Got your attention?

Well, as much as I’d like to write about, perhaps, the effect of gravity on young Ms. Spears’ career (oh wait… no I wouldn’t), I’m actually thinking of one place where these two wildly unrelated topics sit side by side… on iTunes.

The Washington Post recently reported on the exploding popularity of iTunes U, their podcast section that distributes free lectures from such all-star names as MIT, Stanford and Penn State. Tired of James Blount on the radio? (Aren’t we all?) Try popping in Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement address at Stanford (currently the #1 download) or “Exploring Black Holes: General Relativity & Astrophysics; Einstein’s Field Equation” from MIT.

Is there a real educational opportunity here, or is this just higher-brow entertainment? (Something, btw, I am very much in favor of.) WaPo isn’t sure yet:

What is not yet clear is whether Apple will end up transforming online education as it did the music industry, with the introduction of iTunes in 2001. Right now, iTunes U is something of a novelty. The subject matter and quality of courses offered vary widely. Only a few classes are like [MIT physics professor] Lewin’s, where the instructor even seems conscious of the fact that some people might be following the lecture on a tiny iPod screen. The video content from some classes is nothing more than a static slide that shows the name of the course while the professor drones on.

The universities seem happy to freely share this kind of content in the name of more learning for all–though one wonders how their 40k-per-year-paying students might feel about it. I’m wondering, though, if maybe this sort of content could be integrated into online degree programs. If MIT doesn’t mind sharing their physics professor with the world, would they share him once or twice a semester with students at the University of Phoenix?