Online courses directory (447)

Terrorism has gone from a persistent yet marginal security concern to one of the most important security problems of our day. There are few countries that do not suffer from some form of terrorism. Though many attempts at terrorism fail, some groups wage lengthy and bloody campaigns and, in exceptional cases, kill hundreds or even thousands in pursuit of their ends.

This course on terrorism will explore the nuances involved in defining terrorism, the nature of Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other important groups, the effectiveness of different counterterrorism tools, terrorist recruiting, counterterrorism and the rule of law, the political context in the Middle East, and the terrorist use of technology.

For those interested in a more extended version of the course, the full 7-section course Terrorism and Counterterrorism is available here.

This self-paced course is designed to show that ethical theories can help provide frameworks for moral judgment and decision-making in the wake of recent scientific, technological, and social developments which have resulted in rapid changes in the biological sciences and in health care. This course also presents the academic foundations and historical development of multicultural moral decision-making and helps the student to develop their ability to interrelate reflectively, responsibly, and respectfully with a society of increasing intercultural connections. As grammar first describes how language is used, and then is in a position to prescribe how language ought to be used, is very similar to the approach taken in this course. This course first describes how people do in fact approach moral decision-making, and then is in a position to prescribe how multicultural and intercultural moral decision-making ought to made. Some of the topics to be covered are: Institutional Review Boards (IRB), Moral Development, Kant, Mill, Rawls, Informed Consent, Competency, Information Disclosure, Research on Human subjects, Principlism, and Food Systems. Required materials: Bioethics: Moral Philosophy, by Jeffrey W. Bulger, published by Plato

The letters of Paul are the earliest texts in the Christian scriptures, written by a Jew at a time when the word “Christian” hadn’t yet been coined. What is the religious and political context into which they emerged? How were they first interpreted? How and why do they make such an enormous impact in Christian communities and in politics today?

Archaeological materials and ancient writings will help you to enter the ancient Mediterranean world and to think about religious groups, power, poverty, health, and the lives of elites and slaves in the Roman Empire. We’ll explore how immediately controversial these letters were, and how these letters are used today to debate relations between Christians and Jews; issues such as love, law, and grace; and topics such as charismatic Christianity, homosexuality, and women’s religious leadership.
 
Whether you’ve been studying Paul’s letters for years or are merely curious about what Christian scriptures are, this course will provide you with information to deepen your understanding of the ancient contexts and present-day controversies about these texts.

Before your course starts, try the new edX Demo where you can explore the fun, interactive learning environment and virtual labs. Learn more.

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.

Perhaps no story is as essential to get right as the history of capitalism. Nearly all of our theories about promoting progress come from how we interpret the economic changes of the last 500 years. This past decade’s crises continue to remind us just how much capitalism changes, even as its basic features—wage labor, financial markets, private property, entrepreneurs—endure. While capitalism has a global history, the United States plays a special role in that story. This course will help you to understand how the United States became the world’s leading economic power, revealing essential lessons about what has been and what will be possible in capitalism’s on-going revolution.

FAQ

Do I need to have taken economics before?
No. Though there will be discussion of economic ideas, professors will assume no prior economic training.

I am not familiar with American history, but I am interested in how capitalism works. Can I take this course?
Yes. We will have relevant links to helpful background material for each section that should make it possible for those with no knowledge of U.S. history to take the class.

Is this class about economic thought like Smith, Marx, Ricardo, Hayek, etc.?
This class is primarily about what actually happened rather than theories of what happened. While we will touch on important economic thinkers, this class will focus more on the people and institutions that developed capitalism in the United States. If you want to know how capitalism works and came about, this is the class for you.

Will certificates be awarded?
Yes. If you complete the work and achieve a passing grade in the course, you can earn a Honor Code Certificate, which indicates that you have completed the course successfully. Certificates will be issued by edX under the name of CornellX, designating the institution from which the course originated.

What will help me complete this course?
We have found that the best help you can get is other people in the real world. Enlist friends, co-workers, family, and other people to take the class with you. Ask your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Arrange a time during a lunch break or an evening to discuss the week’s videos and readings. Think of this “MOOC club” like a book club! You will get more out of the material and be much more likely to finish.

I want to read more about American Capitalism!
Professors Baptist and Hyman just wrote a course reader expressly for this MOOC (though it is also being taught at Cornell University).

Containing every reading from the MOOC, as well as additional readings from leading scholars (that could not be had for free!), this course reader provides the student with more background for every topic.

Each reading is introduced and discussed by the professors. Each reading, as well, has additional questions for the student to discuss with their friends.

Are there prerequisites?

This course is designed to be accessible for people without a strong background in U.S. history. Nevertheless, we make reference to many people, locations, events, or developments that may be unfamiliar to some students. Below are sources for additional information.

Wikipedia is a very helpful source for a quick definition or description of most of the material in this course. It can help you answer most factual questions you might have.

Digital History is a website that can serve as an online text book if you need a stronger grounding in U.S. history.

For more difficult questions, you can post a question on the discussion board where your fellow students may be able to help you.

An e-book has been designed for this class, containing all the readings and some additional essays by leading scholars in the history of capitalism, including the professors. American Capitalism: A Reader [Kindle Edition] Amazon.com.

