Online courses directory (19947)

Technological innovations have revolutionized the way we view and interact with the world around us. Editing a photo, re-mixing a song, automatically measuring and adjusting chemical concentrations in a tank: each of these tasks requires real-world data to be captured by a computer and then manipulated digitally to extract the salient information. Ever wonder how signals from the physical world are sampled, stored, and processed without losing the information required to make predictions and extract meaning from the data?

Students will find out in this rigorous mathematical introduction to the engineering field of signal processing: the study of signals and systems that extract information from the world around us. This course will teach students to analyze discrete-time signals and systems in both the time and frequency domains. Students will learn convolution, discrete Fourier transforms, the z-transform, and digital filtering. Students will apply these concepts in interactive MATLAB programming exercises (all done in browser, no download required).

Part 1 of this course analyzes signals and systems in the time domain. Part 2 covers frequency domain analysis.

Prerequisites include strong problem solving skills, the ability to understand mathematical representations of physical systems, and advanced mathematical background (one-dimensional integration, matrices, vectors, basic linear algebra, imaginary numbers, and sum and series notation). Part 1 is a prerequisite for Part 2. This course is an excerpt from an advanced undergraduate class at Rice University taught to all electrical and computer engineering majors.

Machine learning aims to extract knowledge from data, relying on fundamental concepts in computer science, statistics, probability and optimization. Learning algorithms enable a wide range of applications, from everyday tasks such as product recommendations and spam filtering to bleeding edge applications like self-driving cars and personalized medicine. In the age of ‘big data’, with datasets rapidly growing in size and complexity and cloud computing becoming more pervasive, machine learning techniques are fast becoming a core component of large-scale data processing pipelines.

This statistics and data analysis course introduces the underlying statistical and algorithmic principles required to develop scalable real-world machine learning pipelines. We present an integrated view of data processing by highlighting the various components of these pipelines, including exploratory data analysis, feature extraction, supervised learning, and model evaluation. You will gain hands-on experience applying these principles using Spark, a cluster computing system well-suited for large-scale machine learning tasks, and its packages spark.ml and spark.mllib. You will implement distributed algorithms for fundamental statistical models (linear regression, logistic regression, principal component analysis) while tackling key problems from domains such as online advertising and cognitive neuroscience.

Are you interested in understanding freedom of expression and information? Do you want to learn how it is defined under international law, who abuses it and how it is protected on or off-line?

Adopting a global standpoint, this course will present the international human rights norms and laws that define free speech and the global jurisprudence that has developed to safeguard it. It will explore political expression, press freedom and freedom of expression on the Internet. It will outline the legitimate restrictions to freedom of expression, and discuss its most pressing challenges and violations globally.

Taught with the support of journalists, human rights defenders and press freedom activists from around the world, this course is a formidable introduction to a complex fundamental right, at the heart of today’s many global challenges, from the Internet to national security, freedom of religion and privacy.

In this quantum physics course you will learn the basics of quantum mechanics. We begin with de Broglie waves, the wavefunction, and its probability interpretation. We then introduce the Schrodinger equation, inner products, and Hermitian operators. We also study the time-evolution of wave-packets, Ehrenfest’s theorem, and uncertainty relations.

This is the first course in a series which includes:

• Quantum Mechanics: Wavefunctions, Operators, and Expectation Values
• Quantum Mechanics: Quantum Physics in 1D Potentials
• Quantum Mechanics: 1D Scattering and Central Potentials

The series is based on MIT 8.04: Quantum Mechanics I. At MIT, 8.04 is the first of a three-course sequence in Quantum Mechanics, a cornerstone in the education of physics majors that prepares them for advanced and specialized studies in any field related to quantum physics.

After completing the 8.04x series, you will be ready to tackle the Mastering Quantum Mechanics course series on edX, which will be available in Spring 2018.

This economics and finance course is a survey of risk measures and risk measurement practices applied to individual securities and portfolios. Students will also study risk reports of publicly traded financial institutions.

Upon completion of this course, participants will receive a certificate bearing the New York Institute of Finance (NYIF) name. A NYIF certificate is a valuable addition to your credentials, proving that you have acquired the work-ready skills that employers value.

For those who wish to learn more, students can enroll in the remaining four courses to earn the complete Risk Management Professional Certificate, backed by the New York Institute of Finance’s 93-year history.

Students and professionals in science, design and technology have to develop and communicate concepts that are often difficult to comprehend for the public, their peers and even themselves.

