Online courses directory (273)
Effective communication is essential to teamwork, and teamwork is essential to accomplishing complex engineering work. In this course, you will learn several aspects of effective technical communication that will help prepare you to work successfully on an engineering team. The strategies and techniques learned here are also applicable to other situationsfor example, preparing a résumé and cover letter, conducting a successful job interview, negotiating to make a major purchase or sale, and navigating through legal situations that you might encounter. As an example, consider the following situation. You arrive home after a week-long vacation and find a note on your door saying: Dude My plumber’s cut your phone cord. I reckon they’ll fix it soon. On the other hand, consider that you find a note resembling: From: John Atkins October 24, 2015 2828 Fairlane Rd. Tel: 703-555-4800 To: Occupant 2824 Fairlane Rd. I regret to inform you that my plumbing contractor…
The study of dynamic systems focuses on the behavior of physical systems as well as the physics of individual components and the interactions between them. Control systems are designed to enable dynamic systems to respond in a specific manner. In this course, we will learn about the mathematical modeling, analysis, and control of physical systems that are in rest, in motion, or acted upon by a force. Dynamic systems can be mechanical, electrical, thermal, hydraulic, pneumatic, or any combination thereof. An electrical motor is a good example of a dynamic system in which electricity is used to drive the motor’s mechanical movement. The operation of the motor is controlled by altering the electric current or voltage. Another good example is a car’s suspension system, which is designed to curb abnormal vibrations while riding on a bumpy road. In order to design a suspension system, you must analyze the mathematical equations of the physics of the suspension and its response (i.e. how effectivel…
Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to satisfy certain requirements given all the constraints. This course will focus on the decision-making process that affects various stages of design, including resource allocation, scheduling, facilities management, material procurement, inspection, and quality control. You will be introduced to the basic theoretical framework and several practical tools you can use to support decision making in the future. The first two units provide an overview of engineering design process and theories and methods for making decisions, including Analytic Hierarchy Process, Lean Six Sigma, and Quality Function Deployment. In Unit 3, you will learn about the basic principles of computerized decision support systems. Unit 4 discusses several advanced mathematical methods used for support decision making, including linear and dynamic programming, decision tree, and Bayesian inference.
This course will ask you to apply the knowledge you have acquired over the course of the entire mechanical engineering curriculum. It draws upon what you have learned in your courses in mechanics, CAD, materials and processing, thermal and fluid systems, and dynamics and control, just to name a few. This course is equivalent to the capstone course or senior design project that you would need to complete as a senior in a mechanical engineering program in a traditional American university setting. This course begins in Unit 1 by introducing you to the stages of the design process. We will then focus on tools and skill sets that are particularly important for succeeding in a design project, including design planning, teamwork skills, project management, and design reporting. Unit 2 covers important design principles and considerations. You will learn about economic implications (you must keep cost in mind while designing!), the ethical, societal, and environmental impacts of design decisions, and pro…
Everything in the universe can be measured. Under Pressure. Earth's Tilt 1: The Reason for the Seasons. Earth's Tilt 2: Land of the Midnight Sun. 2D Equilibrium -- Balancing Games. Under Pressure. Earth's Tilt 1: The Reason for the Seasons. Earth's Tilt 2: Land of the Midnight Sun. 2D Equilibrium -- Balancing Games.
Ce cours est une première introduction à la mécanique des fluides. Nous allons aborder tout d'abord les propriétés physiques des fluides : les états de la matière et la notion de viscosité. Un chapitre sera dédié à la tension de surface et à la capillarité. Nous introduirons ensuite le concept de similitude et l’utilisation des nombres adimensionnels. Nous allons alors considérer la statique des fluides à travers la loi de l'hydrostatique. La dynamique des fluides sera abordée en premier lieu par la cinématique. Ensuite, nous traiterons des équations de bilan avec notamment une application du théorème de conservation de l’énergie cinétique : le théorème de Bernoulli. Dans le dernier, nous montrerons que ce théorème relativement simple permet d’expliquer et de calculer des écoulements tels que ceux observés dans les rivières. Les vidéos du cours seront enrichies de vidéos d’expériences qui illustreront les concepts clés et par des quiz pour tester votre intuition et vos connaissances. Le dernier module vous permettra de piloter à distance une expérience d'hydraulique qui a lieu dans les laboratoires de l'EPFL.
This course is presented in French.
À l’École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, un cours de physique générale fait partie de la formation de tous les futurs ingénieurs et scientifiques. Le présent cours de mécanique en fait partie. Il a pour but de leur apprendre à transcrire sous forme mathématique un phénomène physique, afin de pouvoir en formuler une analyse raisonnée.
