Online courses directory (10358)

This course is all about you ... your mind, your behavior, and what underlies them both. It will be a fast paced tour of the most important experiments in psychology, one that is intended to fascinate, inform, and provoke deep thought. Come learn about yourself with us!

Psychology is the academic and applied study of the human mind and behavior. Perhaps there are no more salient topics in the information age and the global economy than a comprehensive understanding of how learning takes place and what predicts and determines human behavior. The course is a primer, meant to provide substantive content through which to understand the human condition and to inspire students to continue their learning and growth.
 
Students interested in the study of psychology are interested in why people do, say and think what they do. They have questions about how learning takes place, how genetics dictate certain traits but not others, how memories are formed, where to draw the line between normality and disorder, whether a damaged brain can regain function and the predictors of addiction.
 
Through this introductory course, students will have the opportunity to understand the science of psychology and how psychologists measure mental function and behavior and how the results are reported. They will better understand perception and consciousness and the mysteries of sleep and dreams. Through child development, they will understand how the brain is ready for learning and pre-wired for language. Motivation, cognition and personality will be analyzed through the lens of past and current psychological thought. Students will understand the statistical reality of the normal distribution and how that is relevant to most traits. They will review new research on the plasticity of the brain and consider whether intelligence is fixed or flexible. Lastly, the array of disorders and dysfunction will be analyzed and discussed and the line between normal and abnormal will be considered.

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What do your dreams mean? Do men and women differ in the nature and intensity of their sexual desires? Can apes learn sign language? Why can’t we tickle ourselves? This course tries to answer these questions and many others, providing a comprehensive overview of the scientific study of thought and behavior. It explores topics such as perception, communication, learning, memory, decision-making, religion, persuasion, love, lust, hunger, art, fiction, and dreams. We will look at how these aspects of the mind develop in children, how they differ across people, how they are wired-up in the brain, and how they break down due to illness and injury.

This course offers students an engaging introduction to the essential topics in psychology. Throughout this study of human behavior and the mind, you will gain insight into the history of the field of psychology, as well as explore current theories and issues in areas such as cognition, motivation, and wellness. The course has been updated to align with DSM-5. The importance of scientific methods and principles of research design is emphasized throughout this course and presented in a way that will enrich your study of individuals as thinking, feeling, and social beings. This course is part of our Community College (CC-OLI) series. Although courses in this series are particularly well-suited to the needs of introductory community college courses, the course materials have been used successfully by learners and educators at a broad array of institutions.

Learn about how psychology has developed a body of knowledge about behavior and mind through the use of scientific methods. All areas of psychology will be covered.

The free online course Introduction to Public Relations guides you in a step-by-step manner through the foundation of theory, practices and real-life applications in modern public relations.<br /><br />The course begins by walking you through a public relations case study, designed to get you thinking about the role of PR and the real life applications of the field. You will then look at the field of public relations in broader terms, in order to determine the definition of ‘public relations’ or ‘PR’. The function of public relations in the modern world will also be explored.<br /><br />You will also look at the historical origins of public relations in the Unites States, and the resulting PR models which emerged. These include Grunig &amp; Hunt’s “4 Models” of public relation practice; the Press Agentry Model, the Public Information Model, the Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Models. You will see how these models apply to modern PR, and how the PR function has split into several sub functions over the years; such as the corporate and agency sub functions.<br /><br />You will discuss strategic PR and its role in the modern business world. You will learn more about the role of PR managers within organizations; such as their roles in company strategy, and their advisory roles.<br /><br />This free online course will be of great interest to professionals who work in the area of PR and communications and who would like to learn more about the different functions and sub functions of PR, the theoretical models that have shaped the field, and the strategical role of PR managers within an organization. It will also be of interest to learners who would like to learn more about the role of PR within the modern business environment.<br />

A report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that employers want job candidates with strong communication skills. Similarly, educational success also requires the ability to articulate your thoughts clearly. In this class, we will study the principles of public speaking; critically examine our own and others’ speeches through interactive practice.

This course is being offered in an experimental format. Students are welcome to audit the course, and participate in all course activities. Certificates will not be issued.

This course is designed to help you become a more effective and confident public speaker. We will demystify the process of writing, practicing, and performing a clear and engaging speech, work through the unique traits of oral versus written communication, and learn how to prepare speeches that are easier to deliver orally and understand aurally.

One of the best ways to refine your own speech ability is through a close study of others' speeches. We will have a number of opportunities to examine and discuss sample speeches and speakers. Growing out of our analysis of speakers, we will discuss who you hold up as a model speaker and analyze what makes that speaker effective. We will critically examine our own speeches and the speeches of others. By becoming a student of public speaking, you join a long history of rhetorical study dating back to ancient Greece.