This communication course will help you enhance your communication and interpersonal skills and provide insight, tips and tricks to make such complex and seemingly unimaginable concepts and ideas imaginable.

After finishing this course you will be more skilled in finding the right visual language to convey your ideas, thoughts and vision. You will be able to illustrate concepts and themes and you will know how to unravel complexity by using diagrams and schemes.

This economics and finance course will give you an overview of the Islamic financial system. You will learn the core principles and basic models of Islamic finance and establish a framework for understanding this financial system.

If you are interested in the key features and foundational concepts of the Islamic financial system and institutions, or what distinguishes the Islamic financial system and its institutions from the conventional financial system, this course is for you.  

No previous knowledge about Islamic finance is needed, but basic business knowledge is advantageous. 

Este curso pretende dar una visión panorámica e introductoria de la inversión en bolsa. Se presentan los diferentes productos en los que podemos invertir o con los que podemos especular. También se introducen los diferentes tipos de gráficos, los indicadores más habituales entre los gestores profesionales, y algunas estrategias rentables tanto para el inversor a largo plazo como para el inversor intradía.

Unidades

1. Aspectos básicos de la inversión bursátil
2. Las herramientas del inversor
3. Estrategias de inversión
4. Activos en los que invertir
5. Examen Final

Benvenuti e Benvenute! (Welcome!)

Learn how to perfect your skills in Italian (speaking, listening, reading and writing), and by the end of this course you will be able to express opinions and hypotheses, and sustain an argument using a variety of registers. You will also expand your vocabulary to include topics beyond everyday conversation.

This language course offers a variety of tools that will help you learn in different ways:

• Situational videos (called Ciak!, which means “clapperboard” in Italian): you will follow eight Italian students in their daily lives and interactions on our campus. What a great way to learn authentic conversational Italian!
• Downloadable Podcasts: become a participant in each Ciak! video and practice Italian when and where you want on your portable device!
• Grammar charts, with or without audio files: study and review grammar through concise, clear and downloadable pdf files, and practice pronunciation with our embedded audio files.
• Short video lessons: as if in a real classroom, learn each new topic with the teacher’s direct guidance.
• Video interviews: learn from various native speakers as they talk about different aspects of Italian culture.
• Short “Letture” (readings): practice reading comprehension while learning about aspects of Italian culture.
• Discussion board: your chance to communicate (in Italian!) with other students on a variety of suggested topics.
• Ready to test your skills? Practice and review with a variety of self-correcting activities.

Italian culture is also an integral part of this course. Through interviews and readings you will learn about:

• the challenges that the Italian economy is currently facing;
• the origin and nature of the Italian Constitution;
• Italian environmental challenges and solutions;
• the significance of Dante’s journey in the Divine Comedy;
• the “Commedia dell’Arte”, an Italian theatrical genre;
• Italian opera and its ties to the “Risorgimento;”
• the origins of the Mafia;
• the “Taranta” or “Pizzica”, a traditional style of music and dance from Southern Italy;
• the recent immigration and the Italian citizenship law.

Whether you are a traditional, visual or auditory learner, you will find the tools that best fit your unique way to learn a foreign language.

This course has been successfully taught in different settings to more than 1,000 students: entirely online to Wellesley College alumnae and students, and as a mix of face-to-face and online instruction at Wellesley College and MIT. We are now proud to open it on edX, confident that your learning experience with this unique online course will be as enriching as it was for the many students who have already taken it.

Buono studio e buon divertimento!

“So many things!  I loved it!  I really feel that this course exactly met my needs and surpassed my expectations. It was challenging and I learned so much, in contrast to other adult courses which tend not to be demanding or serious enough.”

– Previous Student

A country’s economy consists of three major economic agents; consumers, firms and government. Analyzing the choices made by these economic agents is one of the main subjects of microeconomics.

In this economics and finance course, you will learn how the decisions made by economic agents are represented in the market as demand and supply of commodities. You will also learn about equilibriums in the market, which is when the quantity demanded is equal to the quantity supplied. The derivation of this equilibrium is another main focus of microeconomics. By deriving an equilibrium in a market, we can see at which level the price will be and how much of a transaction will occur.

Since this is an introductory economics course at the most elementary level, no prior knowledge of economics is needed. Anyone who is interested in economics is welcome to take this course.

In this Computer Science course, you will learn about implementation of all major abstract data structures using object-oriented programming paradigm of C++.

