Course List Orientation ChristRules.com
Better help for new and returning students

How to use Pocket College with confidence

Pocket College is built to help you listen, read, study, search, take notes, and grow in Christian understanding without getting lost in the interface. This page is designed to get you moving quickly, then help you go deeper when you are ready.

Start here Explore features Quick answers

Best first steps

  • Open a lecture from the course list and press play.
  • Follow the transcript or switch to Formatted View for easier reading.
  • Use Ask, Notes, and the Bible pane to turn listening into study.
  • When ready, save progress, plan a degree path, or study offline.
Start Core Features Word Study Advanced About

Start Here

This is the shortest path from “I just arrived” to “I know how to use Pocket College.”

1) Open the course list

Browse by subject, then by course, then by lecture. On wide screens the list and lecture can stay open together.

Open contents

2) Open any lecture

Press play, follow the transcript, and switch to Formatted View when you want an easier reading layout.

3) Turn listening into study

Use Ask to ask questions, Notes to save thoughts, and the Bible pane to follow Scripture references.

Good default workflow: Open a lecture → press play → read along → pause at an important point → highlight text → ask a question or save a note.

Your First Minute

  1. Begin on Orientation or the course list.
    Orientation gives a guided starting point. The course list lets you go straight to subjects, courses, and lectures.
  2. Choose one lecture and press play.
    You do not need to set up a planner or understand every tool first.
  3. Read while you listen.
    Transcript View keeps the original flow. Formatted View gives headings and study-friendly structure when available.
  4. Use one study tool.
    Either ask a question, save a note, or open the Bible pane for a reference mentioned in the lecture.

Core Features

These are the features most students will use regularly.

🎧 Listening & Reading

  • Every lecture pairs audio with the transcript.
  • Many lectures also offer a richer Formatted View.
  • Your listening position can be remembered locally so you can resume later.
  • Timestamps are clickable and will resume the lecture from that point.

🧠 Ask the Professor

  • Ask questions grounded in Pocket College lecture material.
  • Use This Lecture Only for tight answers or All Lectures for broader search.
  • Highlight text first when you want a more precise answer.
  • Open cited sources to jump back into the lecture.

📖 Bible & Study Tools

  • Open the Bible pane and move by book, chapter, and verse.
  • Jump from a verse to related lectures through the Bible Reference Index.
  • Use the Study Bible for passage, word, and topic study.
  • Use Word Study to compare a word across three historical dictionary sources.
  • Commentary, cross-references, concepts, and lecture sources can all support your study.
Bible index Study Bible Word Study

✍️ Notes & Progress

  • Lecture Notes let you keep notes tied to each lecture.
  • Notes can auto-save, and you can save manually anytime.
  • Progress Report helps track listening time and completion.
  • Useful for personal discipline, family records, and course credit documentation.

📤 Quotes, Sharing & Teachable Moments

  • Select text and copy a quote with a deep link to the exact words.
  • Suggest transcript corrections directly from selected text.
  • Create infographics and saved Teachable Moments from key passages.

🔎 Search

  • Search by title, topic, keyword, Bible reference, or lecture code.
  • Use quotes for exact phrases such as "biblical law".
  • Use lecture codes such as RR130A1 when you know the lecture.
  • Find transcript gaps with the literal marker {?}.

Word Study and Historical Dictionaries

Word Study helps you compare how an important word was defined and used in older English sources, without leaving your lecture study flow.

Webster 1828

Useful for early American theological, moral, and legal usage. This source often helps when a lecture depends on older covenantal or legal vocabulary.

Webster 1913

A broader unabridged reference source. It is helpful for fuller general definitions, numbered senses, phrases, and related word forms.

First OED / NED

The First Oxford English Dictionary, originally the New English Dictionary, traces historical development through older usage and citations.

How to open it

  • Open Word Study directly and type a word.
  • Or select one clean word in a transcript and choose Word Study.
  • The full page keeps recent searches and lets you switch sources with dictionary tabs.
Transcript workflow: select a single word such as law, covenant, or sovereignty, then choose Word Study. Pocket College does not turn every transcript word into an automatic link; the dictionary panel appears only when you ask for it.
What the Word Study page can do
  • Look up one word across Webster 1828, Webster 1913, and First OED / NED.
  • Use dictionary tabs/buttons instead of scrolling through one long combined list.
  • Filter to one source when you want to focus on a single dictionary.
  • Remember recent single-word lookups locally on your device.
  • Search Pocket College lectures for the same word.
  • For some First OED / NED entries, open a browser-friendly original scan preview from Internet Archive.
What to keep in mind
  • Historical dictionaries are study aids, not final authorities.
  • Older spelling, OCR artifacts, and source quirks may occasionally remain.
  • The NED/OED1 layer filters bad headword matches by default, but historical OCR still deserves careful reading.
  • For theological and biblical questions, use the dictionaries alongside Scripture, lectures, notes, and sound judgment.
Open Word Study Try “law” Try “covenant”

