Online courses directory (19947)

This physics course, taught by world-renowned experts in the field, will provide you with an overview of applications in plasma physics. From the study of far distant astrophysical objects over diverse applications in industry, to the ultimate goal of sustainable electricity generation from nuclear fusion.

In the first part of this course, you will learn how nuclear fusion powers our Sun and the stars in the Universe. You will explore the cyclic variation of the Sun’s activity, how plasma flows can generate large-scale magnetic fields, and how these fields can reconnect to release large amounts of energy, manifested for instance by violent eruptions on the Sun.

The second part of this course discusses the key role plasma applications play today in industry and medicine. After a brief survey of the field, you will study in detail how plasmas are generated and sustained in strong electric fields and how this knowledge can be used to avoid undesired occurrence of plasmas in the form of electrical arcs. You will then, in detail, study the transition region between plasma and material surface, called the sheath, and you will learn why its properties are indispensable for the manufacturing of today’s integrated circuits.

Finally, in the third and most extensive part of this course, you will familiarize yourself with the different approaches to fusion energy, the current status, and the necessary steps from present-day experimental devices towards a fusion reactor providing electricity to the grid.

After deriving the general conditions for net energy gain from fusion, we will focus on magnetic confinement fusion. You will learn about the key ingredients of a magnetic fusion reactor, how to confine, heat, and control fusion plasmas at temperatures of 100 million degrees Kelvin, explore the relevant transport mechanisms, and explore the challenges of plasma wall interactions and structural materials.

To enjoy this course on plasma applications, it is recommended to first familiarize yourself with the plasma physics basics taught in Plasma Physics: Introduction.

Want to listen to an opera for the first time?  Have you been listening to opera for your entire life? This course is suited for beginners and advanced opera listeners alike!

This course is an introduction to Italian opera, focusing on giving you the tools and experiences to become better students of opera. Act I will give you a toolbox of skills to listen for specific moments and gestures in opera. Act II will focus applying these skills to listening activities with your favorite Italian composers. At the end of the course, we will help you to carry these experiences beyond the course, encouraging you to become lifelong listeners and lovers of opera.

No previous knowledge of music or opera is necessary. Join us as we embark upon this community-focused journey to explore the wonders of Italian opera as it touches upon the human experience!

This course provides a broad foundation of statistical terms and concepts as well as an introduction to the R statistical software package. The topics covered are fundamental components of biostatistical methods used in both omics and population health research.

Working with biomedical big data presents many challenges; familiarity with common statistical terms and definitions, and understanding basic statistical theory will help you overcome those challenges.

Topic-specific information and examples will be followed by self-assessment opportunities for you to gauge your understanding. In addition, practice datasets and exercises will be provided for you to improve your R programming skills.

Hablar del cuidado del medio ambiente y la sostenibilidad parece tarea de todos, pero difícilmente en nuestras acciones cotidianas demostramos estar realmente conscientes de la importancia de conocer nuestra casa común para cuidar de ella.

Este es un curso introductorio para conocer los avances que, desde la ecología como disciplina científica se han logrado para mejorar la forma en la que todos los seres humanos interactuamos con nuestro planeta. El curso motivará pensamientos racionales tendientes al mejoramiento de las condiciones del medio ambiente y permitirá conocer aún más de eso de lo que todos hablan “el cuidado de nuestra casa común”

No es necesario tener conocimientos previos acerca de la ecología.

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

Need to schedule and manage big data workflows?

This data analysis course teaches you how to use Azure Data Factory to coordinate data movement and transformation using technologies such as Hadoop, SQL, and Azure Data Lake Analytics. You will learn how to create data pipelines that will allow you to group activities to perform a certain task.

Note: To complete this course, you will need a Microsoft Azure subscription. You can sign up for a free trial subscription at http://azure.microsoft.com, or you can use your existing subscription. The labs have been designed to minimize the resource costs required to complete the hands-on activities.

