Long before the explosion of podcasting, I had fallen in love with audio lectures. Perhaps this habit began when I was taking Regent College classes by J.I. Packer, Rikk Watts, Iain Provan, and Eugene Peterson while housesitting in a log cabin on a Japanese mountainside. Listening to those tapes, CDs, and MP3 classes–it was an age of digital transition–taught me a skill that I’ve taught but haven’t really written about: pre-listening. When I finally made it to my grad school campus, I had developed the ability to find and listen to audio content that would prepare me for the material we were studying that term. Regent has a huge library of audio content going back decades, so I could find a lecture or a panel that helped me get the vocabulary and outlines of a lesson by immersion, so to speak.

Now in the streaming era, we are embarrassed by the riches of fine audio content. Since that time, I don’t know how many thousands of hours of podcasts, lectures, and entire courses I have enjoyed.

I have even played with the medium myself. I have developed video lecture-based courses on “The Fiction and Fantasy of C.S. Lewis” (The King’s College, New York), “C.S. Lewis and the Mythologies of Love and Sex” (Signum University), “World Religions” (Maritime Christian College), “Japanese Religion and Culture” (UPEI), and “Spirituality in the Writings of L.M. Montgomery” (Atlantic School of Theology). This last Montgomery project was an online Maymester course that AST offered as an inexpensive learning experience for their students, alumni, supporters, and other curious readers. More than 80 people signed up to learn about Montgomery and the Spiritual Life.

I have also been teaching in Signum’s SPACE program, where eager learners buy tokens to take 4-week online lectures and discussions in small groups. So far, I have offered “Ink Spots and Tea Stains: What We Learn from C.S. Lewis’s Writing Habits” and “Reading Anne of Green Gables as Fantasy.” I am kicking around the idea of doing a “Reading Narnia with Brenton” series on SPACE, tackling one book a month (so I’d love your feedback).

My YouTube channel has also been a place to play with content. In 2014, I did a series of shorts on “Why Religion Matters” live on location in various parts of the UK. I talked about the history of Monasticism from a monastery in Belgium and the Christian roots of the University in an Oxford library. Even then, I knew these were pretty amateur. However, sometimes people find these things helpful, like my “Christian History in One Hour: A Video Lecture,” which has been used in some church and school curricula.

I am still using video as an extension of the classroom. Just last year, I did some “student tips” videos, including the super popular “Top 10 Test-Taking Tips” and the nearly ignored (but better, I think) “Some Uncommon Common Sense about Student Debt.”

In terms of being a public scholar, I am nearly ready to launch Season 3 of the MaudCast, where I host discussions about the life, works, and legacy of Lucy Maud Montgomery. I have used A Pilgrim in Narnia and my YouTube channel not just as a teaching tool, but for provocation (see “The Real Order to Read Narnia,” for example) and as a sandbox. When doing a conference presentation, I will sometimes practice and release my presentation (like here and here), or try to work out a concept inspired by classroom conversations, like my startling claim that “The Internet is Somewhere.”

I’ve done a few 10 Minute Book Talks (10MBT), usually focusing on a single book (like the very popular videos on A Canticle for Leibowitz and Out of the Silent Planet) but sometimes going a bit broader, like “5 C.S. Lewis Biographies for 5 Seasons.”

What surprises me most about the response to my online teaching, though, is a lecture that has gained over 3,000 views: “A Grief Observed: A Talk on the Anniversary of My Parents’ Deaths, with C.S. Lewis.” It really is a lecture, with slides and pauses for sips of coffee and a super-long title. There are no dynamic YouTube design features. It’s just me talking. While I cannot usually tell how people are responding on the other side of the microphone, it is encouraging to see the comments and feedback about what has helped others.

Earlier this week, I began listening to a new “Great Course,” “The Life and Works of L.M. Montgomery” by Kate Scarth, which I purchased from Audible. As I was listening, I thought, “This is just too good to keep to myself.” The feeling grew inside of me as I heard about Sørina Higgins’ new course, “Myth & Meaning through the Wardrobe“–this just a couple of years after her own contribution to the Great Courses catalogue with “C.S. Lewis: Writer, Scholar, Seeker.” I want others to have the opportunities I have had to experience these dynamic modes of lifelong learning.

Thus, I am beginning The Super Great Courses Series on A Pilgrim in Narnia!

I will post some notes on some of my favourite courses and lecture series–not just the official “Great Courses” company ones, but everything I feel fits into my “Super Great Courses” experiences. Besides Kate Scarth’s new project, I would like to share about courses and lecture series by Dimitra Fimi, Harold Bloom, Willie James Jennings, Sørina Higgins, Raphael Shargel, Anne Curzan, Paul Fry, Michael Ward, Tom Shippey, John McWhorter, Bruce Hindmarsh, Verilyn Flieger, Jorge Luis Borges, Charles Taylor, Lyle Dorsett, Michael Drout, and (unsurprisingly) C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Don’t touch that dial!