I view this tool less from an academic perspective (like the sites you listed), and more of a continuous learning resource which aggregates several different websites and news feeds (I subscribe to 214 feeds) into one central place where I can quickly read and share (shared 663 items in the past 30 days) with others. I have several different topic and personal interest areas that I've found feeds for.

First area is career centric. Just a quick background: I'm a recent college grad, started my career in IT (in a rotational program at UTC). So to stay on top of industry news and trends, I subscribed to several CIO / IT focused feeds that track the industry.
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2FCIO

Related to that, career and life 'hacks' as they're called are tips and articles for managing your career, life, and personal finance. I found tips from this bundle (http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2Flifehacks) and lifehacker.com very useful both at work and at home.

Being an avid aviation enthusiast, student pilot, and working in the aviation/defense industry, I follow a bunch of industry analysts blogs, news sites, etc. (http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2FAviationWeek) and (http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2FAviation).

Another great career oriented set of feeds that I find useful are a collection of Google Alerts (which basically scour the internet and new posts to all different sources based on keywords you enter). Being that I work for UTC, I've set up a list of common terms and key people to find out when news is happening related to the company, our competitors, our products, our leadership, etc. (http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2Futx)

Beyond that, there are hundreds of other personal feeds that I follow related to Macs, iPhones, Motorcycles, Photography, Software, and other related interests and topics that keep me informed, spark ideas, and keep me entertained. If you want to know more, I'd be glad to share more feed bundles and info. Also a great feature of Google Reader is that it works on mobile devices, so next time I'm standing in line or waiting for something, I can just fire the site up on my iPhone (or any other smart phone), and read something new and interesting.

COUNTERDOXXING COM said...

Nathan I would appreciate it if you would share more feed bundles and info with me. Thanks. Richard

Nathan Parker said...

My favorite blogs (lifehacker, apple blogs, etc)
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2F1.%20High

Mac blogs:
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2F2.%20Mac

Personal technology:
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2F2.%20Medium

Photography:
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2Fpics

Software:
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2Fsoftware

Tech:
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15835440548890645348%2Fbundle%2Ftech

Once you start with some feeds, Google Reader is pretty good about recommending more and more feeds. It is addicting, yet keeps me on top of all my interests.

Hope this helps, Nate.

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