Agile methodology has taken the software development industry by storm. Everyone wants to be agile, but what does it really mean and how do you achieve agile development?

This computer science course cuts beyond the agile methodology hype and teaches you the fundamental agile concepts that span a wide range of methodologies. It analyzes the key agile ideas, their benefits, their limitations, and how best to take advantage of them to enhance your software skills and show employers that you have mastered an essential component of today's IT industry.

The course is divided into six parts:

• The Agile manifesto and the context of agile methods
• Agile principles: what key methodological ideas underlie the agile movement?
• Agile roles: how does agile redefine traditional software jobs and tasks, in particular the manager's role?
• Agile practices: what are the concrete techniques that agile teams use to apply these methods?
• Agile artifacts: what practical tools are essential to the work of agile developers?
• Agile assessment: among agile ideas, which ones are essentially hyped and useless, which ones are actually harmful, and which ones will truly help you effectively produce high-quality software?

Unlike many presentations of agile methods, this course takes a strictly objective view of agile methods, enabling you to retain the best agile principles and practices. By analyzing agile methods in depth and showing you how to benefit from them, it will make you a better developer, equipped to deal with the challenges of ambitious software projects.

This literature course explores how great writers refract their world and how their works are transformed when they intervene in our global cultural landscape today.

No national literature has ever grown up in isolation from the cultures around it; from the earliest periods, great works of literature have probed the tensions, conflicts, and connections among neighboring cultures and often more distant regions as well.

Focusing particularly on works of literature that take the experience of the wider world as their theme, this course will explore the varied artistic modes in which great writers have situated themselves in the world, helping us to understand the deep roots of today's intertwined global cultures.

Texts/authors considered in the course:

• Goethe
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• Homer, The Odyssey
• The 1001 Nights
• Voltaire, Candide
• Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red
• Wole Soyinka, Death and the King's Horseman
• Lu Xun, Diary of a Madman
• Eileen Chang
• Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji Jorge
• Luis Borges, Ficciones
• Salman Rushdie and Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Lusiads

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.

Brought to you by the US Department of State and Arizona State University, this course is designed for internationally-minded faculty, staff, and administrators working in US higher education institutions who would like to increase rates of study abroad participation. This course is also for people who aspire to work in international education and would like an orientation to the field.

Want to increase your educational institution’s study abroad efforts? Whether you work for a community college, a large, small, public or private university, or any other type of higher education institution in the US, this course will help you form partnerships, develop policies and procedures, advise students, promote scholarships, deliver orientations, and market your programs. You will learn recommended practices for ensuring the health and safety of students while abroad, and case studies will show you how the study abroad experience can be integrated into your school’s curriculum and can internationalize your campus. By the end of the course, you will have developed a long-term strategy for your institution that prioritizes reaching diverse students.

Want to study for an MBA but unsure of your basic accounting skills? Paving the way for MBA study, this course will teach you the foundational accounting skills needed to achieve success on an MBA program and in business generally.

You will be introduced to the principles of accounting and learn about the basic financial statements, including the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. You will learn how to read and interpret this information in order to make informed business decisions.

This course assumes no prior knowledge of accounting. Concepts are explained clearly and regular activities offer you the opportunity to practice your skills and improve your confidence.

China has grown to become the world’s second largest economy in the last several decades. In this history course, you will learn about the governing practice and ideology of the Communist Party of China during their economic growth.

This course is an introduction to the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and mainly consists of three points:

• Deng Xiaoping theory
• The important thought of "Three Represents”, which is a guiding socio-political theory
• Scientific outlook on China’s economic development

By the end of this course, you will understand:

• The primary stage of socialism
• The Essence of Socialism and the General Task of Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
• Socialist theory of reform and opening up
• Theory of achieving complete reunification of China
• Socialistic diplomacy and international strategy with Chinese characteristics
• Theory on the Leading Nucleus of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

This course is a window into contemporary China. Open the window and enjoy the view with us.

