Online courses directory (19947)

This course explores the properties of non-sequential, multi-linear, and interactive forms of narratives as they have evolved from print to digital media. Works covered in this course range from the Talmud, classics of non-linear novels, experimental literature, early sound and film experiments to recent multi-linear and interactive films and games. The study of the structural properties of narratives that experiment with digression, multiple points of view, disruptions of time, space, and of storyline is complemented by theoretical texts about authorship/readership, plot/story, properties of digital media and hypertext. Questions that will be addressed in this course include: How can we define ‘non-sequentiality/multi-linearity’, ‘interactivity’, ‘narrative’. To what extend are these aspects determined by the text, the reader, the digital format? What are the roles of the reader and the author? What kinds of narratives are especially suited for a non-linear/interactive format? Are there stories that can only be told in a digital format? What can we learn from early non-digital examples of non-linear and interactive story telling?

In this course, we will investigate popular culture and narrative by focusing on the relationship between literary texts and comics. Several questions shape the syllabus and provide a framework for approaching the course materials: How do familiar aspects of comics trace their origins to literary texts and broader cultural concerns? How have classic comics gone on to influence literary fiction? In what ways do contemporary graphic narratives bring a new kind of seriousness of purpose to comics, blurring what's left of the boundaries between the highbrow and the lowbrow? Readings and materials for the course range from the nineteenth century to the present, and include novels, short stories, essays, older and newer comics, and some older and newer films. Expectations include diligent reading, active participation, occasional discussion leading, and two papers.

This free HR ALISON course introduces you to the world of Human Resources management (HRM) and is a useful introduction to those who wish to learn and understand more about the role it plays within organizations.<br /><br />The lessons examine the various functions of HRM in organizations including responsibilities and objectives, the employment cycle, job analysis, recruitment and selection, and performance appraisal as well as employee relations, and managing change within the workplace.<br />

&quot;Human Health 3&quot; course examines the global health issues affecting the world today with a particular focus on the developing world. The interactive course considers a variety of topics such as, Women's Health, HIV/AIDS, and health in infancy, childhood and adolescence. It is ideal for those in health management, the medical professions, charity and community work, HIV/AIDS awareness, and women's health.

This second free course continues the introduction to Psychology. This free learning course approaches the topic from a ‘cognitive’ angle. This perspective likens the mind to an information-processing computer and uses the computer metaphor to examine complex human functions such as visual perception and memory. This online course is suitable for revising, exam preparation, and for those who often wondered how humans engage in complex mental functions!<br />

This free online learning course introduces the learner to the basic principles of Psychology from both a behavioural and biological perspective. The topics include classical and operant conditioning, the brain and the nervous system, stress and states of consciousness. All ALISON graduates are entitled to certification. This free Psychology course is an excellent complement to face-to-face classes and as a study guide or for those who would like to familiarise themselves with the fundamentals of Psychology.<br />

This course focuses on novels and films from the last twenty-five years (nominally 1985–2010) marked by their relationship to extreme violence and transgression. Our texts will focus on serial killers, torture, rape, and brutality, but they also explore notions of American history, gender and sexuality, and reality television—sometimes, they delve into love or time or the redemptive role of art in late modernity. Our works are a motley assortment, with origins in the U.S., France, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Japan and South Korea. The broad global era marked by this period is one of acceleration, fragmentation, and late capitalism; however, we will also consider national specificities of violent representation, including particulars like the history of racism in the United States, the role of politeness in bourgeois Austrian culture, and the effect of Japanese manga on vividly graphic contemporary Asian cinema.

We will explore the politics and aesthetics of the extreme; affective questions about sensation, fear, disgust, and shock; and problems of torture, pain, and the unrepresentable. We will ask whether these texts help us understand violence, or whether they frame violence as something that resists comprehension; we will consider whether form mitigates or colludes with violence. Finally, we will continually press on the central term in the title of this course: what, specifically, is violence? (Can we only speak of plural "violences"?) Is violence the same as force? Do we know violence when we see it? Is it something knowable or does it resist or even destroy knowledge? Is violence a matter for a text's content—who does what, how, and to whom—or is it a problem of form: shock, boredom, repetition, indeterminacy, blankness? Can we speak of an aesthetic of violence? A politics or ethics of violence? Note the question that titles our last week: Is it the case that we are what we see? If so, what does our obsession with ultraviolence mean, and how does contemporary representation turn an accusing gaze back at us?

This instance of "Media, Education, and the Marketplace" focuses on the rise of information and communications technologies (ICTs) during the age of globalization, specifically examining its effect and potential in developing nations across the world. In particular, the class will focus on the following three components:

• "Media" – ICTs, specifically the dramatic rise in use of the Internet over the past twenty years, have "globalized" the world and created opportunities where very few have been available in the past. We are entering a phase where an individual can significantly improve his or her own economical, political, and social circumstances with just a computer and Internet connection. This course investigate these profound developments through current research and case studies.
• "Education" – With projects such as MIT's OpenCourseWare, the major players in the world are beginning to understand the true power of ICTs in development. Throughout this class, we examine projects that harness the benefits of ICTs to create positive social change around the world.
• "Marketplace" – The focus is on the developing regions of the world. Specifically, the term "digital divide" is tossed around in everyday language, but what does it really mean? Is there an international digital divide, a national digital divide, or both? Should we try to bridge this divide, and how have past attempts succeeded and (for the most part) failed? Why? These are all questions that are asked throughout this course.

