Online courses directory (363)

This course will introduce you to the international relations of the Asia-Pacific region.  In political science, the “Asia-Pacific” region is generally limited to those parts of Asia east of India, and for the purposes of this course, will include Northeast (China, Japan, Taiwan, and the two Koreas) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines).  Countries in South and Southwest Asia, such as the Gulf States, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, will not be covered, nor will the Commonwealth countries of Australia and New Zealand.  Globalization, economic ties, national security issues, and politico-military alliances with the U.S. make an understanding of this region important to any political science student or participant in American government. The political systems of Asia have a much longer history (dating back nearly 5,000 years) than do the systems you may be accustomed to studying in the West.  The general philosophical outlooks of the Asian…

This course will introduce you to the history of the world’s major civilizations from medieval times to the early modern era.  You will learn about the pivotal political, economic, and social changes that took place in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe during this period.  The course will be structured chronologically, with each unit focusing on the expansion or decline of a particular civilization or the interactions and exchanges between civilizations.  The units will include representative secondary and primary source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the transformation of western Europe during the Renaissance, the emergence of a more inclusive world economy, and the impact of early European exploration and colonization.  By the end of the course, you will understand how many different civilizations evolved from isolated societies into expansive, interconnected empires capable of exerting global influence.

This course will introduce you to a comparative history of New World societies from 1400 to 1750. You will learn about European exploration and colonization as well as the cultures of native peoples of the Americas. The course will be structured geographically; each unit will focus on a particular New World society during a specific time period. Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the fifteenth-century conceptualization of the “New World” and colonization, the indigenous peoples living in the Americas at the time of European contact, and the effect of New World societies on native peoples and Africans. By the end of the course, you will understand how the new communities in the New World evolved from fledgling settlements into profitable European colonies and how New World societieswhether French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, or indigenouswere highly varied polities.

Are you getting ready to apply for a job, or are you already seeking employment?  A resume (or résumé) is a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience that you prepare as part of your application materials for a prospective job.  To ensure that your resume is read by the recipient, you will need a cover letter that markets your unique qualifications for the specified job description.  In the current global economy, it is essential for job seekers to optimize their chances of being considered and hired for positions that are well-suited to their qualifications and interests.  This course will help you effectively develop employment application materials for today’s job market by honing your resume writing skills, providing you with tools to create an impressive resume (or to improve the one you already have), and giving suggestions on developing an effective cover letter.  You will study different types of resume and cover letter formats…

This course will introduce you to the major topics, problems, and methods of philosophy and surveys the writings of a number of major historical figures in the field. Philosophy can be - and has been - defined in many different ways by many different thinkers. In a scholarly sense, philosophy is the study of the history of human thought. It requires familiarity with great ideas understood through the various major thinkers in world history. In its most general sense, philosophy is simply the investigation of life’s “big questions.” We will explore such fundamental questions in several of the core areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, ethics, and the philosophy of religion. With the help of commentaries and discussions from a number of contemporary philosophers, we will read and reflect on texts by major Western and non-Western thinkers including Lao Tzu, Buddha, Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Saint Anselm, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, John Locke, Immanuel…

Physical Chemistry II is quite different from Physical Chemistry I.  In this second semester of the Physical Chemistry course, you will study the principles and laws of quantum mechanics as well as the interaction between matter and electromagnetic waves.  During the late 19th century and early 20th century, scientists opened new frontiers in the understanding of matter at the molecular, atomic, and sub-atomic scale.  These studies resulted in the development of quantum physics, which nowadays is still considered one of the greatest achievements of human mind.  While present day quantum physics “zooms in” to look at subatomic particles, quantum chemistry “zooms out” to look at large molecular systems in order to theoretically understand their physical and chemical properties.  Quantum chemistry has created certain “tools” (or computational methods) based on the laws of quantum mechanics that make it theoretically possible to understand how electrons and atomic nuclei interact with each other…

Management refers to the organization and coordination of work to produce a desired result. A manager is a person who practices management by working with and through people in order to accomplish his or her organization’s goals. When you think of the term manager, you may be imagining your supervisor as he or she hires and terminates employees and makes major decisions above your authority. However, although you may not view yourself in this way, you yourself may also be a manager. In fact, many of us practice management skills in the workplace every day. You may have a team of employees that you manage, or lead a project that requires management strategy, or demonstrate leadership qualities among your peers. These are all scenarios that require you to apply the principles of management. In this course, you will learn to recognize the characteristics of proper management by identifying what successful managers do and how they do it. Understanding how managers work is just as beneficial for the subordinate…