 本课程为思想政治理论课。课程以“历史与理论相结合、思想与现实相结合、线上与线下相结合、高雅与通俗相结合”为特色，讲授社会主义初级阶段理论和基本路线、社会主义本质理论、社会主义改革开放理论、建设中国特色社会主义的总布局、根本目的、依靠力量、领导核心等专题，引导学生正确把握中国特色社会主义理论体系的基本内容和精神实质，引导学生深刻认识改革开放的必要性、可能性和艰巨性，引导学生牢固树立中国特色社会主义的道路自信、理论自信、制度自信和文化自信。

本课程实施“转客为主”教学模式，即通过设置多重教学环节引导学生由“教学对象”向“教学主体”转化，由“被动性学习”向“主动性学习”转化，由“以听为主”向“听说读写行并重”转化。课程鼓励和引导学生实现“六化”： 一是“化耳为口”，即不仅要听，而且要说；二是“化目为手”，即不仅要读，而且要写；三是“化知为行”，即不仅要求知，而且要践行；四是“化外为内”，即将外在的知识转化为内在的素养；五是“化隐为显”，即将隐性的素质转化为显性的成果；六是“化人为己”，即将他人的素养转化为学生自我的素养。    

How can we eradicate malaria? Explore the scientific and technological underpinnings of malaria, as well as the historical, political, social, and economic contexts in which control, elimination, and eradication efforts unfold.

Through foundational lectures and supplemental interviews, this course provides participants with a toolbox of knowledge and skills. Learners will be guided through the analysis of real-world data and its effective use in problem-solving. Analytical approaches focus on how to develop and implement evidence-based intervention strategies to contribute to national and local malaria eradication efforts.

The target audience for the course includes those with an interest in gaining the technical expertise and leadership skills needed to work in global health and malaria programs around the world.

The self-paced nature of the course will allow learners to access it at their convenience.

This economics course provides an introduction to the field of cybersecurity through the lens of economic principles. Delivered by four leading research teams, it will provide you with the economic concepts, measurement approaches and data analytics to make better security and IT decisions, as well as understand the forces that shape the security decisions of other actors in the ecosystem of information goods and services.

Systems often fail because the organizations that defend them do not bear the full costs of failure. In order to solve the problems of growing vulnerability to computer hackers and increasing crime, solutions must coherently allocate responsibilities and liabilities so that the parties in a position to fix problems have an incentive to do so. This requires a technical comprehension of security threats combined with an economic perspective to uncover the strategies employed by cyber hackers, attackers and defenders.

The course covers five main areas:

1. Introduction to key concepts in security economics. Here, we provide an overview of how information security is shaped by economic mechanisms, such as misaligned incentives, information asymmetry, and externalities.
2. Measuring cybersecurity. We introduce state of the art security and IT metrics and conceptualize the characteristics of a security metric, its challenges and advantages.
3. Economics of information security investment. We discuss and apply different economic models that help determine the costs and benefits of security investments in network security.
4. Security market failures. We discuss market failures that may lead to cybersecurity investment levels that are insufficient from society’s perspective and other forms of unsafe behaviour in cyber space.
5. Behavioural economics for information security, policy and regulation. We discuss available economic tools to better align the incentives for cybersecurity, including better security metrics, cyber insurance/risk transfer, information sharing, and liability assignment.

After finishing this course, you will be able to apply economic analysis and data analytics to cybersecurity. You will understand the role played by incentives on the adoption and effectiveness of security mechanisms, and on the design of technical, market-based, and regulatory solutions to different security threats.

This course is part of the Microsoft Professional Program Certificate in Front-End Web Development. 

Have you heard about Node.js, the Node Package Manager or Bower? Perhaps you’ve wanted to dive into some open source tooling for your Web development projects.

This computer science course focuses on some of the current open source tools and technologies available today for Web developers. In the five modules of this course, you will learn how to use Node.js and the NPM along with other tools like Chalk, Angular, Bootstrap and Font Awesome.