This course has a very unique pedagogy, which is discussed in more detail in the syllabus section.

This third and final Psychology course examines experimentation and report writing in a Psychology context. This free learning course outlines protocols for experimentation in Psychology including how to structure and conduct experiments, how to interpret results and how to report findings. This course is ideal for students looking to enhance their knowledge of research methods or those who would like to acquaint themselves with psychological experimentation.<br />

This free interactive online business course covers entrepreneurship. Taking as its inspiration the book: &quot;Stone Soup - The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing&quot;, this course takes you through the 26 ingredients needed. This course not only brings you a flavour of the book, it also provides a profile of the successful entrepreneur/venture founder. <br />

<p>This free online course covers the skills and techniques needed to create your first website and is designed for novices who've always wanted to build a site but lack the skills or knowledge to do it. </p><br /> <p>Chris Farrell, voted Number 1 Internet Marketing Service Provider, describes in a non-technical and step-by-step manner how to use software to create and format web pages, how to get a domain name and set up a hosting account, and how to make your website available online. </p>

&quot;21 Steps To Building A Web Business&quot;&quot; is ALISON’S free online course covering the skills and techniques needed to create a successful online business. Chris Farrell, voted Number 1 Internet Marketing Service Provider, describes the process of developing an online business in a non-technical and step-by-step manner.<br /><br />The course is ideal for those who've always wanted to create an online business but lack the skills or knowledge to do so. <p> </p>

The half-semester graduate course in Green Supply Chain Management will focus on the fundamental strategies, tools and techniques required to analyze and design environmentally sustainable supply chain systems. Topics covered include: Closed-loop supply chains, reverse logistics systems, carbon footprinting, life-cycle analysis and supply chain sustainability strategy.

Class sessions will combine presentations, case discussions and guest speakers. All students will work on a course-long team project that critically evaluates the environmental supply chain strategy of an industry or a publicly traded company. Grades will be based on class participation, case study assignments and the team project.

In this course, you will be exposed to the work of many great documentary photographers and photojournalists, as well as to writing about the documentary tradition. Further, throughout the term, you will hone your photographic skills and 'eye,' and you will work on a photo documentary project of your own, attempting to reduce a tiny area of the moving world to a set of still images that convey what the viewer needs to know about what you saw—without hearing the sounds, smelling the odors, experiencing what was happening outside the viewfinder, and without seeing the motion.

This class will explore the cultural history and media industry surrounding the masculine drama of professional wrestling. Beginning with wrestling's roots in sport and carnival, the class examines how new technologies and changes in the television industry led to evolution for pro wrestling style and promotion and how shifts in wrestling characters demonstrate changes in the depiction of American masculinity. The class will move chronologically in an examination of how wrestling characters and performances have changed, focusing particularly on the 1950s to the present. Students may have previous knowledge of wrestling but are not required to, nor are they required to be a fan (although it is certainly not discouraged, either).

Special thanks to the WWE for allowing us to use various materials and for their participation and help with the course.

This class explores the development of Hollywood Film Noir. There will be a focus on émigré directors who moved to Hollywood when the Nazis rose to power. Assignments will include short response papers about three of the films in the series, and reports by students on examples of "neo-noir" films from recent decades.

This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

This class does intensive close study and analysis of historically significant media "texts" that have been considered landmarks or have sustained extensive critical and scholarly discussion. Such texts may include oral epic, story cycles, plays, novels, films, opera, television drama and digital works. The course emphasizes close reading from a variety of contextual and aesthetic perspectives. The syllabus varies each year, and may be organized around works that have launched new modes and genres, works that reflect upon their own media practices, or on stories that migrate from one medium to another. At least one of the assigned texts is collaboratively taught, and visiting lectures and discussions are a regular feature of the subject.

Always wanted to start your own website but had no idea where to start? If so, ALISON's new web page development course is for you! Developed by award-winning Warwick University principal teaching fellow Russell Stannard, the course identifies the skills and techniques needed to create professional-looking webpages. The course introduces the basic languages and programmes needed to create and style websites such as HTML, Cascading Style Sheets and Adobe Dreamweaver and is delivered in a non-technical and step-by-step manner.<br />

<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Developed by award-winning teaching fellow Russell Stannard, this free online course teaches you how to create professional animated multimedia videos for your business or place of employment, or simply to entertain your friends and family. Start the course and begin making professional animated videos today!<br />

This class covers a range of topics including hypertext, interactive cinema, games, installation art, and soundscapes. It examines the potential for dynamic narrative in traditional media like novels and films and as well as in computer-based stories and games. The course focuses on the creation of electronic stories and games using simple authoring systems and multimedia software tools. Students present and constructively critique one another's work in progress in a workshop setting aimed at expanding the representational powers of a new creative medium.