Online courses directory (457)

This course is an examination of the theory, the practice, and the implications of rhetoric & rhetorical criticism. This semester, you will have the opportunity to deepen many of your skills: Analysis, persuasion, oral presentation, and critical thinking. In this course you will act as both a rhetor (a person who uses rhetoric to persuade) and as a rhetorical critic (one who analyzes the rhetoric of others). Both the rhetor and the rhetorical critic write to persuade; both ask and answer important questions. Always one of their goals is to create new knowledge for all of us, so no endeavor in this class is a "mere exercise."

This course is an introduction to the history, theory, practice, and implications of rhetoric, the art and craft of persuasion. This course specifically focuses on the ways that scientists use various methods of persuasion in the construction of scientific knowledge.

21W.783 is a series of seminars focusing on common writing problems faced by professional engineers and scientists. Participants will tune up their writing skills and prepare a pair of technical documents under the guidance of the instructor. The writing assignments focus on a single topic of the student's choosing, preferably one for which the necessary research has been done, or is in the process of being done. In addition to the writing component, students will deliver an oral presentation based on the written work.

This course introduces writing, graphics, meetings, oral presentation, collaboration, and design as tools for product development. The communication instruction is embedded in design projects that require students to work in teams to conceive, design, prototype and evaluate energy related products. The communication instruction focuses on the communication tasks that are integral to this design process, ranging, across design notebooks, email communications, informal oral presentations, meeting etiquette, literature searches, white papers reports, and formal presentations. In addition to the assignments specific to product development, a few assignments, especially reading and reflection, will address the cultural situation of engineers and engineering in the world at large.

Acknowledgment

The instructors would like to thank Prof. Alex Slocum and Mark Graham for their contributions to this course.

What are science, technology, and innovation? How do science, technology, and innovation inform our understanding of developments in the social sphere? How have these domains evolved in the Chinese context? In this course, we will examine these issues and attempt answering these and many other questions!

This course is the second in a trilogy of short courses. In this part, we apply some of the concepts we covered in Part I to study the development of science and technology in Chinese society, particularly in light of the influence the Industrial Revolution in the West has had on China’s technological development.

This course is the third in a trilogy of short courses. In this final part, we integrate what we have learned in the previous two parts to investigate the evolution and implications of Chinese government policies designed to promote scientific and technological progress. Based on this, we will attempt to sketch a picture of the future of science and technology in China.

¡Claro que todos podemos potenciar nuestra creatividad a través de procedimientos, rutinas y protocolos sencillos! El participante desarrollará su talento creativo para aportar soluciones originales y generar ideas y productos en el ámbito en que se desenvuelve y en la vida cotidiana.

Learn how maritime archaeology investigates our changing relationship with the world’s oceans and seas, from 2.5 million years ago until today.

This course addresses a number of fundamental questions in European cultural history centered on the book as both material as well as cultural and social object. Touching on a variety of different physical formats, the course explores questions of authorship, production, manufacture, distribution, and reading of books, as well as their restriction and periodic prohibition. The course makes use of the University's large special collections holdings and students carry out extended individual projects using these holdings. The final unit of the course is devoted to the fundamental changes in print culture being fostered by the Internet and hypertext, with examination in particular of the University of Michigan's evolving role in the novel enterprise of electronic book circulation. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 633 - A Cultural and Material History of the Book from Pre-Gutenberg to Post-Google, by dmalicke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course provides an opportunity for students to examine information seeking and use in geographic communities. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore: 1) selected community information needs & use situations (everyday life problem solving, community problem solving, citizenship, civic engagement and participation); 2) factors that influence community information use including the roles of community information organizations & institutions; 3) models of community information provision. The course starts with a brief historical introduction. Students will have opportunities to examine in more detail topics of especial interest to them. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 645 / SI 745 - Information Use in Communities, by Joan C. Durrance is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

Sociology is the scientific study of society. As such, it closely examines human interactions and cultural phenomena, including topics like inequality and urbanization and the effects of these on groups and individuals. To do their work, sociologists rely on a philosophy of science called positivism, which you will study in Unit 1. The philosophy of positivism asserts that authentic knowledge, or truth, can only be gained through empirical observations. In other words, we need to be able to experience our observations or use scientific measurement with a form of sensory experience, as opposed to using faith-based or emotional experiences. Another central concept to sociology is that of the sociological imagination. The sociological imagination allows sociologists to make connections between personal experiences and larger social issues. For example, did you know the U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world? In order to understand this trend, sociologists use scientific methods…

Ever wonder why people do what they do? This course offers some answers based on the latest research from social psychology.

This course examines interpersonal and group dynamics, considers how the thoughts, feelings, and actions of individuals are influenced by (and influence) the beliefs, values, and practices of large and small groups. Learning occurs through a combination of lectures, demonstrations and in-class activities complemented by participation in small study groups and completion of homework assignments.

Taking--or preparing to take--a social psychology course? These videos are for you!

Sociology examines individuals in their social contexts.

Psychology 102 takes a look at why we behave the way we do , and applies that information to the classroom setting. This is valuable to students of psychology and education alike.

Dr. Wind Goodfriend and Dr. Melissa Hurst combine classic psychological theories and experiments with practical applications for classroom teachers. These bite-sized video lessons are accompanied by free, self-grading quizzes for self-assessment. Watch the videos, test your knowledge, and then let us know what you think using the thumbs up/thumbs down buttons on the top right-hand corner of each video.

This course explores the role of sports around the world, and how the games we watch and play shape identity, culture, and society.

Learn to make music with digital audio workstation software, understand the theory and history behind music production tools, and write your own computer programs to make new music and sounds.

Join us for an introduction to the major global issue of sustainability and discover how you can have a real impact on our future.