This course is adapted from a similar class offered by the Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Social Sciences, a fully online degree completion program from the University of Washington.

Get started writing Python with this introductory course.

Learn Python Programming on the Mac or PC with "Python for Beginners" Python training course.

This course is part of the Microsoft Professional Program Certificate in Data Science.

Python is a very powerful programming language used for many different applications. Over time, the huge community around this open source language has created quite a few tools to efficiently work with Python. In recent years, a number of tools have been built specifically for data science. As a result, analyzing data with Python has never been easier.

In this practical course, you will start from the very beginning, with basic arithmetic and variables, and learn how to handle data structures, such as Python lists, Numpy arrays, and Pandas DataFrames. Along the way, you’ll learn about Python functions and control flow. Plus, you’ll look at the world of data visualizations with Python and create your own stunning visualizations based on real data.

Brand new to text-based programming? Check out this hands-on course for an in-depth look at the details of Python layers and concepts. Get ample practice drills and projects, using Jupyter Notebooks on Azure, which require only a browser and an Internet connection. Learn best practices and begin coding almost immediately.

After you explore data types and variables, take a look at strings, input, testing, and formatting. From there, learn about arguments and parameters, along with conditionals and nested conditionals. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to create programs that prompt users for input and use conditional (True/False) logic and Python methods to manipulate numbers and text to provide responses to the users, in addition to requesting further input. Plus, learn basic troubleshooting for your code. Sign up, and get started coding right away!

Ready for next steps? Take the Introduction to Python: Fundamentals course.

Ready for more hands-on, step-by-step Python fundamentals? Add to the foundational experience you got in the Introduction to Python: Absolute Beginner, and explore data structures. Get lots of practice working with sample code in Jupyter Notebooks on Azure, which require only a browser and an Internet connection.

Focus on Python data structures, and work with string, list, and range sequences. Discover the power of list iteration, and learn about string and list methods. From there, get the details on file input and output—open files, read them, add to them, close them, and more. At the end of the course, you’ll be able to slice strings into substrings, create lists, iterate through them, import files, and use file append mode, along with a lot of other practical Python tasks, as you get started coding.

Quality management is an integral part of the functioning of many businesses and organisations, both small and large, around the world. Of all quality management system regimes, the ISO 9000 family of standards is probably the most widely implemented worldwide. This free online course will introduce the learner to the whole area of quality management, standards such as ISO 9000 and its specifications and costs. The course explains Total Quality Management tools and why external benchmarking is used. The course also reviews service quality management and introduces Six Sigma quality. This course will be of great interest to all quality management professionals who would like to learn more about the application of quality management within an organisation, and to all learners who are interested in developing a career in the area of quality management.<br />

Learn how light works at the most fundamental level: photon by photon, interacting with one atom at a time!

This course is part of the Microsoft Professional Program Certificate in Data Science.

R is rapidly becoming the leading language in data science and statistics. Today, R is the tool of choice for data science professionals in every industry and field. Whether you are full-time number cruncher, or just the occasional data analyst, R will suit your needs.

This introduction to R programming course will help you master the basics of R. In seven sections, you will cover its basic syntax, making you ready to undertake your own first data analysis using R. Starting from variables and basic operations, you will eventually learn how to handle data structures such as vectors, matrices, data frames and lists. In the final section, you will dive deeper into the graphical capabilities of R, and create your own stunning data visualizations. No prior knowledge in programming or data science is required.

What makes this course unique is that you will continuously practice your newly acquired skills through interactive in-browser coding challenges using the DataCamp platform. Instead of passively watching videos, you will solve real data problems while receiving instant and personalized feedback that guides you to the correct solution.

Enjoy!

In this free online course Introduction to R for Data Science you will be introduced to the R programing language for data statistical computing. You will learn about the different types of R, and how to set up and installing the R language.<br /><br />The course begins by introducing you to R programming, what it is used for and a little of its history. You will learn how to install and setup RStudio and MS R Open for programing R yourself. You will learn about the data structures and types in the R language and how they work.<br /><br />Next, you will be introduced to Enzo Unified which is a service platform for making data access easier. You will learn about running Enzo unified inside SQL management studio. The course shows you the adaptors or abstracted APIs that can be added to or already is part of Enzo Unified. You will learn about accessing tweets from twitter and posting them, and about sending text messages to your phone.<br /><br />This free Alison course will be of great interest to professionals working in the areas of data science and data analysis and who want to learn more about using R for statistical computing.<br /><br />Prerequisites: The learner will need some knowledge of programming languages and an understanding of using SQL Server management studio.