Online courses directory (1728)

In this 90-minute introductory course discover how awareness based systems change and a method of learning from the emerging future allow individuals, organizations, and communities to turn ideas into real world change.

By completing this business and management course, you will learn the basics of Theory U, an approach to leading profound change that has been developed by action researchers at MIT, and practiced by leaders around the world, for over 20 years.

You will also join a global community of awareness based change makers that collaborate in manifold change processes across cultures.

This course is a great introduction to Theory U. For a deeper understanding of how to apply the Theory U methodology to issues that matter to you, enroll in u.lab: Leading From the Emerging Future.

We live in a time of disruptive change. How to activate our capacity to lean into the emerging future may well be the most important leadership challenge of our time. How do you cultivate curiosity, compassion and courage in the face of prejudice, anger and fear?

This course is an introduction to a method called Theory U, developed at MIT, for leading such change in business, government, and civil society contexts worldwide.

The only prerequisite for this course is u.lab 15.671.0x, an introductory overview--which you can complete in just 90 minutes. Building on the intention you set in u.lab 15.671.0x, 15.671.1x will help you to apply the Theory U method to an issue that matters to you, with fellow change makers locally and around the world. Join us as we co-pioneer new approaches to today’s most important social and environmental challenges using a method of awareness based systems change.

This course is an excellent introduction to the principles of American Government, the political institutions that make it work, and the policies that result. Learn about the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the branches of government, and the foundations of democracy in the United States.

In addition to lectures and in-depth readings and discussions, students will be shown C-SPAN video clips to illustrate U.S. Government processes. Students who take this course will be better prepared for the Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics examination.

Have you ever wondered how software architects, requirements engineers and business analysts sketch and draw out their plans for a software system?

In this computer science course, you will gain an in-depth understanding of Unified Modeling Language (UML) class diagrams, which are used to visually represent the conceptual design of a system. You will learn about UML class diagrams and how they This course will focus on how UML class diagrams are used to map out the structure of a business domain by showing business objects, their attributes, and associations.

Taught by an instructor with decades of experience in requirements engineering and domain modelling, this course will equip you with the skill of in-depth understanding of a UML class diagram and will enable you to judge the functional fit of a UML class diagram as blueprint for the development of an enterprise information system.

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become an in-demand skill in software development and engineering. In fact, some of today’s top jobs, i.e. business analysts, enterprise architects, but also developers, technical consultants and solutions architects, require UML knowledge. Enroll today and gain knowledge in an in-demand skill that will help set you apart from the competition.

Robots today move far too conservatively, using control systems that attempt to maintain full control authority at all times. Humans and animals move much more aggressively by routinely executing motions which involve a loss of instantaneous control authority. Controlling nonlinear systems without complete control authority requires methods that can reason about and exploit the natural dynamics of our machines.

This course introduces nonlinear dynamics and control of underactuated mechanical systems, with an emphasis on computational methods. Topics include the nonlinear dynamics of robotic manipulators, applied optimal and robust control and motion planning. Discussions include examples from biology and applications to legged locomotion, compliant manipulation, underwater robots, and flying machines.

FAQ

• Who can register for this course?
  • Unfortunately, learners from Iran, Sudan, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine will not be able to register for this course at the present time.
  • While edX has received a license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer courses to learners from Iran and Sudan our license does not cover this course.
  • Separately, EdX has applied for a license to offer courses to learners in the Crimea region of Ukraine, but we are awaiting a determination from OFAC on that application.
  • We are deeply sorry the U.S. government has determined that we have to block these learners, and we are working diligently to rectify this situation as soon as possible.

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most financially costly disease in developed countries. Even if knowledge of molecular changes in Alzheimer’s disease is extensive, and new areas of investigation have been explored, the cognitive trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown, as it was in 1906, when this disease was described for the first time.

This self-paced course focuses on a recent and innovative approach in the field of Alzheimer’s disease research. Multiple evidences indicate that oxidative stress and free radicals damage the cellular functions. Specifically, oxidative damage is a marker to identify the initial state of the disease.

Starting from a critical analysis of Alzheimer’s disease history, Dr. Perry, a worldwide expert in the field, explains the sequence of events leading to damage, and the source of increased oxygen radicals along with mechanisms to provide more effective treatment.

This course is open to anyone, but will be of particular relevance to professionals and caregivers who deal with patients affected by Alzheimer’s. Considering the multidisciplinary approach, and the importance of a correct lifestyle to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease, this course is also targeted to healthcare professionals such as nutritionists or cardiologists.

