Online courses directory (19947)

This course will introduce you to the history and practice of English as a scholarly discipline with the goal of preparing you for your future endeavors as an English major. It has been designed to familiarize you with the various tools that scholars have devised in order to facilitate the study of literary expression in English, from critical frameworks to close reading techniques. After an introductory unit outlining basic approaches to literary analysis, we will embark upon a genre study, devoting each of the four remaining units to a different genre of writing: poetry, the novel, drama, the rhetorical essay, and the critical essay. In each of these units, we will review a general history of the genre, read a representative sample or set of samples, learn genre-specific critical terms and theories, and apply what you have learned to essays of your own. By the end of this course, you will have developed strategies that will enable you to understand, analyze, and critically respond to works in any genre at a…

The Victorian Period of English history (1837-1901) witnessed a set of complex political, social, scientific, medical and philosophical developments. Such developments influenced - and were influenced by - various modes of cultural production, most specifically the Victorian Novel. The reciprocal relationship meant that even as discoveries fed the imaginative worlds of fiction, fictive accounts helped a reading public re imagine the language of those discoveries. As the British Empire expanded its reaches across the globe, news of new societies and cultures circulated back to the British Isles to a degree never before witnessed in English history. At home, British intellectuals began raising important questions concerning the nature of the "Woman Question," or the proper place and role for British women in society, at home, and in the workplace. In addition, this period saw the rise of Darwinism, Marxism, and Freudian psychoanalysis - a set of theories that would forever change global society and culture. In…

In the 1970s, the Chinese Communist leader Zhou Enlai was asked to assess the outcomes of the French Revolution of 1789.  He supposedly answered: “It is too soon to say.”  Though this story has a somewhat apocryphal status, it captures a fundamental truth about the world in which we live: it is a world which has been shaped by revolutions, and their legacies are always difficult to evaluate. In this course, you will gain a better understanding of the modern world by studying some of the most important political revolutions that took place between the 17th century and today.  You will seek to understand the causes of each revolution, analyze the ideologies that inspired the revolutionaries, examine revolutionary uses of violence, and consider how historical revolutions still shape contemporary politics.  Close and critical readings of historical sources will be crucial in this process. The course begins with a theoretical analysis of revolutions and a careful examination of pre-revolutionary Europe…

This course will focus on the emergence and evolution of industrial societies around the world.  We will begin by comparing the legacies of industry in ancient and early modern Europe and Asia and examining the agricultural and commercial advances that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.  We will then follow the history of industrialization in different parts of the world, taking a close look at the economic, social, and environmental effects of industrialization.  The course is organized chronologically and thematically.  Each unit will focus on key developments in the history of industry as well as on representative areas of the globe, using primary-source documents, secondary readings, and multimedia resources to illustrate the dynamic nature of industrial change.  By the end of the course, you will understand how industrialization developed, spread across the globe, and shaped everyday life in the modern era.

Numerical analysis is the study of the methods used to solve problems involving continuous variables.  It is a highly applied branch of mathematics and computer science, wherein abstract ideas and theories become the quantities describing things we can actually touch and see.  The real number line is an abstraction where many interesting and useful ideas live, but to actually realize these ideas, we are forced to employ approximations of the real numbers.  For example, consider marking a ruler at sqrt{2}.  We know that sqrt{2} approx 1.4142, but if we put the mark there, we know we are in error for there is an infinite sequence of nonzero digits following the 2.  Even more: a number doesn’t have any width, yet any mark we make would have a width, and in that width lives an infinite number of real numbers.  You may ask yourself: isn’t it sufficient to represent sqrt{2} with 1.414?  This is the kind of question that this course will explore.  We have been trying to answer such questions for over 2,0…

This course is the second installment of Single-Variable Calculus.  In Part I (MA101 [1]), we studied limits, derivatives, and basic integrals as a means to understand the behavior of functions.  While this end goal remains the same, we will now focus on adapting what we have learned to applications.  By the end of this course, you should have a solid understanding of functions and how they behave.  You should also be able to apply the concepts we have learned in both Parts I and II of Single-Variable Calculus to a variety of situations. We will begin by revisiting and building upon what we know about the integral.  We will then explore the mathematical applications of integration before delving into the second major topic of this course: series.  The course will conclude with an introduction to differential equations. [1] http:///courses/ma101/…

The physics of the Universe appears to be dominated by the effects of four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and weak and strong nuclear forces.  These control how matter, energy, space, and time interact to produce our physical world.  All other forces, such as the force you exert in standing up, are ultimately derived from these fundamental forces. We have direct daily experience with two of these forces: gravity and electromagnetism.  Consider, for example, the everyday sight of a person sitting on a chair.  The force holding the person on the chair is gravitational, while that gravitational force is balanced by material forces that “push up” to keep the individual in place, and these forces are the direct result of electromagnetic forces on the nanoscale.  On a larger stage, gravity holds the celestial bodies in their orbits, while we see the Universe by the electromagnetic radiation (light, for example) with which it is filled.  The electromagnetic force also makes possible the a…

In the field of public policy and administration, there have been several enduring questions.  In a larger context, what is the role of government?  There has always been conflict in our society regarding the proper role of government.  How should public organizations be structured to reflect the will of the public?  How do we ensure accountability?  What is the proper role of the public administrator/analyst in policy implementation?  How should programs be evaluated? This course will provide you with an overview of the field of public administration, particularly the distinctions that set management of public organizations apart from that of private-sector organizations.  You will begin with an examination of the history and perception of the role of government in the provision of services.  You will then examine the context in which public administrators deliver services to citizens.  Public administrators must also possess a basic knowledge of managing organizations and people in order to imple…