This course builds on the basic concepts developed in ‘Foundations of Data Structures’ course.

Topics covered: 

• Review of OO programming, STL of C++
• Stacks
• Queues
• Lists
• Trees
• Graphs

This course is part of the Fundamentals of Computer Science XSeries Program: 

• Programming Basics
• Object-Oriented Programming
• Foundations of Data Structures
• Algorithms

Did you know that you can track some sharks’ movements on Twitter? Or that the scales on their skin have influenced the way humans design boats, planes, and even swim suits? Or that sharks have more senses than humans?

In this biology course, you will learn how scientists study sharks. You will join researchers on location in labs, aquariums, and oceans across the globe to learn about the biodiversity, biology, and conservation of sharks, rays, and chimaeras.

In this activity‑rich course, you’ll track movements of a wild shark, observe shark habitats and behavior, and dig deep into the fossil record. You will also examine topics in the functional anatomy, sensory biology, reproduction, behavior, and ecology of many of the 1,200 living species.

This is an exciting time to be a shark biologist. An explosion of new research methods and technologies are leading to a surprising world of discovery. We’ll introduce new, as well as traditional techniques, for classifying sharks, understanding behavior, and unraveling the mysteries of shark evolution. You’ll be invited to explore global shark populations and consider shark-human interactions and their impacts on history and culture.

You’ll be rewarded by your ability to see virtually any animal with new eyes. Practice thinking like a biologist while honing critical skills that can lead to broader observations about the ongoing history of life on Earth.

If you’re a front-end developer using Angular, you’re already creating dynamic webpages for mobile and desktop web apps. Broaden your programming experience with a deeper dive into this open source framework.

In this course for developers using Angular versions 2 and greater, you’ll work through a series of sequential modules that cover increasingly complex topics. See why tried-and-true Angular does just what you need it to do, as you create sophisticated, enterprise-grade web apps that render, HTML components based on the client.

Get a history of Angular, and explore basic Angular concepts and Node Package Manager. Create components and HTML templates, and look at template syntax and binding.

Learn about the lifecycle of an Angular component or directive, the dependency injection framework, and even how to design modular applications. Work with advanced TypeScript features, like declarations, modules, and namespaces, and see their usage within Angular.

Finally, review the TypeScript compiler and learn how it is used with Visual Studio Code. Make the most of the videos, hands-on labs, and multiple-choice assessments, as you build on your Angular experience.

算法设计与分析是计算机科学的核心课程之一。在了解了分治策略、动态规划、贪心法、回溯和分支限界等基本的算法设计技术的基础上，通过线性规划和网络流算法的学习，可以进一步掌握两类重要问题的建模和算法设计方法。此外，面对实际问题，只有对问题的性质有着清晰的分析，才能提出有效的解决方案。需要进一步考虑的是：怎么估计这个问题的难度？最好的算法的效率有多高？这些都涉及到问题复杂度的分析与计算复杂性理论。通过本课程的学习，可以了解有关计算复杂性理论的基础知识、方法和应用，学习近似算法、随机算法等更多的算法设计技术和分析方法，进一步提高处理复杂问题的能力。

Soil is the earth’s fragile skin that anchors all life. We depend on soil to build our homes and cities, to grow crops for food and raise livestock, to support transportation and enable recreation. Yet we disregard this crucial and precious resource that lies right under our feet.

This introductory environmental studies course will explore the importance of soil to life on earth, the issues, processes and societal challenges underlying soil degradation – and what can be done to ensure sustainable soil management for the future. The threats to our soil span deforestation, erosion, overgrazing, use of agrochemicals, pollution and climate change. Learn what you can do to make a difference in protecting this vital natural resource.

In ordinary life we barely notice the operations of our own minds. In The Conscious Mind - A Philosophical Road Trip, we will illuminate what we take for granted in perception, action, and interaction with others. We’ll explore this mindful awareness through demonstrations, illusions, brainteasers, thought experiments, riddles and jokes, all designed to shake you loose from your ordinary assumptions about the way consciousness works. 

You will explore your own mind and the minds of others in a new way, using a philosophical approach known as phenomenology. You’ll encounter some of the main ideas of the phenomenological tradition, through short readings by Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Their ideas are provocative and will animate the online and offline conversation as we proceed. But the main approach of the course will be experiential and experimental. You’ll learn phenomenology by doing it and journeying among the structures and elements of your own conscious experience.  

Are you fascinated by Geosciences and willing to take the challenge of predicting the nature and behavior of the Earth subsurface? This is your course!

