Online courses directory (363)

A chronological and thematic survey of the major themes and developments in the history of Latin American art, this course traces the evolution of visual culture over approximately four millennia.  Organized into three parts, the course begins with the pre-Columbian period (1800 BC to AD 1492), moves into the years of European contact and conquest (AD 1492 to 1800), and concludes with an overview of modern and contemporary art across the Americas.  You will learn to identify and describe works of art and discuss the broader historical and social contexts in which they were produced and circulated. The first part of the course will introduce you to the major artistic achievements and archaeological record of the ancient Mesoamerican and Andean cultures: monumental architecture, urban planning, painting, sculpture, and portable arts.  The study of colonial art focuses on Mexico, Peru, and Brazil, introducing concepts of artistic hybridity and diversity, indigenous and national cultures, and transatlantic e…

This course will present advanced topics in Artificial Intelligence (AI).  We will begin by defining the term “software agent” and discussing how software agents differ from programs in general.  We will then take a look at those problems in the field of AI that tend to receive the most attention.  Different researchers approach these problems differently.  In this course, we will focus on how to build and search graph data structures needed to create software agents, an approach that you will find useful for solving many problems in AI.  We will also learn to “break down” larger problems into a number of more specific, manageable sub-problems. In the latter portion of this course, we will review the study of logic and conceptualize the differences between propositional logic, first-order logic, fuzzy logic, and default logic.  After learning about statistical tools commonly used in AI and about the basic symbol system used to represent knowledge, we will focus on artificial neural network and…

This course will cover American political thought from the nation’s early, formative years as a fledgling republic through the 1960s, exploring the political theories that have shaped its system of governance.  As there is no one philosopher or idea that represents the totality of American political thought, you will survey the writings and speeches of those who have had the greatest impact over this period of time. You will begin by examining pre-revolutionary thought before moving on to the ideals and debates that brought forth the Constitution and the American governmental structure.  Next, you will study the people and events that shaped the emergent nation, delving into concepts such as individualism, capitalism, and industrialism.  You will also investigate the notions of slavery, equality, social progressivism, as well as the ideals explored in the civil rights movement. You will notice that much of the study required in this course is based on the original texts and speeches of those who infl…

This Research Methods Lab course is part two of the Research Methods series. You should not attempt this course without having first completed the Research Methods course (PSYCH202A [1]). This Lab extends beyond the basics of research methodology and the logic of experimental design, concepts you learned in PSYCH202A [2].  You will learn to put these concepts into practice while conducting laboratory experiments. While we may not explicitly apply all of the concepts introduced in the Research Methods lecture course, remember that each of them will remain relevant during the evaluation and review phases of your research. This course intends to acquaint the student with a variety of different research techniques.  Students will participate in every stage of experimentation, from creation and editing to evaluation and review.   As such, this course will not only review relevant concepts from the Research Methods lecture, but will also broach a number of practical matters, including the standard organizatio…

Many consider James Joyce the most influential author of the 20th century.  His innovations in narrative strategy in particular continue to shape and inspire literature today.  In this course, we will examine Joyce’s aesthetic and artistic sensibilities through close readings of the major works in his oeuvre, placing special emphasis on Ulysses, whose expansive length and nearly infinite depths has sustained scholarship for decades. Before we embark upon our journey through Joyce’s canon, we will take a look at the life and times of James Joyce, situating the literary giant within a number of contexts: the fight for Irish home rule, Modernism, the World Wars, and the Irish Literary Revival.  We will then progress through his works chronologically, by date of publication: from the sober, artful short fiction of the Dubliners to the avant-garde wordplay of Finnegans Wake.  By the end of this course, you will not only have read and thought critically about a number of the most celebrated works of the l…

This course will introduce you to United States history from the colonial period to the Civil War and Reconstruction. You will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in America during this 250-year period. The course will be structured chronologically, with each unit focusing on a significant historical subject in early American history. The units will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the development of British America, the founding of the American republic, and the crisis of the federal union that led to the Civil War. By the end of the course, you will understand how the American federal union was founded, expanded, and tested from 1776 to its collapse in 1861.

