For our average reader, this isn’t likely to be as exciting as, say, the prospect of HDTV on the Web.  But a glance at the new UC Berkeley channel on YouTube reveals some fairly interesting lectures; maybe integrative biology isn’t your thing, yet “SIMS 141 – Search, Google, and Life: Sergey Brin – Google” sounds about right.

Even if none of the clips are to your taste, Berkeley students are likely to consider this an important development.  Yes, it may allow them to skip class.  It’ll also allow them to review for exams, though.  Furthermore, students at Berkeley will be able to (virtually) sit in on classes for which they couldn’t sign up, and explore other majors without wasting several months of their lives.

And this development will allow students (or just interested onlookers) around the country to do the same thing.  A “quick” look through Wikipedia’s 9,000-word entry on UC Berkeley proves that it’s a school worth watching.

As for the future, it looks like some other universities may follow a similar path.  In an email to WebProNews, Scott Stocker, Stanford University’s Director of Web Communications, wrote, “Whenever quality educational content enters new media channels, it is of great benefit to society.  The enormous reach of YouTube and Google provides a tremendous opportunity to reach new audiences.”

Stocker then continued, “Stanford was the first university to offer programming to the public on iTunes, and we plan to continue our efforts to make Stanford courses and faculty lectures more broadly available.”