Mechanics ReView is a second look at introductory Newtonian Mechanics. It will give you a unified overview of mechanics that will dramatically increase your problem-solving ability. It is open to all students who meet the prerequisites (see right), but is especially designed for teachers and students who want to improve their existing understanding of mechanics.
Newtonian mechanics is the study of how forces change the motion of objects. This course begins with force, and moves on to straight-line motion, momentum, mechanical energy, rotational motion, angular momentum, and harmonic oscillators. Optional units include planetary orbits and a unit whose problems require multiple concepts to be applied to obtain one solution.
NOTE: New Section “Problem-solving Pedagogy”
We have developed a special approach to organizing the physics content knowledge and for applying it when solving problems. This approach is called “Modeling Applied to Problem Solving” and has been researched carefully and has proven effectiveness for improving students’ performance in a later physics course on Electricity and Magnetism.
If you are a teacher looking to improve your knowledge of mechanics, or to learn new approaches to teach your students, we encourage you to sign up in the special teacher section featuring a discussion forum for teachers to discuss teaching ideas and techniques related to the topics discussed in this course. To join these discussions, verify yourself as a teacher, and we will sign you up in the teacher forum.
Note that this forum is exclusively reserved for teachers, so please do not register if you are not a teacher.
Teachers in the United States, and especially in Massachusetts, can receive extra benefit from this course. We offer Professional Development Points (PDPs) at no charge to teachers in Massachusetts who complete our course. If you are in a different state, we instead offer Continuing Education Units through the American Association of Physics Teachers. There is a fee for this certificate.
Note: Taking this Course Involves Using Some Experimental Materials
The RELATE group that authors and administers this course is an education research group, dedicated to understanding and improving education, especially online. We showed that 8.MReV generated slightly more conceptual learning than a conventionally taught on-campus course - but we were unable to find exactly what caused this learning. (So far this is the only published measurement of learning in a MOOC). This summer we will be comparing learning from different types of online activities that will be administerered to randomly assigned sub-groups of our students. At certain points in the course, new vs. previously used sequences of activities will be assigned to different groups. We will then use common questions to compare the amount learned. Which group receives the new activities will be switched so that neither group will have all new activities.
Our experimental protocol has been approved by the MIT Committee on Use of Human Subjects. As part of this approval we have the obligation to inform you about these experiments and to assure you that:
- We will not divulge any information about you that may be identified as yours personally (e.g. a discussion post showing your user name).
- The grade for obtaining a certificate will be adjusted downwards (from 60%) to compensate if one group has harder materials.
Note: By clicking on the registration button, you indicate that you understand that everyone who participates in this course is randomly assigned to one of the groups described above.
Welcome, and we hope you will both learn from and enjoy this course.
FAQs
Is there a required textbook?
You do not need to buy a textbook. All material is included in this edX course and is viewable online. If you would like to use a textbook with the course (for example, as a reference), most calculus-level books are suitable. Introductory physics books by Young and Freedman, Halliday and Resnick, or Knight are all appropriate (and older editions are fine).
What if I take a vacation?
The course schedule is designed with this in mind! Course contents are released four weeks ahead of the deadline, so even if you have a four-week vacation, you do not need to miss any deadlines and can still complete all of the material.
Will I get a certficiate?
Yes! This course awards certificates to all who satisfactorily complete the required portion of the course.
How are grades assigned?
There are three parts of the course that are worth points: Checkpoint problems that are folded in with the reading, Homework problems that come at the end of each unit, and Quizzes that are at the end of every 1-2 units. Each is worth a varying number of points, and you will not have to do every problem.
The course consists of 11 required units and three optional units. You do not need to complete the optional units in order to receive a certificate.
There is no final exam.
Mechanics is the basis of much of physics, engineering and other technological disciplines. It begins by quantifying motion, and then explaining it in terms of forces, energy, momentum. This allows us to analyse the operation of many familiar phenomena around us, but also the mechanics of planets, stars and galaxies.
This course discusses MHD equilibria in cylindrical, toroidal, and noncircular tokamaks. It covers derivation of the basic MHD model from the Boltzmann equation, use of MHD equilibrium theory in poloidal field design, MHD stability theory including the Energy Principle, interchange instability, ballooning modes, second region of stability, and external kink modes. Emphasis is on discovering configurations capable of achieving good confinement at high beta.
Transport is among the most fundamental and widely studied phenomena in science and engineering. This subject will lay out the essential concepts and current understanding, with emphasis on the molecular view, that cut across all disciplinary boundaries. (Suitable for all students in research.)
- Broad perspectives of transport phenomena
- From theory and models to computations and simulations
- Micro/macro coupling
- Current research insights
