1. Supporting academic
colleagues in developing
open content literacies
Melissa Highton
University of Oxford

10. “I feel my job is to disseminate our knowledge
and enthusiasm for our subject as widely as
possible – this is why I support Creative
Commons”

19. “Receiving email feedback is great – you don’t get
much feedback from within the University so to
receive it from listeners around the globe is great.”
“It’s a huge personal boost to receive feedback: as a
teacher it is just what you want to hear.”
“Releasing podcasts suited my subject (Censorship) I
was keen to disseminate my material as widely as
possible, particularly as my work involves releasing
previously secret documents.”

20. “Recording my lectures has become a routine part of
my life – I have slighted adapted my style now that
recordings are released because I used to refer to
handouts a lot but then I got inundated with email
requests for the handouts from listeners.”
“I’m now linking podcasts to a new online course and
they can be used as marketing materials to attract
people to the course.”
“I will be using podcast interviews as source material
for my next book.”

22. • I'm an English Literature undergraduate at the University of Buenos Aires…
• I'm an American musician who lives in St. Louis, Missouri …
• I'm a sixth form English student..
• For the last 8 years, I've been working in Central Asia helping to start
schools. …
• I am an American from a poor background and I was not brought up reading…
• I am a part-time, mature student (own teeth still though) at the University of Bristol
studying English Literature …
• I am actually an old member of New College. I took an MPhil (1995)…
• I am Professor of English Literature, Université de Fribourg…
• I had assumed that Shakespeare studies had passed me by…
• Being a 17 year old, I don’t really know much nor have much for critical thinking skills…
• I’m Norwegian so I hope my english is understandable…
• I've only just begun college and become quite frustrated with the slow progress (and
some rather uninspiring teachers)…
• I am a mature student working towards a degree in Philosophy at Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario, Canada…
• I’m the 70+ doing an M.A in Ethics and found your romp very helpful….
• As an engineer at the beginning of his career (and who thinks that he should studied
philosophy instead)…
• I am basically a pastor in a church in Delhi. …..

23. “our more able students are being encouraged
to listen to the podcasts both to improve their
understanding of the plays and to encourage
them to believe that the Oxford is not a rarefied
and unattainable target, but operates at a level
they will find accessible.”

24. “As head of More Able and Talented at a large
state school, I am constantly looking for
resources to improve our teaching and your
podcasts are giving us just that opportunity.
Members of the English department are now
using Wittgenstein’s Dabbit illustration in the
way you did and finding it to be a very
effective approach …..”

25. Thank you for offering online your lectures on
introductory quantum mechanics, and thank
you for providing a PDF copy of your text. The
text is a marvellous resource, and your
lectures are exceptionally lucid and
compelling. I am learning a great deal and
enjoying them very much. I teach high school
science and maths, and I hope I can pass along
to my students (at least some of) these ideas
with the same excitement and clarity.

27. “I have recently enrolled in an Open University with the
plan to complete a BA in Philosophy, but the first unit
I have had to complete is a Study Skills unit which has
been so boring and mundane I have been questioning
whether to continue or not. Your enthusiasm for
philosophy is infectious and put me back on course to
continue my studies. Thanks again.”
“Can I just say how utterly engrossing they are - and
how completely stimulating. I completed my
undergraduate studies a great number of years ago,
but listening to you lecture makes me yearn for
study."

28. “Please podcast all
lectures sometimes we
have essay crisis,
cannot come to
lecture, but we really
want to go!”
“I'm not joking but the
site has become my
favourite site in ten
seconds flat - can't
stop downloading!
Where has this been all
my life?????? This is
ridiculous!”

29. “I like to search by topic. Sometimes you just
want to read about something but you don’t
know what to read”
“I like to see things from other Universities and
overseas. I’m at Oxford so it’s good to have
access to stuff from elsewhere”
“I love podcasts and videos – I don’t see this as
study, I just love watching stuff”

30. “Yes, big demand I would think.
I have just listened to your
lecture on The Spanish
Tragedy and found it very
interesting indeed. I am
planning to listen to the rest
of the series and have
started dusting down any
volumes I have of
Elizabethan plays”

31. “these are the thoughts of the World’s most
eminent academics … that’s what’s going to
draw most people to the site”
“it’s a really good access point to all the research
people are doing”

32. For retired people like me
podcasts of lectures
(recorded raw, not
dressed up as some have
them, complete with
distracting background
music) are a boon.
Lifelong learning! Saves us
from having to watch
“countdown” of an
afternoon.”

34. “This morning: Funding applications suck my
soul of life, free lectures from Oxford on
iTunesU help it heal”