How To Use the Main Tools

Lectures, audio, transcript, and Formatted View
  • Open any lecture from the course list.
  • Only the lecture itself, usually about 20 minutes long, is required. The Q&A section is optional.
  • Press play and read along in the transcript.
  • When available, switch to Formatted View for headings, lists, and easier study structure.
  • Use the Home button to return to the course list and keep your place.
Ask the Professor
  • Open a lecture and tap Ask.
  • Enter a question and press Send.
  • Use Use Highlight or Highlight-Only Answer when a selected passage should control the answer.
  • Use the cited sources to jump back into lectures.
  • Best results: ask specific questions and include a key phrase or highlighted excerpt.
Lecture Notes
  • Tap Notes to open the rich editor.
  • Write freely, save manually, or let auto-save preserve your work after you pause.
  • Notes are tied to the lecture, which helps keep study organized.
Word Study and dictionaries
  • Open Word Study from the navigation links, Help page, Home page, or a selected transcript word.
  • Type one word and press Look Up.
  • Use the Webster 1828, Webster 1913, and First OED / NED tabs to compare sources without losing your place.
  • On transcript pages, select a single word and choose Word Study to open the in-transcript dictionary panel.
  • Use Open full Word Study when you want the larger page, recent searches, source filtering, and lecture search.
Bible and Bible Reference Index
  • The Bible pane is the reader.
  • The Bible Reference Index helps you find lectures that refer to a verse, chapter, or book.
  • From lectures, Scripture references can launch you into Bible study and back again.
Copying quotes, suggesting corrections, and creating infographics
  • Select text in the transcript.
  • Choose Copy quote and link to save a shareable excerpt.
  • Choose Suggest Correction when wording should be fixed.
  • Choose Create Infographic to turn a passage into a saved, shareable Teachable Moment.

Advanced Tools

These tools are powerful, but you do not need them on day one.

📡 Broadcast links

Use the contents page to generate a looping from → to lecture link for hands-free playback or playlist-style use.

🎓 Degree Planner

Plan term by term, track requirements, normalize course order, save a plan, reset it, and print a full report.

Open planner

📄 Progress Report

See listening history, completion, and time spent. Useful for meaningful records and accountability.

Open report

📻 RSS feeds

Subscribe by overall feed, by subject, or by course. Helpful when using Pocket College like a podcast library.

💾 Offline Pocket College

The desktop bundle includes offline lectures, transcripts, local audio, Bible content, and offline search.

  • Current desktop bundle: 29 GB
  • Best for desktops, laptops, and large removable media
Download offline bundle

📱 Add to Home Screen

  • iPhone/iPad: Safari → Share → Add to Home Screen
  • Android: Chrome → Menu → Add to Home screen

Quick Answers

What should I do first if I am brand new?

Open one lecture, press play, and read along. After that, try either Ask, Notes, or the Bible pane. That is enough for a good first session.

Do I need an account?

You can browse and listen without doing everything at once, but some features such as sign-in based study tools and saved progress work best when you are signed in.

What is the difference between Transcript View and Formatted View?

Transcript View keeps the traditional transcript structure. Formatted View reorganizes the same material into headings, blocks, and study-friendly sections when available.

What does Ask the Professor actually use?

It is designed to answer from Pocket College lecture material and cite that material, not replace Scripture, pastoral care, or your own disciplined study.

How do Bible references connect to lectures?

From a lecture you can open the Bible pane or Bible Reference Index. From the Bible tools you can move back into lectures that mention the passage. The system is designed to keep Bible study and lecture study connected.

What dictionaries does Word Study use?

Word Study compares Webster 1828, Webster 1913, and the First OED / New English Dictionary. Webster 1828 is especially useful for early American theological and legal usage; Webster 1913 gives broader unabridged definitions; and First OED / NED shows historical development and citations.

Can I use Pocket College offline?

Yes. The full desktop bundle is available for offline use and is intended for computers or large removable media rather than phone installation.

Support This Work

Voluntary Levitical Tithe and Gifts

The support of this teaching work helps Pocket College continue equipping families and students.

Pocket College Fund Voluntary Levitical Tithe-based tuition

Practical vision

Pocket College aims to provide deep Christian learning without debt, without compromise, and with wide accessibility for families, students, and self-directed learners.

Why Pocket College?

Purpose

  • To equip the saints for Christian maturity and Kingdom service.
  • To make a large body of Rushdoony’s material broadly accessible.
  • To serve students ages 12 and up on a flexible schedule.

Development

Pocket College grew out of recorded lectures that were preserved, digitized, organized, and transcribed over many years, with cooperation from the Chalcedon Foundation and others.

Accreditation

Pocket College does not present itself as a conventional state-centered solution. Its vision is openly Christian and openly shaped by Biblical conviction rather than statist educational assumptions.

Read more

Background

Pocket College began with Dr. R. J. Rushdoony’s lectures and recordings. Over time these materials were digitized and organized, and the 10 Million Word Project helped make the recordings searchable and readable through full transcripts.

With the cooperation of the Chalcedon Foundation and Mark Rushdoony, the project now combines audio, transcripts, books, Bible tools, and study workflows in a single environment.

Pocket College is provided free of charge (and is solely supported by those who feel led to do so) by Arnold Jagt · arnold.jagt@gmail.com · Facebook.