Online courses directory (363)

English II is the second in a sequence of English courses for high school students. These courses seek to give you the necessary reading, writing, thinking, and research skills to find success in college or the workplace. As the second course, English II challenges you to look deeper within a text for its meaning and provide thoughtful, analytical, and persuasive responses. You will be expected to build literary analysis from the texts as well as outside sources of knowledge. You will first learn to dissect a text for varied levels of meaning, how to interpret this meaning with a critical eye, and how to look beyond the text for its relevance. You will then be expected to read a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts of different lengths, complexities, and genres, and respond to them through questions, annotations, independent research, and essay writing. Texts and assignments will gradually increase in rigor, challenging you to improve the efficacy and complexity of your analysis and writing skills. Bec…

Eighth-grade English Language Arts will provide you with a strong foundation for high school. Grounded in Common Core State Standards, the content of this course emphasizes critical reading, writing, and thinking. You will read and analyze high-quality literary and informational texts. You will write original texts in multiple genres. Language and its conventions will be emphasized throughout, and opportunities to examine the spoken word will be provided as well. Whether you choose to pursue higher education or the world of work, or both, you will be expected to have certain basic skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. While you probably won’t be expected to write a poem on command, you will have to be able to express yourself clearly when you write and speak. This course includes challenging material which will help you build the skills you need to begin high school. As you progress through your remaining years as a student, you will continue to add and build upon the skills and knowledge yo…

Calculus AB is primarily concerned with developing your understanding of the concepts of calculus and providing you with its methods and applications. The course emphasizes a multi-representational approach to calculus, with concepts, results, and problems being expressed graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally. Broad concepts and widely applicable methods are also emphasized. The focus of the course is neither manipulation nor memorization of an extensive taxonomy of functions, curves, theorems, or problem types, but rather, the course uses the unifying themes of derivatives, integrals, limits, approximation, and applications and modeling to become a cohesive whole. The course is a yearlong high school mathematics course designed to prepare you to write and pass the AP Calculus AB test in May. Passing the test can result in one semester of college credit in mathematics.

Welcome to the amazing world of statistics! You might be thinking that the topic is just about a bunch of charts, graphs, and odd-looking formulas, but in fact, it is a fascinating and challenging field of study. In this course, we will indeed study those charts and graphs, and yes, that array of complex formulas. But beyond those tools, we will find an entire new way of thinking, a new way of approaching and understanding the world around us. We will learn why taking aspirin helps lower the risk and severity of a heart attack; how researchers have determined that the more friends you have on a social networking site, the more likely you are to have fewer friends in real life; and how political pollsters almost always know the outcome of an election even before the polls open. The course is divided into 10 units of study. The first two units are devoted to simple statistical calculations and graphical representations of data. Most of this material will be familiar to you from previous math or science course…

People sometimes think that math is just about number crunching. However, that’s not always the case. Patterns and letters (called variables) are used in math to help represent real-life situations. In addition to learning about variables, parts of this course will help you see a side of math you might not have even realized is out there. This course includes six units. Topics covered include multiplication and division of fractions, ratio reasoning, unit rates, expressions, equations, area, surface area, volume, and statistics. As you work through the six units, you will notice that some of the material builds on your prior knowledge, while some of the concepts will be new ideas that will serve as building blocks for your future math career. In unit 1, you will build on your current understanding of fractions, multiplication, and division to understand why the procedures for multiplying and dividing fractions make sense. The number system in its basic sense is probably already familiar to you. During…

Numbers are everywhere. When we are shopping we are faced with decimals. In our cooking, we work with fractions. When it comes to the stock market, we can see positives and negatives. In this course, we will we focus on these rational numbers and understanding the operations when working with them. This course includes five units with rational numbers used throughout. In Unit 1, we will build on our skills with integers, decimals, and fractions, with a focus on the properties that are at the heart of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. These skills are used to help build an understanding of proportional relationships through ratios, rates, and scale drawings, and similar figures in Unit 2. Variables will join the rational numbers in Unit 3 so that real-life mathematical problems can be expressed and solved. Mathematical reasoning will continue to grow in this unit as simple equations and inequalities are used to model different real-life scenarios. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes…

This course is an exploration of visual art forms and their cultural connections for the student with little experience in the visual arts. It includes a brief study of art history, and in-depth studies of the elements, media, and methods used in creative thought and processes. In this course, you will learn how to develop a five-step system for understanding visual art in all forms, based on the following: Description: A work of art from an objective point of view its physical attributes, and formal construction. Analysis: A detailed look at a work of art that combines physical attributes with subjective statements based on the viewer’s reaction to the work. Context: Historical, religious, or environmental information that surrounds a particular work of art and which helps to understand the work’s meaning. Meaning: A statement of the work’s content. A message or narrative expressed by the subject matter. Judgment: A critical point of view about a work of art concerning its aesthetic or cultur…

