Sunday, December 22, 2024

UCGV: University of California-Google Video

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Get the best education money can buy from the University of California-Berkeley, for free on Google Video.

8 a.m.- the alarm blares, you swat at it and roll out of bed. That shirt looks clean, so you put it on, head for the coffee pot, and shuffle out the door. In a zombie-like trance you go through the motions of walking your daily route to the classroom building, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, and spacing out for the duration of the lecture. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? It’s the typical every-morning routine of a college student.

University of California-Berkeley and Google Video have teamed up to give you the benefits of education, without the actual “going to class” experience. The best part: there are no final exams.

The deal between the two broadcasts seminars, speeches, and even entire course lectures from some UC Berkeley’s top professors on Google Video, to be viewed free of charge.

With over 100 introductory-level lectures to choose from including physics, biology, chemistry, information systems and bioengineering, viewers may “attend” class without physically having to be present or pay tuition.

UC-Berkeley is the first college to broadcast lectures in the entirety over the Internet, and the only one to have a webpage on the Google Video site. Obadiah Greenburg, who helped design UC-Berkeley’s Educational Technology Services, believes that other universities will soon follow their lead, stating “We’re the first, but we expect others to follow suit.”

Universities such as Stanford already have audio recordings of lectures and seminars available on iTunes, but they are only available to current students.

Google, looking to diversify the content of their video site, said the partnership with Berkeley would attract an older demographic to their site. Since the site’s content is so easily accessible, Google representatives say that nostalgic Cal alumni are expected to visit the site.

“Google appreciates the opportunity to partner with progressive universities like UC-Berkeley to make undiscovered lectures and entire courses available to our users,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

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Autmn Davis is a staff writer for Murdok covering ebusiness and technology.

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