'iTunes university' better than the real thing - science-in-society - 18 February 2009 - New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16624-itunes-university-better-than-the-real-thing.html

Students that listened to podcasts of lectures got better exam results than those who attend in person, a study finds

students learning better through recorded lectures: things like being able to go back over a section you missed et cetera

New psychological research suggests that university students who download a podcast lecture achieve substantially higher exam results than those who attend the lecture in person. Source: NewScientist Digest: Academic Impressions

"New psychological research suggests that university students who download a podcast lecture achieve substantially higher exam results than those who attend the lecture in person. Podcasted lectures offer students the chance to replay difficult parts of a lecture and therefore take better notes, says Dani McKinney, a psychologist at the State University of New York in Fredonia, who led the study. ... McKinney want to now test how podcasts affect learning across an entire semester, rather than from just a single lecture. ... McKinney thinks these technologies can buttress traditional lectures, particularly for a generation that has grown up with the Internet. ... Darren Griffin, a geneticist and education researcher at the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK, says podcast lectures are good for lecturers too. They free him up to spend precious class time interacting with his students, rather than just talking at them."

Researchers have found that students that listened to lectures on iTunes and did not attend class did better on the tests than students attending the lectures. It notes motivation as a caveat and may be reason behind the difference as motivated

If you have a hankering to join the ranks of the 50,000+ strong group of iPhone developers but you lack the motivation to learn the ins and outs yourself, Stanford University may have just the thing for you. The school's Computer Science Department will be posting materials from its 10-week iPhone Application Programming course to iTunes U. "There's a lot of interest in the iPhone," said Brent Izutsu, Stanford's project manager for Stanford on iTunes U, in a statement. "This course provides an excellent opportunity for us to show the breadth and depth of our curriculum and the innovation of our students." Videos of all the lectures, lead by Apple engineers, will be posted on iTunes U two days after each class meeting—the first should be available later this week. The slides from the lectures will be available to download as well. The school notes that the material will be the same that enrolled students get, but unfortunately, following the lessons via iTunes U won't make you eligibl

It's a hot ticket: Free Stanford course on developing software for iPhone and iPod touch comes to iTunes U