My Favourite iTunesU Courses and Podcasts

I’m pretty lucky that one of my jobs allows me to listen to my ipod while I’m at work. Over the last couple years I’ve listened to quite a few iTunesU classes. Some universities have recorded classes and made them available on iTunes for free. All kinds of schools have participated, from Yale to Stanford to UC Berkeley. I’ve found a few favourite professors and topics. As well as iTunesU I also listen to podcasts. There’s one for just about every topic. I thought I’d share some of my favourites, so here they are:

iTunesU

European Civilization 1648-1945, and France Since 1871, both with John Merriman My favourite topic for podcasts is definitely history, specifically European history from the last 500 or so years. John Merriman is a professor from Yale who specializes in European and French history. He’s fun to listen to and is very passionate about it, which comes through on the recordings.

The Civil War and Reconstruction Era with David Blight Throughout high school I never really learned much about the American civil war. We focused mainly on Canadian and world history. When I found this one, I knew I wanted to listen to it to learn more. David Blight is an awesome speaker. He has a way of talking that really draws you in. He starts with giving you some background on how the war started, and takes you right though how the US recovered from the war.

History and Practice of Human Rights from Thomas Laqueur I’ve been interested in human rights since high school, so this class was right up my alley. Thomas Laqueur takes you from how human rights were first thought of back in the late 1800’s, to what it means now in the 21st century. He also talks about plenty of situations in the world where human rights were abused and how the world did or did not react. I found this one to be the most interesting iTunesU that I’ve listened to so far.

Podcasts

Serial I’ve sure you’ve heard about this one by now. If not, you might have been living under a rock for the last few months. The host focuses on a murder from the late 90’s. Over the course of twelve episodes she discusses the in’s and out’s of the case. She talks to many people who were involved, from the guy who was convicted of the crime to witnesses to experts. If you’re a fan of murder mystery shows on TV, you should definitely give this podcast a try.

The Jillian Michaels Show It shouldn’t be a surprise that I’d be interested in a fitness podcast. She’s known for being a tough trainer on TV. I find her personality a lot more likeable on the podcast. She doesn’t just focus on fitness, but also on general wellness. I believe she now has over 200 episodes, so there’s lots of material to listen to.

The Smart Passive Income Podcast with Pat Flynn This podcast is my latest discovery. I’m pretty happy I found it because I’ve learned a lot from him. Every episode Pat interviews someone who’s made money online. They’ve all created legit online businesses and they share how they did it. While not all the episodes are about blogging, I always take something away from every episode that I can apply to my blog.

Leave me a comment telling me about your favourite iTunesU course or podcast.