Online courses directory (841)

Entrepreneurship is the art of creating value through making the world a better place for both yourself and those who get in touch with your business activities. Whether you are a student, a doctor, an engineer or a homemaker, entrepreneurial skills will help lead a better, more interesting. These skills include communication, innovation, networking, teamwork, managing money and sales, to mention a few. Behind every great product or service that we enjoy today is an army of people, who design, build, distribute, sell and maintain the product or ensure safe delivery of the service and entrepreneurship is at the heart of all these economic activities.

How do you market a service when there is no car to test drive, no shoes to try on, no computer to take home or book to read? Services marketing is different from traditional product marketing and this course will introduce you to the distinctive characteristics of services and how they affect both customer behaviour and marketing strategy. You will learn how to create and evaluate a service environment that is both functional and enhances the experience of the consumer.

This course provides an introduction to exploring and understanding arguments by explaining what the parts of an argument are, and how to break arguments into their parts and create diagrams to show how those parts relate to each other. Argument diagramming is a great visual tool for evaluating claims that people make. By the end of the course, you will be able to think critically about arguments or claims and determine whether or not they are logical. This skill can be used in a variety of situations, such as listening to the news, reading an article, or making a point in a meeting. This is an introductory course and may be useful to a broad range of students.

This course teaches the core principles of economics using a collection of experiments and workbooks. In the experiments, students become traders in a market and attempt to make profitable deals with one another. At the conclusion of the experiment, the data are used to form a customized, online workbook. Each workbook guides the student through the analysis of the experiment’s outcome, while simultaneously presenting the key ideas and core principles in economics needed to gain a deeper understanding of both the experiment and economic life. In these experiments the student is both a participant and an observer. As a participant, the student experiences first hand the issues that all economic agents must confront; as an observer, the student sees how modern economic theory can explain the complex interactions that occur in both the experiments, and the economic world at large. Students often report that they learn nearly as much about economic principles from their experience as a participant as they do from their analysis of the experiment as an observer. Students learning on their own or in small classes (generally fewer than 10 students) can still use the workbooks, but will be given synthetic data. Small numbers of students participating in experiments does not yield enough data for the workbooks.

This half-semester course introduces and surveys a selection of cutting-edge topics in the field of real estate finance and investments. The course follows an informal "seminar" format to the maximum degree possible, with students expected to take considerable initiative. Lectures and discussions led by the instructors will be supplemented by several guest speakers from the real estate investment industry, who will present perspectives on current trends and important developments in the industry.

In analyzing fiscal issues, conventional public finance approaches focus mainly on taxation and public spending. Policymakers and practitioners rarely explore solutions by examining the fundamental problem: the failure of interested parties to act collectively to internalize the positive externalities generated by public goods. Public finance is merely one of many possible institutional arrangements for assigning the rights and responsibilities to public goods consumption. This system is currently under stress because of the financial crisis. The first part of the class will focus on collective action and its connection with local public finance. The second part will explore alternative institutional arrangements for mediating collective action problems associated with the provision of local public goods.

The objective of the seminar is to broaden the discussion of local public finance by incorporating collective action problems into the discourse. This inclusion aims at exploring alternative institutional arrangements for financing local public services in the face of severe economic downturn. Applications of emerging ideas to the provision of public health, education, and natural resource conservation will be discussed.

This course focuses on alternative ways in which the issues of growth, restructuring, innovation, knowledge, learning, and accounting and measurements can be examined, covering both industrialized and emerging countries. We give special emphasis to recent transformations in regional economies throughout the world and to the implications these changes have for the theories and research methods used in spatial economic analyses. Readings will relate mainly to the United States, but we cover pertinent material on foreign countries in lectures.

This course teaches students how to understand the rationality behind how organizations and their programs behave, and to be comfortable and analytical with a live organization. It thereby builds analytic skills for evaluating programs and projects, organizations, and environments. It draws on the literature of the sociology of organizations, political science, public administration, and historical experience-and is based on both developing-country and developed-country experience.

This course explores the physical, ecological, technological, political, economic, and cultural implications of big plans and mega-urban landscapes in a global context. It uses local and international case studies to understand the process of making major changes to urban landscape and city fabric, and to regional landscape systems. It includes lectures by leading practitioners. The assignments consider planning and design strategies across multiple scales and time frames.

In seven brand new modules, you will learn necessary tools to examine complex competitive situations and find solutions for them. This course is designed for those who are eager to find out more about how companies choose strategies to obtain competitive advantage.

For any business or organization, the need to control and monitor cash transactions to ensure the efficient operation of the business is vital. In ALISON's free online accounting course, procedures and structures for establishing internal control such as control of cash receipts and cash disbursements, proper use of the bank checking account, preparation of the bank reconciliation, and protection of petty cash funds are all explored in detail. Examples of recommended documentation and the postings used in the ledgers are given. An overview of the five components for internal control is described and this provides a structure for developing the necessary procedures needed to ensure the safe handling of cash within an organization. You will also see how companies can protect both their assets and employees by following steps such as segregating employee duties, assigning specific duties to each employee, rotating employee job assignments, and using mechanical devices. <br /><br />ALISON's free online accounting course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to better understand how to control and monitor daily cash transactions within an enterprise, and to any learner who is interested in accounting as a future career.<br />