Have you ever wondered why some classroom discussions are lively and engaging and others more like painful interrogations? Why some students always have an answer ready, but others never participate? Why everybody (or nobody) laughs at a teacher’s jokes? What role multiple languages should play in classroom talk?

This course gives classroom teachers at all levels and subject areas the analytic tools to answer these and more questions about classroom communication.

Each lesson introduces fundamental concepts and techniques of classroom discourse analysis, developing an analytic toolkit and promoting critical reflection on pedagogical practices over five weeks.

This Islamic finance and banking course gives an overview of the basics of Islamic insurance, mutual and investment funds. In this course, you will learn about The Concept of Takaful Ta’awuni (collaborative), The Basis for Takaful, Takaful vs Conventional Insurance, The Tabarru or donation - based Takaful Model.

You will also learn about Islamic Perspectives on Mutual Funds and Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and Islamic Investment Funds.

No previous knowledge is needed.

Why Islamic finance is important for the global financial industry

Islamic finance has grown rapidly, with the trend expecting to continue. Although the concept has been around for much longer, Islamic finance only attained a formal status in Muslim-majority countries in the 1970s. Today, it has become a global phenomenon, eliciting increasing interest around the world, including from non-Muslim countries like the United Kingdom, Luxemburg, Kenya, South Africa, and Hong Kong. Islamic finance has grown into a huge industry with total worldwide assets estimated at about US$2 trillion.

Islamic finance has the potential to contribute to higher and more inclusive economic growth by increasing access of banking services to underserved populations. In addition, it has the potential to promote financial stability due to its risk-sharing feature and its financing being asset-backed and thus fully collateralized. Moreover, Islamic banks offer profit-sharing and loss-bearing accounts that can help mitigate losses and contagion in the event of banking sector distress. These are all indications that Islamic finance is converging to the global finance industry and hence all international finance professionals should be aware of Islamic finance.

In this nuclear energy course, we will tackle provocative questions such as:

• Is nuclear energy a good substitute for fossil fuels to reduce our CO2 emission or not?
• Can nuclear reactors operate safely without any harm to the public and environment?
• How much nuclear waste is produced and how long does it need to be stored safely?
• How can we make nuclear energy clean and more sustainable?
• How much are nuclear energy costs?

You will learn the physics behind nuclear science, how to gain energy from nuclear fission, how nuclear reactors operate safely, and the life cycle of nuclear fuel: from mining to disposal. In the last part of the course, we will focus on what matters most in the public debate: the economic and social impact of nuclear energy but also the future of energy systems.

Practically, we will:

• Teach you about nuclear science and technology (radiation and radioactivity, nuclear reactions, nuclear reactors and fuel cycle, economics of nuclear energy, and the sociality aspects)
• Show you short videos about the theory and practical implementation of nuclear energy
• Stimulate discussion and debate about nuclear energy
• Ask you to formulate your own opinion about nuclear energy and its role in society

The GENTLE consortium has sponsored and prepared this course. GENTLE is focused on maintaining the current high level of nuclear safety, and developing a highly skilled and well informed nuclear workforce, following the conclusion of the Council of the EU that it “it is essential to maintain in the European Union a high level of training in the nuclear field“ to deal with reactor fleet safely, decommission obsolete plants, be involved in new builds where policy dictates, and deal with the legacy and future radioactive wastes.

LICENSE

The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License.

This course will enable you to understand the workings of the Australian health care system. By following in the footsteps of patient journeys, you will gain an experiential understanding of how this multi-layered system operates in the context of the geographic, social and cultural landscapes of Australia and how to successfully navigate within this system.

This course will enable you to answer questions such as:

• Why are there multiple layers within this health care system?
• What are these layers and how are they funded?
• What is the role of insurance in this system?
• How are medicines regulated and made available in Australia?
• What services and roles are available in the Australian health care system?
• How can I facilitate patient journeys through the Australian health care system?

You will engage in many activities throughout this course to explore these and other questions.

Fundamental knowledge of how people work and interact together can make collaboration exponentially more effective. This course is designed to give you a greater understanding of collaboration and ways it can be managed in business today.

As cloud technology increasingly becomes the backbone of collaboration experiences, it is imperative to understand how people collaborate and exchange information. By understanding how people collaborate, you can best select technological tools to support those collaboration efforts across organizations.

You will learn foundational principles for interacting with others, how to define your collaboration style, effective methods for building virtual teams, and the methods to lead within teams. 

What is the structure and purpose of the FED? How does its action impact not just the US economy, financial institutions, but individual investors and savers alike? Are you aware of the relationship between the federal government and the Federal Reserve (FED)? Are you familiar with the federal open market committee (FOMC) and know what distinguishes it from the FED. This is the course for you!