Topics covered include:

• Yeoman and its dependencies in the context of creating an Angular application;
• Testing code with a focus on jsLint and unit testing with Karma;
• Node.js and the NPM and how to use Minify and Sass;
• Configuration and touring tools such as Karma unit tests, Angular providers and routing.

Microfabrication and nanofabrication are the basis of manufacturing for nearly all modern miniaturized systems that are ubiquitously used in our daily life. Examples include; computer chips and integrated sensors for monitoring our environment, cars, mobile phones, medical devices and more.

Micro- and nanofabrication can be taught to students and professionals by textbooks and ex-cathedra lectures, but the real learning comes from seeing the manufacturing steps as they happen.

In this engineering course, we will go a step beyond classroom teaching to not only explain the basics of each fabrication step but also show you how it’s done through video sequences and zooming into the equipment. 

Want to study for an MBA but unsure of the basic data analysis still required? This online course prepares you for studying in an MBA program.

Data analysis appears throughout any rigorous MBA program and in today’s business environment understanding the fundamentals of collecting, presenting, describing and making inferences from data sets is essential for success.

The goal of this course is to teach you fundamental data analysis skills so you are prepared for your MBA study and able to focus your efforts on core MBA curriculum, rather than continually playing catch-up with the underlying statistical knowledge needed.

We also hope that learning these data analysis skills will equip you with the ability to understand, to a greater degree, the data you encounter in your working lives and in the world around you - an essential life-skill in today’s data driven environment

This course assumes no prior knowledge of data analysis. Concepts are explained as clearly as possible and regular activities give you the opportunity to practice your skills and improve your confidence.

Want to study for an MBA but are unsure of basic financial concepts? This business and management course prepares you for studying finance in an MBA program.

You will learn key financial topics such as present value, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), capital budgeting, equity, bonds, diversification, portfolio choice and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), all of which are often discussed and explored in great detail in MBA programs across the globe as well as everyday business operations.

A completely online course, you can work wherever and whenever you choose: at home, in the workplace, at a library, coffee shop or even while travelling (with the appropriate network access).

This course employs a ‘supported learning’ model. To help you achieve the optimum learning outcomes from this module, Imperial College Business School provides access to an expert online tutor who will support you through the learning materials and associated activities.

No previous financial knowledge is needed. Join us as you start your journey into the world of finance for management.

Planning to study for an MBA but unsure of your basic maths skills? All MBA programs require some maths, particularly on quantitative subjects such as Accounting, Economics and Finance.

In this mathematics course, you will learn the fundamental business math skills needed to succeed in your MBA study. These math skills will also give you an edge in the workplace enabling you to apply greater analytical skill to your decision making.

You will learn how to evaluate and manipulate the types of formulae that appear in an accounting syllabus, how to perform the calculus required to solve optimization problems in economics and how to apply the concept of geometric series to solving finance-related problems such as calculating compound interest payments.

This course assumes no prior knowledge of business maths, concepts are explained clearly and regular activities give you the opportunity to practice your skills and improve your confidence.

Logistics and supply chain structures can be found in virtually any system. In this business and management course you will learn not only what makes leading systems competitive but also how to design, or redesign, your own system.

The MOOC is based on a widely popular university course that will give you a working knowledge on supply chain strategy and design that can be applied in your organisation.

Course topics include:

• How to increase ROI (Return on Investment) using logistics
• Logistics trade-offs (service vs cost vs capital)
• The SCOR model for analysis of supply chains
• Sustainability in supply chains (the triple bottom line)
• The Bullwhip effect and how to beat it
• Strategies regarding:
  • Sourcing
  • Warehousing
  • Product range
  • Production
  • Distribution
  • Transportation
  • Etc.
• Concepts like:
  • Quick Response - QR
  • Efficient Consumer Response, ECR
  • Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment, CPFR

Many of the topics in the course will be illustrated using real companies and real logistics professionals as logistics is not a theoretical subject – it exists all around us – everywhere.