In the first unit, we will learn the mechanics of editing and compiling a simple program written in C++.  We will begin with a discussion of the essential elements of C++ programming: variables, loops, expressions, functions, and string class.  Next, we will cover the basics of object-oriented programming: classes, inheritance, templates, exceptions, and file manipulation.  We will then review function and class templates and the classes that perform output and input of characters to/from files.  This course will also cover the topics of namespaces, exception handling, and preprocessor directives.  In the last part of the course, we will learn some slightly more sophisticated programming techniques that deal with data structures such as linked lists and binary trees. This course contains a number of sample programs and review exercises.  Through these exercises, students should better learn how to write functions, use the string class, and write elementary data structures such as linked lists and bina…

This course will introduce students to the field of computer science and the fundamentals of computer programming.  It has been specifically designed for students with no prior programming experience, and does not require a background in Computer Science.  This course will touch upon a variety of fundamental topics within the field of Computer Science and will use Java, a high-level, portable, and well-constructed computer programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, to demonstrate those principles.  We will begin with an overview of the topics we will cover this semester and a brief history of software development.  We will then learn about Object-Oriented programming, the paradigm in which Java was constructed, before discussing Java, its fundamentals, relational operators, control statements, and Java I/0.  The course will conclude with an introduction to algorithmic design.  By the end of the course, you should have a strong understanding of the fundamentals of Computer Science and the Java p…

This course will introduce you to the field of international political economy.  International political economy combines two very important aspects of international relations: politics and economics.  The goal of this course is to make you aware of the ways in which economics and politics influence each other when it comes to creating policy.  It explores the interrelated nature of both economics (via its emphasis on markets) and politics (via its emphasis on power).  This course is thus both an economics and a politics course.  However, please note that though we will review some economics concepts, this course is not an econometrics course and does not require a background in economic methods. Economic policy can be an important instrument of statecraft and diplomacy between countries.  For example, countries often use trade relationships, promises of aid, loans, and investments to build goodwill.  On the other hand, countries can also use economic policy to punish or express disapproval towards o…

"(Latin) America is ungovernable; all who have served the revolution have plowed the sea!"  Simon Bolivar, liberator of much of South America, spoke these famous words on his deathbed in 1830 while reflecting on what he deemed the failure of democracy to take root in Latin America in the early part of the 19th century.  Looking through the historical struggles in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last century and a half, these words continue to hold some truth.  The story of Latin America is one of inequality, complexity, failures, and unrealized possibilities.  Latin America and the Caribbean have entered into the 21st century with a legacy of persistent poverty, authoritarianism, corruption, and inequality. This course will introduce you to the politics of Latin America and the Caribbean and examine the causes and effects of the region’s development.  In many ways, Latin American/Caribbean politics defies any sort of coherent logic attempting to bring it together, a fact that is much reflect…

The Business Administration major is designed to prepare you for a leadership role in today’s highly competitive, global business environment.  This elective course will allow you to incorporate risk management principles into your individual management style.  Risk management refers to the process of identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks.  This course will teach you how to accurately assess the consequences of uncertain events; the ultimate goal for risk managers is to reduce and control the likelihood of such occurrences.  Personal attitudes toward risk vary widely (for example, attitudes can range from risk-averse to risk-seeking).  You are advised to approach this course from the perspective of a business manager (i.e., as a decision maker). Unforeseen circumstances can occur in various contexts, including natural disaster, collapses in financial markets, and accidents.  As a business manager, you will need to use risk management tools to minimize and control the probability and impact…

This course is designed to introduce you to the study of Calculus.  You will learn concrete applications of how calculus is used and, more importantly, why it works.  Calculus is not a new discipline; it has been around since the days of Archimedes.  However, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, two 17th-century European mathematicians concurrently working on the same intellectual discovery hundreds of miles apart, were responsible for developing the field as we know it today.  This brings us to our first question, what is today's Calculus?  In its simplest terms, calculus is the study of functions, rates of change, and continuity.  While you may have cultivated a basic understanding of functions in previous math courses, in this course you will come to a more advanced understanding of their complexity, learning to take a closer look at their behaviors and nuances. In this course, we will address three major topics: limits, derivatives, and integrals, as well as study their respective foundations and a…

This course is designed to provide you with a simple and straightforward introduction to econometrics.  Econometrics is an application of statistical procedures to the testing of hypotheses about economic relationships and to the estimation of parameters.  Regression analysis is the primary procedure commonly used by researchers and managers whether their employments are within the goods or the resources market and/or within the agriculture, the manufacturing, the services, or the information sectors of an economy. Completion of this course in econometrics will help you progress from a student of economics to a practitioner of economics.  By completing this course, you will gain an overview of econometrics, develop your ability to think like an economist, hone your skills building and testing models of consumer and producer behavior, and synthesize the results you find through analyses of data pertaining to market-based economic systems.  In essence, professional economists conduct studies that combine…