Sixth-grade Language Arts marks a turning point for you in your academic career. After developing and practicing the skills necessary to develop a strong foundation for your success at the elementary level, you are now ready to embark on the next step in your journey as a reader and writer. Based on the Common Core State Standards, this course will help you grow as a reader and writer of both literary and informational text. You will read a number of complex, thematically related narratives, short stories, extended informational texts, and nonfiction articles. You will learn to analyze these varied texts, to identify key ideas and details, to compare and contrast major text elements, and to distinguish between those claims supported by evidence and those that are not. You will then try your hand at writing your own arguments and supporting them with research-based evidence, and you will work to improve your writing by taking it through the steps of the writing process. In your own life, these reading and wr…

This course is an introduction to the major methodologies that have been and are used by art historians.  Although not a history of art history per se, it is organized in a roughly chronological order that traces major methodological developments within the discipline from the birth of art history in the nineteenth century through the late twentieth century.  By focusing on several outstanding historical and critical readings, as well as secondary discussions of different types of art historical analysis, the student will be introduced to some of the major methodologies that have shaped the field: formalism, biographical analysis, connoisseurship, technical analysis, iconographical analysis, psychoanalysis, Marxism and the social history of art, feminism, post-colonialism, and semiotics.  The course will also examine how artworks are displayed in modern art museums. After completing this course, you will be able to explain the strengths and weaknesses of different art historical methodologies and explain…

This course serves as an introduction to the major artistic and architectural traditions of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East.  This course will explore how artifacts and monuments can be used to study the history and culture of the ancient world.  It is divided into two units that chronologically focus on the art, architecture, and archaeology of each region.  The first unit examines Ancient Egyptian tombs, monuments, and art from the Early Dynastic (c. 3100-2650 BCE) through the Roman (30 BCE- 4thcentury CE) periods.  The second unit focuses on Ancient Near Eastern artistic and architectural traditions from the late Neolithic (c. 9500-4500 BCE) through the conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) by Alexander the Great. After completing this course, you will be able to identify the major characteristics of Egyptian and Near Eastern art and architecture, more specifically what types of objects and buildings were made and used by Egyptians and Ancient Near Eastern peoples.  You wil…

This lab course supplements BIO302: Human Anatomy [1].  Although we cannot virtually replicate the lab experience, this “lab” will familiarize you with scientific thinking and techniques and will enable you to explore of some key principles of human anatomy. The material in this lab supplement relates to the material covered in the lecture and reading portion of the course.  While that portion focuses more on large-picture concepts, here we will focus more on visual understanding, manipulation, and practical use of your knowledge.  You will review the anatomy and histology of the organs by using images of models, microscopic slides, and videos on cat and sheep dissections.  Then you will be asked to assess your knowledge, which eventually can be put to practical or experimental use.  Working though this lab supplement, you will realize that you must memorize new terms and locate different structures and organs, which can only be achieved by repetition and practice. Note: This course makes use of…

This course will teach you the fundamentals of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is the study of energy and its transformations. Energy is a physical property that can be converted from one form to another in order to perform work. For example, a stone rolling down a hill is converting gravitational potential energy into the kinetic energy of motion. Thermodynamics can be applied to systems we use every daysuch as, for example, heat pumps and refrigerators, internal combustion engines, batteries, and both electrical and mechanical power generators. An awareness of thermodynamics will help you examine other concepts involving chemical processes more quickly and will enable you to understand why many physical phenomena (such as automobile engines or chemical explosives) work the way they do. The knowledge you will gain in this course also will help you determine how much work an object can put out and predict how to optimize an object’s operation. In this course, you will learn about the laws of thermodynamics…

This course will introduce you to the range of drama written and performed in England and Continental Europe between roughly 1660 and1800, a period often termed “the long eighteenth century.”  In this course, we will refer to the “long-eighteenth century” as the period that began with the Restoration of the English monarchy with King Charles II following the English Civil War and concluded with the first years of the nineteenth century.  During this period, drama flourished in England, France, and Germany.  After quite a long period in which theater was not in vogue, the emergence of brilliant new dramatists, the development of novel forms of plays (including derivates of the Italian opera, comedy, and the musical), and the passage of laws that finally allowed women actors on stage sparked renewed interest amongst theatergoers.  In this course, we will explore the major plays, players, and playhouses from this era in conjunction with a thorough and in-depth historical contextualization. This cou…