By the end of this course, you will be able to better describe, understand and ultimately design your own system for your organisation based on existing knowledge in this exciting field.

Regardless of your industry or organisation type, the concepts and methods from this course will help you become a logistics and supply chain professional. You will never look at a hotel breakfast buffet, a loading bay, a warehouse, a factory, an emergency room or even at a fast food restaurant the same way again…

Whether you are starting your own business or supplementing your understanding of accounting, this business course will help you understand accounting basics and give you meaningful financial tools to understand business.

Understanding the four basic financial statements, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Retained Earnings, and Statement of Cash Flows, is key to evaluating companies for your investment decisions. But this business course goes beyond just understanding these financial statements. Business Accounting Basics takes you through the building blocks and accounting cycles that create each statement. In addition, this course will give you the basic tools to project profitability and break your costs down to help analyze any company.

This course is built to fit the needs of everyone, including those who have a 401k, other retirement plans or want to invest in different companies.

Now I shall sing the second kingdom,
there where the soul of man is cleansed,
made worthy to ascend to Heaven.
-Purgatorio, Canto I, lines 4-6

While Hell is “black, confined, stinking, noisy, and suffocating, the great Mountain of Purgatory rises in pure sunlit solitude out of the windswept southern sea.” (Sayers, Purgatorio; Introduction)  Dante has undergone a conversion which has, literally, turned his world upside down.

Sadly, the majority of Dante’s readers do not accompany him beyond his escape from the Inferno, in part, perhaps, because of an instinctive anticipation that when the excitement of adventure is over, then the hard work of maturation must begin. Indeed, there is work aplenty on Mount Purgatorio, but there is also so much more. There is day and night, labor and rest, waking and dreaming, all the rhythms of diurnal living; but above all, there is the delight of hope. All that the penitent souls suffer here, they undergo in the eagerness of passionate yearning to be healed of the wounds of sin inflicted on them as part of the universal heritage of humanity. Purgatory is a “school of contemplation,” where the healing of wounds coincides with learning to suffer the weight of responsibility for one’s own identity as a person. For those willing to undertake the steep ascent of Dante’s seven-story Mountain, nowhere in the legacy of human culture is the process of becoming a “whole person” more closely observed or rendered with deeper psychological and social insight than in the cantos of Dante’s Purgatorio.

For us as modern readers, Mount Purgatorio is a steep ascent indeed, and if fewer of us accept this challenging invitation than do for the careen through Hell, then it should come as no surprise for us to learn of the untold years, centuries perhaps, that the souls whom Dante meets there require to complete their climb. A realistic willingness to suffer consciously and voluntarily, motivated by authentic hope, is hardly recognized as a possibility by most of us today for whom security and prosperity are accepted as the unqualified goals of our striving. Even to consider an alternative of the sort which Dante offers us in the Purgatorio is already a notable achievement, but one which the imaginative power of Dante’s poetry here places within our reach. Do not let the opportunity pass you by.

In this course, you will be asked to participate in learning activities on both edX and on MyDante, an innovative platform for deep reading that emphasizes mindfulness and contemplative reading habits as key to deriving lasting meaning from poetic texts. We begin on September 28 with an optional reading week. If you have not previously worked with the MyDante platform and are not familiar with the Contemplative Reading approach to the text which it is meant to support, the week offers a chance for you to become acquainted with MyDante and the practice of contemplative reading before we begin the course in earnest on October 5. Equally important, if you have not already read Inferno, we strongly suggest you do so before beginning Purgatorio. It is possible to read, understand and enjoy Purgatorio without having read the Inferno, but it is also true that familiarity with the first part of the journey will increase both your understanding and your enjoyment of the second. Finally, if you were with us for the Inferno, then we urge you to read through the Purgatorio in the reading mode of MyDante, or even as much as you can, during this week. The basic premise of contemplative reading is that re-reading is the best way to read. Try it; we are very sure you will agree.