Online courses directory (10358)

A huge earthquake has left Manresa devastated by a mystery disease. Can you stop the illness from taking more lives?

Savi Technology has been called an overnight success 15 years in the making. Vic Verma, president and CEO of Savi Techno

Public Health focuses on the health of entire populations, fighting disease on a massive scale.

This mini-course seeks to answer the following question: How did a school system, once the envy of the world, stumble so that the performance in math, science, and reading of U.S. students at age 15 fell below that of students in a majority of the world’s industrialized nations?

Exploring that question, we identify the personalities and historical forces—the progressives, racial desegregation, legalization and collective bargaining—that shaped and re-shaped U.S. school politics and policy. We visit the places where new ideas and practices were spawned, and we look at some of their unanticipated consequences.

In the three subsequent mini-courses, we seek answers to a second question: What are the best ways of lifting the performance of American schools to a higher level? To explore these questions, we look at ideas and proposals of those who want to save our schools—be it by reforming the teaching profession, holding schools accountable, or giving families more school choices. In interviews with reform proponents and independent experts, we capture the intensity of the current debate. In the end, we do not find any silver bullets that can magically lift schools to a new level of performance, but we do pinpoint the pluses and minuses of many new approaches. These three subsequent mini-courses will launch later in the fall and continue into 2016.

Each mini-course contains five to eight lectures, with each lecture containing approximately three videos. The mini-courses also include assigned readings, discussion forums, and assessment opportunities.

This is the first mini-course in a four-course sequence.

• Mini-Course 1: History and Politics of U.S. Education
• Mini-Course 2: Teacher Policies
• Mini-Course 3: Accountability and National Standards
• Mini-Course 4: School Choice

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.

This mini-course looks in-depth at modern-day issues surrounding teacher policies in U.S. education.

The teacher is the most important person in our schools. How do we recruit and retain the very best teachers? What are our current methods for recruiting teachers? How well do we compensate them?  What are the effects of adjusting teacher salaries to be based on their performance in the classroom? When should teachers be given tenure? Do current policies encourage or discourage effective teachers from entering the profession?

Many questions come down to budgetary constraints. Should you hire more teachers so you have smaller classes? Should it be a priority to balance how much is spent between wealthy and poor districts?

Throughout this mini-course, we will be focused on using empirical evidence to answer these questions.

This mini-course contains six lectures, with most lectures divided into three videos. The mini-courses also include assigned readings, discussion forums, and assessments.

This is the second mini-course in a four-course sequence.

• Mini-Course 1: History and Politics of U.S. Education
• Mini-Course 2: Teacher Policies
• Mini-Course 3: Accountability and National Standards
• Mini-Course 4: School Choice

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.

This mini-course focuses on the question of accountability in public schools.

Who is accountable for student outcomes? Should we blame the schools or hold the students themselves accountable? Who determines the standards for accountability – the federal government or the individual states?

The demand for accountability in U.S. education resulted in No Child Left Behind and has shaped the Common Core debate. Throughout this mini-course, we will trace the origins of the accountability movement, the increased role of the federal government, the design of accountability interventions, and the impact of accountability programs on student performance.

This mini-course contains five lectures, with most lectures divided into three videos. The mini-courses also include assigned readings, discussion forums, and assessments.

This is the third mini-course in a four-course sequence.

• Mini-Course 1: History and Politics of U.S. Education
• Mini-Course 2: Teacher Policies
• Mini-Course 3: Accountability and National Standards
• Mini-Course 4: School Choice

course-v1:HarvardX+1368.3x+2T2016

This mini-course focuses on alternatives to public schools in the United States.

There has been a rapid expansion of school choice in U.S. education. Charter schools now serve over five percent of the public school population, voucher programs have been introduced in many states, and digital education has captured the attention of educators across the country. What is the theoretical basis for these innovations? How effective are the early initiatives? How do parents decide what is best for their children? And how do all of these options affect the students who remain in traditional public schools?

With the help of several scholars and participants in these new ventures, we will discuss the ways in which these school choice initiatives are re-shaping U. S. education.

This mini-course contains five lectures, with most lectures divided into three videos. The mini-courses also includes assigned readings, discussion forums, and assessments.

This is the fourth mini-course in a four-course sequence.

• Mini-Course 1: History and Politics of U.S. Education
• Mini-Course 2: Teacher Policies
• Mini-Course 3: Accountability and National Standards
• Mini-Course 4: School Choice

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.

This course seeks to answer the question: how did a school system, once the envy of the world, stumble so that the performance in math, science, and reading of U.S. students at age 15 fell below that of students in a majority of the world’s industrialized nations?