This course will introduce you to cognitive psychology, or the study of the ways in which we come to know about the world around us and about one another.  While you may understand “cognition” as “thinking” or “thoughts,” we will here use the term to refer to almost any process that takes place within the human mind. Though cognitive psychology as a formal branch of study has only been around since the late 1960s, it has been studied for decades as an area of interest in psychological inquiry and has its roots in philosophy.  In the late 1880s, for example, Ebbinghaus conducted some of the very first scientifically based studies of cognition when he attempted to explain the mechanism of memory.  Memory, along with attention, perception, language, and decision making, are amongst the most prominent issues within the broad and diverse field of cognitive psychology.  While we could spend an entire semester exploring just one of these issues, this course will instead provide you with an overview…

Abnormal psychology is one of the most recognizable and intriguing subfields of study in psychology. Part of what makes this field so intriguing is that it challenges us to define what is normal and abnormal. Most experts in the field have settled on several criteria to define abnormal behavior; however, this definition and even the very existence of certain disorders still remain a source of debate. This course will help us to define abnormal and normal behaviors and to group these abnormal phenomena into disorders. These disorders are used to capture a particular type of abnormal psychological phenomena and to help us diagnose or make an educated decision regarding what disorder a patient/client may have. In order to distinguish between different disorders, clinicians often use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which identifies the specific criteria used when diagnosing patients/clients. This manual represents the industry standard for psychologists and psychiatrists, who often…

Management is an activity found in all organizations, made necessary by the need to determine the organization’s purpose and future activities, the nature of its organization and structure, to lead and motivate the workforce within the organization, and to evaluate and correct its course, if necessary. The organization accomplishes its purpose in part through its workforce, the people it employs. If you have just joined the ranks of management, you may need to quickly obtain hands-on knowledge for a brisk, successful start to your new position. Our objective in this course is to provide new supervisors or managers with just such basic, practical knowledge necessary for their new positions, such as making the transition to management, leadership, coaching, team building, communication skills, motivation and empowerment, organization, efficiency, time management, an appreciation for diversity, performance management, hiring, termination, discipline, decision making, and problem solving. The course will begi…

The management and processing of information is an essential practice in a business environment. All organizations ranging from social groups, small businesses, non-profits, and large corporations have a need for information to be analyzed and processed. These organizations require that business analysts or other key employees demonstrate a mastery of information management and processing in order to address critical business problems such as business planning, inventory management, and organizational forecast planning. In particular, these skills are needed to perform data and information analyses and present the findings of such analyses to help guide business-related decisions. This course will provide you with a structured introduction to the key tools and techniques used in information management and processing. If you have ever been asked to organize information, analyze data, or create a presentation to help your organization make a business-related decision, then this course will help you develop or…

This class is intended for students who have a basic understanding of spreadsheets and are now ready to delve deeper into formatting, formulas and functions, multi-page spreadsheets, charting data, creating tables that have database features, and be introduced to pivot tables. This class was designed to be an active, hands-on class. You will be creating Excel® spreadsheets and have files to open and follow along as you progress through the units. This class is not intended for a specific occupation or activity, but when you are finished with this class, you will be able to use Excel® in a variety of circumstances to format and manipulate numerical data. Although the resources in this course use Microsoft Excel® 2010, it should be noted that all of the skills and tasks that you will be asked to complete can be done in any version of Excel®. If you stay flexible enough in your thinking and search out the commands and icons on whatever software you are using, you will succeed.

Imagine you wake up one morning and read a news flash on your smartphone or other mobile device that a major fire threatens your office building. You immediately remember that your organization recently practiced its quarterly disaster preparedness exercise. You know what to do, who to contact, and the location of the alternate office to use in case of an emergency. You are concerned, but you are confident that you have a plan in place. As a key member of the organization’s crisis communication team (CMT), you know your role. You help management immediately prepare a news release and update the company’s website with factual information on the who, what, when, and where details of the event. You use social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and traditional media, such as radio and TV, to inform internal stakeholder groups (e.g., senior leadership, employees, and investors) and external stakeholder groups (e.g., customers, clients, local officials, and the general public) with appropriate key messages. D…

This short course will introduce you to the basic elements of marketing for businesses and nonprofit organizations. If you are taking this course to fulfill the requirements of Saylor’s Sales Certificate program, it is important that you understand the broad fundamentals of marketing, since sales is only one component of the greater business concept of marketing. To that end, this course will introduce you to important marketing basics and help prepare you for some of the typical entry-level expectations for sales and marketing associates. A few of these required skills include helping coordinate the execution of marketing plans; developing plans for promotional campaigns; writing sales and marketing materials; participating in marketing research and competitive analyses; identifying potential clients; assisting with advertising campaigns; and participating in customer relationship management. As frequent consumers of products and services, we participate in sales transactions on a regular basis. Indeed,…