The Federal Reserve is more than a 100 years old today and is the central banking system of the United States. As an institution, the FED’s decisions and policies impact our economy and our lives every single day.

With Europe and other countries now imitating and initiating Quantitative Easing measures that the US Fed has ALREADY implemented, the FED's impact and influence are truly global is nature.

By the end of this course, you should:  

• Recognize the role and structure of the Federal Reserve (FED).
• Recognize the role and structure of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).
• Define interest rate terminology:
  • FED Fund Rate
  • Discount Rate (Window)
  • London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
• Identify the economic initiatives undertaken by the FED:
  • Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)
  • Quantitative Easing I, II, and III
• Recognize how the FED controls, owns, and manipulates the short end of the Yield Curve.
• Get familiarized with the product called Repurchase Agreement (Repo) and Reverse Repo.
• Recognize the process by which the Federal Reserve facilitates the fine-tuning of cash in the market using Repurchase Agreement (Repo).

Designing effective interactive systems requires understanding the needs and capabilities of the people who will be using them. In this UX course we will focus on how to interact with users (or potential users) to understand what they need, what they currently do, what they love and hate, and examine human capabilities and behavior as they relate to UX design.

Learners will be introduced to numerous techniques to gather data from and about users.

This course is part of the User Experience (UX) Research and Design MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX.

Being an entrepreneur and creating a startup requires money. This money is essential to building a prototype, hiring a great team, and launching a new product or service. How do you raise money for your startup? Venture capitalists.  

Introduction to Venture Capital will teach you how to get the money needed to run your startup. You will learn who venture capitalists are, how they think and gain an understanding of their motives, investment strategies, and what they’ll expect from you.

In addition to lectures you will get first hand inside knowledge from experienced entrepreneurs and venture capitalists on what it takes to successfully acquire money for your startup!

Interested in learning how mobile smartphones and tablets convert digital information to and from electromagnetic signals in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum? Curious how radio designers and spectrum regulators avoid harmful interference within a network or among different wireless services? Debating whether television (TV) band spectrum or cellular spectrum is more valuable to society?  Want to build a radio transmitter and receiver, or develop a business plan for a wireless network deployment in your hometown?  Then sign up for "Understanding Wireless" today!
 
This survey style course offers an opportunity to gain understanding of the technical, regulatory, and economic aspects of the mobile wireless revolution and its impact on society.  The course is intended for a broad audience, from engineers to business majors to aspiring lawyers, but students will be most comfortable if they are not intimidated by early-college mathematics.
 
The instructors aim to expose the intricate physics, infrastructure, industry segments, markets, and radio frequency (RF) spectrum challenges behind today's popular smart phones and tablets, and to challenge students to participate in fueling the future growth of these technologies as well as their applications. The course will include such topics as the electrical transmission of information, the physical propagation of radio signals, the principles and challenges of sharing a common medium, standards and patents, spectrum licenses and auctions, privacy and security issues, and societal impact of wireless communication services and applications.

In addition to directed readings, video sessions, and learning exercises, students taking the course for a certificate will be required to take several quizzes and, in the last two weeks of the course, to develop a project selected from one of several options. We are excited to introduce you to the myriad aspects of the wireless revolution and to explore with you how wireless is changing today’s society.

The University of Notre Dame's Office of Digital Learning is sponsoring a final project competition for "Understanding Wireless" learners located in the United States and Canada. Qualified participants will design and submit a project plan to use wireless technology to improve their local community (town, school, local government, etc.), applying the knowledge and experience they have gained in the course.

Many Americans complain that they do not understand the U.S. health reform law called the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare). They are right, and the main reason is because most Americans do not understand the basics of the U.S. health care system and U.S. health policy. Featuring some of the nation’s foremost teachers and thought leaders, this course provides students with a basic and thorough understanding of the U.S. health care system focusing on access, quality of care, and costs. Students will learn how the system is structured, how care is organized, delivered, and financed, and how the Affordable Care Act will influence the future of the system. Students will understand the U.S. health policy making structure process at the federal, state, and local levels. Students who complete this course will be able to interpret current controversies around US health policy and develop informed opinions on future policy developments.

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.

