Online courses directory (262)

Though accounting may seem like a dense and complex subject, this course is designed to present the accounting cycle in an accessible and logical manner.  This course will provide you with a solid understanding of basic accounting principles and will introduce you to financial statement analysis.  Please note that this course is the first of two courses on the principles of accounting and that each of these two courses is divided into 10 units.  Each unit should take approximately three hours to complete and should be completed sequentially for the most logical progression of information.  As you work through these units, you will encounter a range of examples and problem sets geared towards providing you with practical applications of the lessons you learn.  By the end of this course, you will able to create accurate and appropriate financial statements to convey a company’s financial health. This course begins with an introduction to financial accounting and the various ways in which financial stat…

Today, the management of information systems is mostly associated with databases, the Internet, and server rooms.  However, “information management” has been around since before the invention of these tools.  It is as old as commerce itself, as traders, bankers, and merchants have always had reason to track sales and inventory.  Creditors must be aware of how much capital has been lent to borrowers and how much money has been deposited at banks.  Long before humans harnessed electricity, there was a need for information systems.  But currently almost all management of information systems is done electronically. Management Information Systems (MIS) is a formal discipline within business education that bridges the gap between computer science and the well-known business disciplines of finance, marketing, and management.  However, most students will only take one or two MIS courses in their undergraduate programs. You may not know it, but you use MIS every day.  If you use email, you are using MIS…

Key insights to starting and succeeding with your own business. Presented by Jason Nazar, CEO of Docstoc.

Steve Blank is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in high technology companies and management. He is also a Consulting Professor at Stanford in the Graduate School of Engineering. In this free online course he goes through a checklist of questions and answers that will be helpful to any new business leader. He offers insights and case studies from industry and new technology companies. He focuses on important areas for business start-ups including market opportunity, market regulations and distribution, competitors and complimentors, and technology breakthroughs. You will learn why sometimes being the first and only company in a particular market can actually be a disadvantage. He discusses the difference between vertical markets and horizontal markets, and you will also learn why market and technical risks are of great importance for an entrepreneurial venture. This course will be of interest to business people, entrepreneurs and anyone who would like to hear key insights and knowledge gained by a very successful entrepreneur with years of experience in business start-ups and management.<br />

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…

An introduction to social entrepreneurship, social impact, and change making.

Free online course: 83 videos, 17 comprehensive problem-solving exercises. Digital text sold separately.

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…

Vinod Khosla, partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield &amp; Byers, was bitten by the entrepreneurship bug early in lif

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 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…

Frank reveals how he started thinking of entrepreneurship at a young age. He believes that if you don't have it, yo

Great managers are made, not born. Learn about the qualities and skills of great managers in this Business 101 course. Instructor Sherri Hartzell holds both an MBA and Ed.D., so she's an excellent choice to teach you about principles of management.

Start by learning about the different levels of management in organizations and then dive into how good managers lead to great employees. Students of business, budding entrepreneurs and independent online learners alike can benefit from these short, engaging video lessons and interactive online quizzes. Business 101: Principles of Management can prepare you to earn real, widely transferable college credit by taking the Principles of Management CLEP exam or the Excelsior Principles of Management exam .

All modern economies need industries that are innovative in product design and efficient in manufacturing. In turn, these industries need people who are knowledgeable about the process. ALISON's free online manufacturing course will give you a detailed understanding of manufacturing and product design by covering topics such as what design is, how to use models in product design, bringing ideas from concept to prototype to production, using the product design specification, manufacturing processes such as casting, forming, cutting and joining, surface engineering and optical materials engineering. There are also a number of case studies to review. <br /><br />ALISON's online course is ideal for employees or professionals who want to learn more about product design and manufacturing processes, and for learners who would like a manufacturing or product design career.<br />

This course is the first in a series of four courses under the Job Search “umbrella” that include Job Search Skills, Resume Writing, Interview Skills, and Professional Etiquette.  The Job Search Skills course is intended to give you a solid beginning to this exciting time of self-exploration with finding a job.  Whether you are seeking your first job, wish to take the next step in your existing career, or desire to begin a new career, you will obtain the necessary information about yourself to turn this desire into a successful job search.  If, for example, you think of yourself as a product that you are trying to market to potential employers, you will realize that you can only be successful if you know the product thoroughly and how this product can meet the needs of the consumer (the employer).  This course will guide you to information on how to target jobs and/or careers that are desirable and realistic for you and that fill a need for employers in today’s challenging job market.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

The introduction of Business Communication for Success, the textbook used throughout this course, notes that “[E]ffective communication takes preparation, practice, and persistence.  There are many ways to learn communication skills; the school of experience, or ‘hard knocks,’ is one of them.  But in the business environment, a ‘knock’ (or lesson learned) may come at the expense of your credibility through a blown presentation to a client.” Effective communication skills are a prerequisite for succeeding in business.  Communication tools and activities connect people within and beyond the organization in order to establish the business’s place in the corporate community and the social community, and as a result, that communication needs to be consistent, effective, and customized for the business to prosper.  Business Communication for Success provides theories and practical information that represent the heart of this course, while additional resources are included to expand or pose altern…

Economics is traditionally divided into two parts: microeconomics and macroeconomics.  The purpose of this course is to provide you with a fundamental understanding of the principles of macroeconomics.  Macroeconomists study how a country’s economy works and try to determine the best choices to improve the overall wellbeing of a nation.  Typical topics include inflation (the overall level of prices), employment, fiscal policy (government taxing and spending), and money and banking (interest rates and lending policies).  Individuals and firms need to consider how macroeconomic events will affect their own prosperity.  To better define macroeconomics, consider its distinction from microeconomics.  Imagine you are attempting to figure out how the price of a certain good (say, bread) has been determined.  Microeconomics would focus on how the supply of and the demand for bread determine its prices.  It would examine factors like the input prices and the consumer's demand in order to determine the curren…

What images come to mind when you think of the term professional?  Do you picture an executive in a fancy suit strutting into a boardroom?  Or, perhaps you envision a supervisor walking among cubicles and issuing orders to employees.  While it is true that professionalism encompasses how we present ourselves outwardly, the meaning of the term goes far beyond appearances.  Professionalism also encompasses inward characteristics and attitudes that affect how others in the workplace perceive us.  The professional world can be full of challenging situations, including conflicting personalities, miscommunication, and cultural differences.  In this course, you will learn about typical workplace etiquette protocols, communication standards, and cultural awareness strategies in order to navigate these common obstacles as smoothly as possible. By this point in Saylor’s Job Search Skills courses in the Professional Development Program, you have started the process of honing your professional image by producin…

This course provides students with a comprehensive introduction to computers. Students will explore a variety of topics in computing, such as the following: the components of a computer, common computer terminology, an introduction to the Internet, computer security and privacy, computer troubleshooting techniques, and steps to maintain the life of your computer. Through readings and videos, students will learn how to fully understand the basics of computer technology.