Numerical methods have been used to solve mathematical expressions of engineering and scientific problems for at least 4000 years (for some historical discussion you may wish to browse the Ethnomathematics Digital Library [1] or the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive [2] from St. Andrews University).*  Such methods apply numerical approximation in order to convert continuous mathematical problems (for example, determining the mechanical stress throughout a loaded truss) into systems of discrete equations that can be solved with sufficient accuracy by machine. Numerical methods provide a way for the engineer to translate the language of mathematics and physics into information that may be used to make engineering decisions. Often, this translation is implemented so that calculations may be done by machines (computers). The types of problems that you encounter as an engineer may involve a wide variety of mathematical phenomena, and hence it will benefit you to have an equally wide range of numerical met…

This course will focus on the history of Greek and Roman civilizations beginning with the origins of ancient Greek culture in the Aegean Bronze Age (c. 30001100 BCE) through the period of the Roman Empire at the height of its greatest extent and prosperity (c. 31 BCE235 CE). We will focus on the political, economic, and social factors that shaped the development and maturation of these two influential Mediterranean civilizations. The course will be structured chronologically. Each unit will include representative primary source documents that illustrate important overarching themes, such as the emergence and development of Greek civilization from the Aegean Bronze Age through the Greek Archaic period (c.700500 BCE), the contrast between democratic and oligarchic forms of government in Greek city-states of the classical era (c. 500350 BCE), the decline of the Greek city-states, the rise of Macedon and the spread of Greek culture to the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia in the Hellenistic period (c. 35031…

This course will focus on the wars and military conflicts that have shaped the social, political, and economic development of the United States from the colonial era through the present.  You will learn how these conflicts have led to significant changes in America social and political life during this 300-year period.  The course will be structured chronologically.  Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching themes, such as how colonial conflicts in the 18th century shaped the political organization of the United States, how regional conflicts in the 19th century culminated in the Civil War, how America cemented its status as a major world power through participation in the First and Second World Wars, how Cold War conflicts destabilized American social and political life, and how modern conflicts continue to redefine American social and political values and ideals.  By the end of the course, you will understand how three centuries of warfare have…

Like it or not, we can’t escape politics.  Politics, a term best defined as the distribution, exercise, and consequences of power, exists at multiple levels in our society and in our daily lives.  We experience politics in action, for example, in international negotiations, government policy choices, our workplace, and even in our own families.  This course focuses its efforts on exploring the formal, public sphere of politics and power relations through a systematic study and comparison of types of government and political systems. Comparatists (practitioners of comparative politics) seek to identify and understand the similarities and differences between these systems by taking broad topicssay, for example, “democracy” or “freedom”and breaking them down into factors that can be found in individual systems.  We call this general approach “the comparative method.”  The goal of the comparative method is to identify the factors and/or categories of analysis to effectively compare and contra…

This course focuses on the fundamentals of information security that are used in protecting both the information present in computer storage as well as information traveling over computer networks. Interest in information security has been spurred by the pervasive use of computer-based applications such as information systems, databases, and the Internet. Information security has also emerged as a national goal in the United States and in other countries with national defense and homeland security implications. Information security is enabled through securing data, computers, and networks. In this course, we will look into such topics as fundamentals of information security, computer security technology and principles, access control mechanisms, cryptography algorithms, software security, physical security, and security management and risk assessment. By the end of this course, you will be able to describe major information security issues and trends, and advise an individual seeking to protect his or her dat…

This course will introduce you to the history of the Age of Revolutions in the Atlantic World from 1776 to 1848. You will learn about the revolutionary upheavals that took place in the Americas and Europe during this period. Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the secession of the American colonies from the British Empire, the outbreak of the French Revolution, the dissolution of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the Americas, and the spread of revolutionary ideals throughout the Atlantic World. Running alongside and extending beyond these political revolutions is the First Industrial Revolution. By the end of the course, you will understand how an Atlantic World, dominated by European empires in 1776, was transformed through revolution into a series of independent states by 1848 and of the profound changes that Europe would experience, and continue to experience, through the development and…

The study of “abstract algebra” grew out of an interest in knowing how attributes of sets of mathematical objects behave when one or more properties we associate with real numbers are restricted.  For example, we are familiar with the notion that real numbers are closed under multiplication and division (that is, if we add or multiply a real number, we get a real number).  But if we divide one integer by another integer, we may not get an integer as a resultmeaning that integers are not closed under division.  We also know that if we take any two integers and multiply them in either order, we get the same resulta principle known as the commutative principle of multiplication for integers.  By contrast, matrix multiplication is not generally commutative.  Students of abstract algebra are interested in these sorts of properties, as they want to determine which properties hold true for any set of mathematical objects under certain operations and which types of structures result when we perform certain o…