*Note - This is an Archived course*

Do you have a personal improvement goal that has proven resistant to your sincerest intentions, smartest plans, and best efforts? If so, then this course is for you. Last spring, we kicked off a world-wide experiment to see if Kegan and Lahey’s ground-breaking, award-winning approach (the Immunity to Change process) could be deployed online to help tens of thousands of people make lasting changes at work or in their private lives. The experiment was largely a success! Many participants succeeded at making important changes in their lives. Here’s what our students have to say:

• “When I first started, I was a bit skeptical on how I would actually change. Looking back at myself 14 weeks ago and comparing it with how I am now is incredible! I couldn't be happier that I decided to take this course and learn a new approach to change. My life is so much better because of it.”
• “Someone asked me recently if I felt like I'd just wasted 14 whole weeks on self-inquiry. I can honestly say no - I feel like I wasted 30 years sleepwalking!  An incredible experience. Bob and Lisa have created a truly wondrous process, and the staff and fellow students have built a rich and supportive learning environment.” 
• “I appreciated the opportunity to feel like I was a part of a bigger community striving to grow and improve. This made me want to constantly push myself because I believed in the power behind the material and in the power of being part of a community working toward similar goals.”
• “This has been an amazing course and I have made long lasting changes that I didn't even dream about when I began this course. There is no way to express my deepest thank you for that . . . my life is changed.”

This fall, we invite you to join us in a continuation of this experimental personal development course. Via demonstrations, exercises, readings, personal experiments, and novel interactive tools, this course will teach you new psychological theory about personal change, but—more than this—it will engage you in applying that theory to yourself from the first class to the last.

In 2011 Oprah Winfrey listed the Top Ten Things You Should Do to Start the New Year Right. Number One on the list was, “Try the Immunity-to-Change approach.” Come, join us!

This course runs from Tuesday, September 16 to Monday, December 15, 2014. It begins on September 16 with a one-week orientation. The orientation is designed to introduce you to the culture of the community we will form together and the technology we will use. Some of you may not need the full week to complete the orientation. The substance of the course begins a week later, on September 23.

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.

This is a past/archived course. At this time, you can only explore this course in a self-paced fashion. Certain features of this course may not be active, but many people enjoy watching the videos and working with the materials. Make sure to check for reruns of this course.

A degree is necessary to secure a graduate role, but employers are looking for much more.

The key is showing a potential employer what you can offer BEYOND your credentials.

This is not a standard business course on writing job applications and practicing interview techniques.

We’ve thought deeply about what actually matters to employers and how you can develop the skills and qualities they value.

This course will show you how to take your experiences, extract what you’ve learned from them and present them in a way that would be attractive to an employer. 

We’ll help you develop your employability - the capabilities, skills, and personal attributes that make you attractive to an employer - so that you can successfully navigate the recruitment process and be effective in your job.

You’ll hear from:

• Employers discussing what they value when hiring new graduates
• Current students who have maximized their university experience
• Graduates who have transitioned successfully into the workplace

We’ll also share our knowledge and the perspectives of other experts in this area.

Are you an urban planner, designer, policy maker or involved or interested in the creation of good living environments?

This course will broaden your scope and diversify your take on the field of urban planning and design. We will focus on a unique Dutch approach and analyze how it can help those involved with urban planning and design to improve the physical environment in relation to the public good it serves, including safety, wellbeing, sustainability and even beauty.

You will learn some of the basic traits of Dutch Urbanism, including its:

• contextual approach;
• balance between research and design;
• simultaneous working on multiple scale levels.

You will practice with basic techniques in spatial analysis and design pertaining to these points. You will also carry out these activities in your own domestic environment.

This course is taught by the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU-Delft, ranked no. 4 in Architecture/Built Environment on the QS World University Rankings (2016).

All the material in this course is presented at entry level. But since the course has an integral perspective, combining planning and design aspects, it can still be relevant for trained professionals who feel they lack experience in either field.

LICENSE

The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License.

This course will teach you about the management and governance of infrastructures.

As cities are currently hosts to half of the world’s population, the role played by urban infrastructures in the delivery of services (such as energy, transport and water) becomes crucial. The management and governance of such complex socio-technical systems becomes vital to ensuring their performance.

In this course we look at the economic, social, political, and technological dimensions of urban infrastructure management. Note that this it is not an intensely technical course, but rather a course in the area of (public) management.

In addition to covering the basic principles and main schools of thought in managing and governing urban infrastructures, we also focus on two, particularly vital urban infrastructures, namely energy and transport.

The course is structured into 4 blocks. The first block provides a solid foundation for understanding urban infrastructures: why are they important? How do they function? Why are they different from other large socio-technical systems?

The second block explores the main challenges as well as the main schools of thought in managing and governing urban infrastructures.

The third and fourth blocks are dedicated to developing a deeper understanding of urban energy and urban transport management and governance respectively.

Block 3 will offer an introduction to urban energy systems, focusing, in particular, on the unique characteristics of these systems. Block 4 will do the same for urban transportation systems and highlight, in particular, the emerging integrated approach to urban mobility.