In a voyage through the Earth, Geoscience: the Earth and its Resources will explore the Earth interior and the processes forming mountains and sedimentary basins. You will understand how the sediments are formed, transported, deposited and deformed.

You will develop knowledge on the behavior of petroleum and water resources.

The course has an innovative approach focusing on key fundamental processes, exploring their nature and quantitative interactions. It will be shown how this acquired knowledge is used to predict the nature and behavior of the Earth subsurface.

This is your ideal first step as a future Geoscientists or professional to upgrade your knowledge in the domain of Earth Sciences.

Are you a student, professional, educator, home-maker or someone who dreams of someday starting your own venture?

This hands-on, action oriented business and management course will introduce you to a systematic, scientific and an easy process of testing your ideas and opportunities you envision.

You will learn the “DO your Venture” ideology, which will teach you common paths entrepreneurs take when launching their own venture. You will also learn the tools and techniques for generating ideas and then test your ideas in the field and gather feedback.

The course will end with a focus on the Lean Canvas business model and effectuation, which is a set of decision-making principles expert entrepreneurs use in situations of uncertainty.

Benvenuti e Benvenute! (Welcome!)

In this language course, you will enhance your Italian language skills, enrich your vocabulary and expand your conversational skills. You will learn how to have exchanges on a variety of topics, and continue your immersion in the Italian culture through unique videos and interviews. You will also become more confident as you continue practicing your reading and writing skills.

This course offers a variety of tools that will help you learn in different ways:

• Situational videos (called Ciak!, which means “clapperboard” in Italian): you will follow eight Italian students in their daily lives and interactions on our campus. What a great way to learn authentic conversational Italian!
• Downloadable Podcasts: become a participant in each Ciak! video and practice Italian when and where you want on your portable device!
• Grammar charts, with or without audio files: study and review grammar through concise, clear and downloadable pdf files, and practice pronunciation with our embedded audio files.
• Short video lessons: as if in a real classroom, learn each new topic with the instructor’s direct guidance.
• Video interviews: learn from various native speakers as they talk about different aspects of Italian culture.
• Short “Letture” (readings): practice reading comprehension while learning about Italian culture.
• Discussion board: your chance to communicate (in Italian!) with other students on a variety of suggested topics.
• Ready to test your skills? Practice and review with a variety of self-correcting activities.

Italian culture is an integral part of this course. Through our interviews and readings you will learn about:

• the origins of the “made in Italy” in fashion;
• Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and poetry;
• the Italian health care system;
• shopping for clothes and food in Italy.

Whether you are a traditional, visual or auditory learner, you will find the tools that best fit your unique way to learn a foreign language.

This course has been successfully taught in different settings to more than 1,000 students: entirely online to Wellesley College alumnae and students, and as a mix of face-to-face and online instruction at Wellesley College and MIT. We are now proud to open it on edX, confident that your learning experience with this unique online course will be as enriching as it was for the many students who have already taken it.

After completing this course, continue learning Italian with Italian Language and Culture: Advanced.

Finally … buon lavoro e buon divertimento! 

“This course is really excellent, beautifully thought out. The grammar and the opportunity to repeat the contents of a lesson using different modalities really helps solidify the learning.” – Previous Student

We can read a city in a number of ways: in its plan, in the buildings that make its streets and public spaces, in the skyline. We can ask, what are the buildings or spaces saying? How do they say it? How does it all stitch together?

In this architecture course you will learn how to “read” Rome, an ancient city, reborn in the fifteenth century and reshaped substantially in the following three centuries. You will discover how Renaissance and Baroque Rome’s urban form, art, and architecture projected the city’s image of itself to its citizens (urbi) and the world (orbi).

Popes, architects, scholars and sculptors invested in Rome a variety of narratives that strove to explain the city’s history, convince its citizens and visitors of its harmony, and exhort society at large to share in and shape its destiny. The city that resulted became a destination for pilgrims and Grand Tourists, and still is today.

The Meaning of Rome: The Renaissance and Baroque City is organized around three themes—the city and memory, the city as reliquary, and the city as theater. In uncovering some of the meaning of Rome, you will be equipped with the skills necessary to consider how our own cities and communities are, or could be, meaningful. You will come away from this course not only better informed about the cities of the past, but also better equipped to think about the cities of the present and the future.

Students who successfully complete all of the required course assignments will have the opportunity to compile a Digication ePortfolio and earn a digital badge.