Differential equations are, in addition to a topic of study in mathematics, the main language in which the laws and phenomena of science are expressed.  In basic terms, a differential equation is an expression that describes how a system changes from one moment of time to another, or from one point in space to another.  When working with differential equations, the ultimate goal is to move from a microscopic view of relevant physics to a macroscopic view of the behavior of a system as a whole. Let’s look at a simple differential equation.  Based on previous math and physics courses, you know that a car that is constantly accelerating in the x-direction obeys the equation d2x/dt2 = a, where a is the applied acceleration.  This equation has two derivations with respect to time, so it is a second-order differential equation; because it has derivations with respect to only one variable (in this example, time), it is known as an  ordinary differential equation, or an ODE. Let’s say that we want to sol…

Differential equations are, in addition to a topic of study in mathematics, the main language in which the laws and phenomena of science are expressed.  In its most basic sense, a differential equation is an expression that describes how a system changes from one moment of time to another, or from one point in space to another.  When working with differential equations, the ultimate goal is to move from a microscopic view of relevant physics to a macroscopic view of the behavior of a system as a whole. Let’s look at a simple differential equation.  From previous math and physics courses, we know that a car that is constantly accelerating in the x-direction, for example, obeys the equation d2x/dt2 = a, where a is the applied acceleration.  This equation has two derivations with respect to time, so it is a second-order differential equation; because it has derivations with respect to only one variable (in this example, time), it is known as an  ordinary differential equation, or an ODE. Let’s say t…

This course is an introduction to complex analysis, or the theory of the analytic functions of a complex variable.  Put differently, complex analysis is the theory of the differentiation and integration of functions that depend on one complex variable.  Such functions, beautiful on their own, are immediately useful in Physics, Engineering, and Signal Processing.  Because of the algebraic properties of the complex numbers and the inherently geometric flavor of complex analysis, this course will feel quite different from Real Analysis, although many of the same concepts, such as open sets, metrics, and limits will reappear.  Simply put, you will be working with lines and sets and very specific functions on the complex planedrawing pictures of them and teasing out all of their idiosyncrasies.  You will again find yourself calculating line integrals, just as in multivariable calculus.  However, the techniques you learn in this course will help you get past many of the seeming dead-ends you ran up against in…

There are many different ways that you can go about solving engineering problems.  One of the most important methods is energy analysis.  Energy is a physical property that allows work of any kind to be done; without it, there would be no motion, no heat, and no life.  You wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning, but it wouldn’t matter, because there would be no sun.  Without energy, our world would not exist as it does. Thermodynamics is the study of energy and its transfers though work.  It is the link between heat and mechanical exertion.  Once you have a solid grasp on thermodynamic concepts, you should be able to understand why certain mechanisms (such as engines and boilers) work the way they do, determine how much work they can put out, and know how to optimize these power systems.   A thorough understanding of thermodynamics is crucial to any career that focuses on HVAC systems, car engines, or renewable energy technology. This course will focus on the fundamentals of thermod…

In common conversation, we often use the phrase “contemporary art” to refer to current artistic productionthe art being produced today.  However, in the art history field, the phrase denotes a specific period of art and artistic practice starting in the 1960s and continuing today.  It is characterized by a break from the modernist artistic canon and a desire to move away from the dominant Western cultural model, looking for inspiration in everyday and popular culture.  More specifically, many contemporary artworks reject traditional modernistic artistic media (such as painting or sculpture) in favor of a more collaborative, ephemeral, and multimedia approach that further blurs the boundaries between high and mass culture.  In its subject matter, this art also tends to reflect a shift away from purely aesthetic issues to more socially oriented concerns.  Finally, it is important to note that contemporary art should not be seen as a progression of different artistic styles but as series of different cu…

This course is designed to introduce you to the rigorous examination of the real number system and the foundations of calculus of functions of a single real variable. Analysis lies at the heart of the trinity of higher mathematics algebra, analysis, and topology because it is where the other two fields meet. In calculus, you learned to find limits, and you used these limits to give a rigorous justification for ideas of rate of change and areas under curves. Many of the results that you learned or derived were intuitive in many cases you could draw a picture of the situation and immediately “see” whether or not the result was true. This intuition, however, can sometimes be misleading. In the first place, your ability to find limits of real-valued functions on the real line was based on certain properties of the underlying field on which undergraduate calculus is founded: the real numbers. Things may have become slightly more complicated when you began to work in other spaces. For instance, you may r…