Physics 101 is the first course in the Introduction to Physics sequence. In general, the quest of physics is to develop descriptions of the natural world that correspond closely to actual observations. Given this definition, the story behind everything in the universe, from rocks falling to stars shining, is one of physics. In principle, the events of the natural world represent no more than the interactions of the elementary particles that comprise the material universe. In practice, however, it turns out to be more complicated than that. As the system under study becomes more and more complex, it becomes less and less clear how the basic laws of physics account for the observations. Other branches of science, such as chemistry or biology, are needed.  In principle, biology is based on the laws of chemistry, and chemistry is based on the laws of physics, but our ability to understand something as complex as life in terms of the laws of physics is well beyond our present knowledge. Physics is, however, the…

Personality psychology is the study of the development of personality, the effects of personality on important outcomes, and attempts to make beneficial changes to maladaptive personality characteristics.

This course serves as an introduction to the pre-modern Islamic artistic traditions of the Mediterranean, Near East, and Central and South Asia.  This course is organized around the major dynasties under which Islamic art and architecture were produced.  The first unit surveys core Islamic beliefs, the basic characteristics of Islamic art and architecture, and art and architecture created under the patronage of the Umayyads (632-750) and the Muslim rulers of Spain.  The second unit focuses on the artistic and architectural innovations of the Abbasids (738-1250) and Seljuks (c.1040-1157), as well as the regional rulers of Anatolia and the Maghreb.  The third unit looks at the art and architecture of three successive Islamic dynasties based in Egypt: the Fatimids (909-1171), Ayyubids (1171-1250), and Mamluks (1250-1517). Unit 4 examines the art and architecture of the Ilkhanid (1256-1353) and Timurid (c. 1370-1507) dynasties in Iran and Central Asia.  The final unit presents the art and architecture of thr…

This course will introduce you to the fundamental principles of psychology and to the major subjects of psychological inquiry. It has been designed to not only provide you with the tools necessary for the study of psychology but to present you with a sampling of the major areas of psychology research. The course begins with a short overview of how psychology developed as an academic discipline and an introduction to a number of the principle methodologies most commonly deployed in its study. The subsequent units are arranged around broad areas of research, including emotion, development, memory, and psychopathology. We will focus on well-substantiated research and current trends within each of these categories.

The ability to research topics and incorporate information from your sources into your work is an important skill both in college and on the job.  This course will reinforce the concepts you practiced in English Composition I by introducing you to basic research concepts and techniques.  It will also give you a chance to put these new concepts and techniques to work as you develop a final research paper.  We will begin by looking at how to build research into an effective writing process.  First, you will learn to think of researching not as a requirement for getting a good grade on a paper but as a valuable tool that can make your writing more powerful and convincing.  You will learn how to build research into your writing process so that you can add persuasive power to your finished work.  Through rigorous practice of the fundamental techniques, you will come to see that, like writing itself, research is an act of discovery rather than a search for prefabricated ideas. The intent of this course is t…

In BUS103: Financial Accounting [1], we learned that firms are required to keep detailed financial records so that organized reports can be distributed to managers, shareholders, and government regulators.  Principles of Finance will focus on what these managers, investors, and government agencies do with this information.  It is an introductory course to various fields of finance and is comparable in content to courses that other institutions label as “corporate finance” or “financial management.” Finance is a broad term; you will find that both managers that compile the financial reports we discussed in financial accounting and stockbrokers working on Wall Street will claim that they work in finance.  So what exactly is finance?  Finance is the science of fund management.  It is distinct from accounting in that, whereas accounting aims at organizing and compiling past information, finance is geared towards deciding what to do with that information. In this course, you will be exposed to a n…

Operations management is a science with which we are all, in some capacity, familiar.  We all have scarce resources and have to allocate those resources properly.  Think about the process of preparing a meal: you have to gather all the proper ingredients and prepare them for cooking.  Certain ingredients go in at certain times.  Occasionally, you fall behind or get too far ahead, jeopardizing the entire meal.  And, of course, if you find that you do not have enough ingredients, even more problems arise.  All of these elements of meal preparation - purchasing ingredients, prepping the ingredients by dicing them up, mixing ingredients together, boiling or baking the dish, serving, and cleaning - can be seen as parts of operations management. In the realm of business, operations management is more complicated than preparing a family meal.  There may be hundreds or thousands of participants rather than just you and your brother or wife or grandfather cooking in the kitchen.  Each participant has a speci…