Since the introduction of open lectures by progressive thinking educational institutions like M.I.T., Stanford, Duke, Yale, and others, many exceptional presentations have bubbled to the top and should be watched.
Here are five must see open course video lectures as recommended by Virginia Heffernan of the NYTimes.
- Walter H. G. Lewin, Powers of 10, M.I.T. (At about 2:40 watch Power of Ten video that is cut from the lecture)
- Randy Pausch, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, Carnegie Mellon
- Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational, Duke and M.I.T. (the rest of his short clips)
- Langdon Hammer, Modern Poetry, Yale
- Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), Yale
I also recommend Mark Schlissel, Introduction – The Cell Theory, Bacteria, Animal Cells, Evolution (Viruses and Midochondria). (The good stuff starts at about 13:00).
I listened to about a quarter of all the lectures from this course—most of which were over my head, but the first and second (mp3) classes are fascinating and make me wish I studied biology at school.