In this course, you will learn fundamental principles of international law and examine the historical development of these laws. The nature of international law differs in many respects from local, state, and federal law. International laws are formed by either customary international norms or by treaty or multilateral agreements by organizations like the United Nations. Within the community of nations, regional alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) may also enter into agreements for collective security that have the force of law. The body of international law today includes treaties and conventions, as well as rules governing diplomatic relationships between countries. For example, the legal immunity extended to diplomats serving in other countries is considered a part of international law. Some critics do not consider what is termed “international law” to be law at all, as, unlike domestic law (where there is a police force and a judicial system to manage those who break the…

In this course, you will learn about the complexities of the legislative branch by examning the U.S. Congress in the American political system.  Course content will focus first on the history of Congress and the constant tension between Congress’ competing representation and lawmaking functions.  In this respect, you will focus on topics that include the history and original purpose of the legislative branch, the basic structure of Congress, and the electoral considerations and dynamics that impact how members of Congress act.  The course will then take a careful look at the internal politics and law-making processes of Congress.  Here, you will learn not only the “nuts and bolts” of the legislative process, but also the reasons why rules are designed as they are as well as the external competing interests that impact members and shape legislative outcomes.  By the end of the course, you should be able to explain how a bill becomes a law, how it evolved throughout the legislative process, and what…

Welcome to the exciting world of Payroll Administration!  What you’ll learn in this course is essential to your understanding of the human-resources concept of payroll as it is interpreted from a business perspective.  In applying the theoretical principles of the course in real-world ways, you should gain a better understanding of yourself and your work environment.  The goal of this course is to help you develop the fundamental skills critical to payroll operations, and to help you understand state and federal compliance.  This will provide you with a foundation for becoming more versed on the depth of payroll as an intricate component of human-resource management, and business overall. Fundamentally, the concept of payroll is rooted in both human-resource management and accounting principles.  From a human-resource management perspective, the concept of payroll embodies compliance, which includes the identification of the relationship between the employee and the employer.  There are a number of…

In ASTR101, you will be introduced to our current understanding of the universe and how we have come to this understanding.  We will start with the ancient Greeks and their belief that the universe was an orderly place capable of being understood.  We will continue through history, as we acquired more information on the nature of the universe and our models of the universe changed to reflect this.  This will take us through several different worldviews. As noted above, we will begin with the Greek worldview, which was characterized by the belief that the earth was the immovable center of the universe; this was known as the “geocentric” model.  Although this worldview is wrong in many of its details, it was a very important first step.  It explained the universe well enough that it lasted almost two thousand years.  By 1600, this belief was beginning to be challenged by such people as Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo; finally, it was completely done away with by the physics of Newton.  By 1700, the…

In this course, you will study basic algebraic operations and concepts, as well as the structure and use of algebra. This includes solving algebraic equations, factoring algebraic expressions, working with rational expressions, and graphing linear equations. You will apply these skills to solve real-world problems (word problems). Each unit will have its own application problems, depending on the concepts you have been exposed to. This course is also intended to provide you with a strong foundation for intermediate algebra and beyond. It will begin with a review of some math concepts formed in pre-algebra, such as ordering operations and simplifying simple algebraic expressions, to get your feet wet. You will then build on these concepts by learning more about functions, graphing of functions, evaluation of functions, and factorization. You will spend time on the rules of exponents and their applications in distribution of multiplication over addition/subtraction. This course provides students the opportuni…

Spanish 277 is the prerequisite course for minors and concentrators in Spanish. This course combines online self-instruction of Spanish grammar with an introduction to literature in Spanish. In-class discussions will focus on literary concepts and will integrate the study of grammar usage in the readings. The online materials include print handouts, PowerPoint presentations, audio mini-lessons, and links to online grammar explanations, all of which will allow students to bring their grammar skills up to the desired level. There are also self-correcting electronic exercises, all of which provide feedback on correct/incorrect answers. Course Level: Undergraduate This Work, Spanish 277 - Reading, Grammar, and Composition, by Dennis Pollard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

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 is an introductory course in biochemistry, designed for both biology and chemical engineering majors. A consistent theme in this course is the development of a quantitative understanding of the interactions of biological molecules from a structural, thermodynamic, and molecular dynamic point of view. A molecular simulation environment provides the opportunity for you to explore the effect of molecular interactions on the biochemical properties of systems. This course assumes that students have taken introductory chemistry, including basic thermodynamics, as well as introductory organic chemistry. An introductory biology course is not a prerequisite for the course, but students would benefit from some prior exposure to biology, even at the high school level. Required mathematical skills include simple algebra and differential calculus.

DNS is an integral part of working with the Internet, but what if you don't understand how it works? This course will give you all the insight you need to have a basic understanding of DNS and how it translates http://74.125.224.72/ into http://google.com/! The class is designed for web professionals and almost anyone looking for a walkthrough on general DNS concepts. We will begin with an introduction to the Domain naming system then move on to how the client computers translate DNS information. Lastly, we will look at the major components of a DNS server and clear up how to work with DNS zones and subdomains.

JavaScript is the programming language for the web.

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