We start by identifying the personalities and historical forces—the progressives, racial desegregation, legalization and collective bargaining—that shaped and re-shaped U.S. school politics and policy. We visit the places where new ideas and practices were spawned, and we look at some of their unanticipated consequences.

From there, we seek answers to a second question: What are the best ways of lifting the performance of American schools to a higher level? To explore these questions, we look at ideas and proposals of those who want to save our schools—be it by reforming the teaching profession, holding schools accountable, or giving families more school choices. In interviews with reform proponents and independent experts, we capture the intensity of the current debate. In the end, we do not find any silver bullets that can magically lift schools to a new level of performance, but we do pinpoint the pluses and minuses of many new approaches to education reform.

Examine the financial concepts that inform the value of stocks and bonds and how to make smart decisions as an investor.

This course is designed to teach you about managing application containers, using Kubernetes. We've built this course in partnership with experts such as Kelsey Hightower and Carter Morgan from Google and Netflix’s former Cloud Architect, Adrian Cockcroft (current Technology Fellow at Battery Ventures), who provide critical learning throughout the course. Mastering highly resilient and scalable infrastructure management is very important, because the modern expectation is that your favorite sites will be up 24/7, and that they will roll out new features frequently and without disruption of the service. Achieving this requires tools that allow you to ensure speed of development, infrastructure stability and ability to scale. Students with backgrounds in Operations or Development who are interested in managing container based infrastructure with Kubernetes are recommended to enroll! In this course you will learn to: - Containerize an application by creating Docker config files and build processes to produce all the necessary Docker images - Configure and launch an auto-scaling, self-healing Kubernetes cluster - Use Kubernetes to manage deploying, scaling, and updating your applications - Employ best practices for using containers in general, and specifically Kubernetes, when architecting and developing new microservices

Over the past several decades, operations strategy has played an increasingly important role in business’ success. In this course, we will equip you with concepts and tools to build operations in a way that not only supports your competitive strategy, but also allows you to create new opportunities in the market place.

What wisdom does Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, pass to the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders? The i

In many ways Scandinavian film and television is a global cultural brand, connected with and exporting some of the cultural and social values connected to a liberal and progressive welfare society. This course deals with the social, institutional and cultural background of film and television in Scandinavia and in a broader European and global context.

What are the circuits, mechanisms and representations that permit the recognition of a visual scene from just one glance? In this one-day seminar on Scene Understanding, speakers from a variety of disciplines - neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, visual cognition, computational neuroscience and computer vision - will address a range of topics related to scene recognition, including natural image categorization, contextual effects on object recognition, and the role of attention in scene understanding and visual art. The goal is to encourage exchanges between researchers of all fields of brain sciences in the burgeoning field of scene understanding.

Learn how to use rewards-based crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo with the help of crowdfunding experts

Stop trying to fundraise on your own! Learn how to find and assemble a DealTeam to bring money into your business.

A scientific lecture series presented by Cambridge University

During each week of this course, chefs reveal the secrets behind some of their most famous culinary creations — often right in their own restaurants. Inspired by such cooking mastery, the Harvard team will then explain the science behind the recipe.

Topics will include:

• How molecules influence flavor
• The role of heat in cooking
• Diffusion, revealed by the phenomenon of spherification, the culinary technique pioneered by Ferran Adrià.

You will also have the opportunity to become an experimental scientist in your very own laboratory — your kitchen. By following along with the engaging recipe of the week, taking precise measurements, and making skillful observations, you will learn to think like both a cook and a scientist. The lab is certainly one of the most unique components of this course — after all, in what other science course can you eat your experiments?

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code : https://www.edx.org/edx-terms-service. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement: http://harvardx.harvard.edu/research-statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form: https://www.edx.org/contact-us.

In Part 2 of Science and Cooking (Part 1 is available here), we will be visited by more world-famous chefs who use a number of different styles and techniques in their cooking.  Each chef will demonstrate how he or she prepares delicious and interesting creations, and we will explore how fundamental scientific principles make them possible.

Topics will include:

• How cooking changes food texture
• Making emulsions and foams
• Phase changes in cooking

You will also have the opportunity to become an experimental scientist in your very own laboratory — your kitchen! By following along with the recipes of the week, taking precise measurements, and making skillful observations, you will learn to think like both a chef and a scientist.  This practice will prepare you for the final project, when you will design and perform an experiment to analyze a recipe of your choice from a scientific perspective.

The lab is certainly one of the most unique components of this course — after all, in what other science course can you eat your experiments?

This course focuses on the physical changes that occur during cooking.  If you are interested in signing up for “Part 1,” which focuses more on the chemistry of cooking, you can do so here.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.