Merchandising retailers and wholesalers use inventory costs to calculate the cost of goods sold as these are a major expense affecting net income and the balance sheet. In this free online accounting course learners are brought step-by-step through this process from the physical counting of goods, to the inclusion of costs such as transport or insurance, to the calculation on the value of the goods thereby connecting the cost of goods through to retained earnings and the balance sheet. The different methods of apportioning costs to a stock item, such as FIFO and LIFO, are discussed and topics such as net realization or gross margin are explained and explored. The importance of having accurate inventory figures and the serious consequences of using inaccurate inventory figures is also explained. This free online accounting course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to better understand how to allocate inventory costs flow for the wholesale and retail sectors, and to any learner who is interested in accounting as a future career.<br />

In this course you will learn how to account for and manage receivables and payables. For the receivables you will learn how to calculate a bad debt provision amount based on a company’s history using both the aging schedule and the allowance method. The bad debt amount for the financial reports is then managed by posting that provision, and then processing the realized loss of revenue when it becomes overdue. On the payables side you will learn how to make provision for known liabilities, estimate liabilities such as warranty liabilities and how to plan for the contingent liabilities mostly resulting from legal issues. The course also looks at raising short term finance through the use of promissory notes – distinguishing between interest bearing notes and discounted notes with examples of calculations of the postings for each. You will also learn about accounting for notes that are dishonored. The final section explains the use of the accounts receivable turnover and the number of days’ sales in accounts receivables ratios and the relevance of the level of liquidity they represent. This free online accounting course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to better understand, manage and account for the receivables and payables, and to any learner who is interested in accounting as a future career.<br />

This free online course looks at the way in which the buying and selling of goods is accounted for in the merchandising sector as opposed to the manufacturing sector. As the inventory is the focus of such businesses, managing the accounts and finance related to purchasing, trade and chain discount, transport costs and invoice terms is critical as they are the major contributors to the gross profit. Students will also learn about the differences between perpetual and periodic inventory processes, both from a physical and accounting perspective. The learner will be walked through the process of calculating the cost of paying for goods as per the invoice terms, using borrowed monies, versus the cost of paying for them on the invoice due date. The learner will see how to calculate the cost of goods sold and see an example of a classified income statement used to calculate the net profit for this sector. This free online accounting course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to better understand the management of stock and related cash flow for the wholesale and retail sectors, and to any learner who is interested in accounting as a future career.<br />

This course introduces the body of theory underlying accounting procedures. It puts the core practices and principles, covered in the previous courses, into a framework of theoretical concepts. This free online course will give learners an understanding of the theory behind the accounting process and will help learners make decisions in diverse accounting situations as is provides a logical framework for accounting practice. This free online accounting course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to get an understanding of the theory behind the accounting practices that we use day today, and to any learner who is interested in accounting as a future career.

Financial reports are used to see how a business is performing and therefore they should accurately reflect how the business performed during the period under review. The matching principle or accruals basis of an accounting system records more accurately the true revenues earned and costs paid for the period in question. The cost of rent and capital purchases are spread over the life of the purchase rather than distorting the accounts in the period the purchase was made. Likewise wages owing or interest payable is spread pulled into the period where they were used rather than when they were paid. In this free online accounting course students will learn how to determine if an account needs adjustment entries due to the matching principle concept. They will be introduced to the two classes and four types of adjustments resulting from unearned revenue, prepaid expenses, accrued expenses and accrued revenue, along with typical examples of each type of adjustment. Depreciation is explored in more detail as the effect on the balance sheet can be significant. This free online accounting course will be of great interest to entrepreneurs and business professionals who would like to get a thorough introduction to accounting principles, and to any learner who is interested in accounting as a future career.<br />

Building an effective online presence is critical for growing your business as it gives your company access to thousands or millions of local, national or international customers who are searching, interacting, sharing and shopping online. In this course you will learn why you must get your business up and running on the Web using e-commerce sites, review sites and social networks. You will also learn that having a Website which is easy to navigate, is informative, and has a good domain name, the right design template and memorable Web copy will help your business stand out from the competition. The course discusses why it is important to have a presence on the mobile Web and how to attract your target audience using tools like Google AdWords. This course will be of great interest to all business owners who are thinking of setting up a Website for their business but are uncertain of how to go about doing it. It will also be beneficial to any company or organisation that wants their existing Website to be more effective at attracting potential customers.<br />

Business Intelligence is a set of theories and methodologies that handle large amounts of data and information and assists managers with decision-making. Knowledge management is the process of capturing, storing, retrieving and distributing the knowledge of the individuals in a business for use by others in the business to improve the quality and/or efficiency of decision making across the firm. This free online course in Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management Systems enables the learner to study information tools used to assist decision-makers and describe the process known as decision-making including the three steps involved. The course will be of interest to business professionals who would like to gain a basic knowledge and understanding of the benefits of business intelligence and knowledge management systems.<br />

Jeff Hawkins is the co-founder of Palm and Handspring and is the architect of many computing products such as the PalmPilot and the Treo smartphone. In this course he will take you on a journey through his career, how he became an entrepreneur and the importance of believing in your product. He teaches valuable lessons about the importance of experience, following your passions and how to keep a work/life balance. He discusses how to design successful products, the role of market research and the need to continuously test products. In terms of the company workplace, he talks about how a good business culture and a strong human resources policy are vital. You will also learn about the importance and inevitability of portable technology. This course will be of great interest to business professionals who will learn much from the experience, knowledge and wisdom Jeff Hawkins has gained over his career. It will also be of interest to business students setting out on their careers, in particular those who would like to become technology entrepreneurs.<br />