This free five-module online introductory course gives you the essential concepts, techniques, and skills to effectively work with data and produce compelling data stories under tight deadlines. Comprised of video lectures, tutorials, assignments, readings, and discussion forums, this course is open to anyone in the world with an Internet connection who wants to tell stories with data. Our media environment is increasingly saturated with data, including large collections of leaked documents published by Wikileaks, public databases about lobbying or government spending, and “big data” from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. As a result, many media organisations seek data-savvy journalists to help them process this information to understand what is in it, to identify what is important, and to provide insights to readers in a compelling way. Modules: 1. Data journalism in the newsroom, with instructor Simon Rogers 2. Finding data to support stories, with instructor Paul Bradshaw 3. Finding story ideas with data analysis, with instructor Steve Doig 4. Dealing with messy data, with instructor Nicolas Kayser-Bril 5. Telling stories with visualization, with instructor Alberto Cairo Meet the instructors: Recommended reading: The Data Journalism Handbook Sponsors: Google; Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands; African Media Initiative; The World Bank Advisory board: Justin Arenstein (African Media Initiative); Josh Hatch (The Chronicle of Higher Education); Scott Klein (ProPublica); Angélica Peralta Ramos (La Nacion, Argentina); Aron Pilhofer (The New York Times); Guido Romeo (Wired Italy); Sascha Venohr (Zeit Online) Organisers: The European Journalism Centre is a non-profit international foundation with the remit to improve, strengthen, and underpin journalism and the news media in the interest of a functioning democratic public sphere. This mission has two main aspects: safeguarding, enhancing, and future-proofing quality journalism in Europe and the world and media freedom in emerging and developing countries. Data Driven Journalism is one of the leading initiatives for training, resources and networking in the area of data journalism. Founded in 2010, the programme is dedicated to accelerating the diffusion and improving the quality of data journalism around the world. We run the website DataDrivenJournalism.net as well as the School of Data Journalism, and produced the Data Journalism Handbook. For more information about this course, please visit the course website.

John Green teaches you the history of the world in 42 episodes of Crash Course. The Agricultural Revolution. Indus Valley Civilization. Ancient Mesopotamia. Ancient Egypt. Greeks and Persians. Buddha and Ashoka. 2000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confuscius. Alexander the Great and the Situation... the Great?. The Silk Road and Ancient Trade. The Roman Empire. Or Republic. Or... Which Was It?. Christianity from Judaism to Constantine. Fall of Rome the Roman Empire... in the 15th Century. Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars All Without a Flamewar. The Dark Ages...How Dark Were They, Really?. The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?. Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa. Wait for it... The Mongols!. International Commerce, Snorkeling Camels, and The Indian Ocean Trade. Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols. Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. The Renaissance: Was it a Thing?. The Columbian Exchange. The Atlantic Slave Trade. The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation. The Seven Years War. The Amazing Life and Strange Death of Captain Cook. Tea, Taxes, and The American Revolution. The French Revolution. The Haitian Revolutions. Latin American Revolutions. Coal, Steam, and The Industrial Revolution. Capitalism and Socialism. Samurai, Daimyo, Matthew Perry, and Nationalism. Imperialism. Archdukes, Cynicism, and World War I. Communists, Nationalists, and China's Revolutions. World War II. USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War. Decolonization and Nationalism Triumphant. Globalization I - The Upside. Globalization II - Good or Bad?. The Agricultural Revolution. Indus Valley Civilization. Ancient Mesopotamia. Ancient Egypt. Greeks and Persians. Buddha and Ashoka. 2000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confuscius. Alexander the Great and the Situation... the Great?. The Silk Road and Ancient Trade. The Roman Empire. Or Republic. Or... Which Was It?. Christianity from Judaism to Constantine. Fall of Rome the Roman Empire... in the 15th Century. Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars All Without a Flamewar. The Dark Ages...How Dark Were They, Really?. The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?. Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa. Wait for it... The Mongols!. International Commerce, Snorkeling Camels, and The Indian Ocean Trade. Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols. Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. The Renaissance: Was it a Thing?. The Columbian Exchange. The Atlantic Slave Trade. The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation. The Seven Years War. The Amazing Life and Strange Death of Captain Cook. Tea, Taxes, and The American Revolution. The French Revolution. The Haitian Revolutions. Latin American Revolutions. Coal, Steam, and The Industrial Revolution. Capitalism and Socialism. Samurai, Daimyo, Matthew Perry, and Nationalism. Imperialism. Archdukes, Cynicism, and World War I. Communists, Nationalists, and China's Revolutions. World War II. USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War. Decolonization and Nationalism Triumphant. Globalization I - The Upside. Globalization II - Good or Bad?.

This course will explore Native American cultures and the impacts of colonial and U.S. government policies on them; European colonization with particular focus on the British in North America; the War for Independence against Britain and the framing of the U.S. Constitution; as well as the formation of political parties in the early republic. Full series: U.S. History 1: First Peoples to the Early Republic: Born in Colonialism U.S. History 2: The Civil War Era: Dividing a Nation U.S. History 3: The Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties: The Emergence of Modern America U.S. History 4: The Great Depression to the War on Terror: Enter the World Stage

This course examines the political (world order), economic (globalization), social/cultural (beliefs, values, and lifestyle), and psychological (human capacity for change) forces that are re-defining the quality of life in the 21st century. Students will leave Forums for a Future with an explicit (written) worldview of their own creation as the basis for developing a coherent sense of self-direction for living peacefully and sustainably on a crowded planet in the 21st century. Students should have some familiarity with the basic concepts of political science, economics, sociology, and psychology. Although an introductory level course in any of these areas is helpful, it is not necessary. Much of the material has been published by the instructor as op-ed pieces in newspapers and popular (not academic or technical) books. Any thoughtful person can and should grasp the messages and may simply skip the complicated conceptual writing and still profit from reading the contributions of others. It is not highbrow; it is intended to promote general public civic discourse. This course is based on a very popular honors level course at the University of South Florida. Participants should have related background and knowledge along with the ability to self-direct their learning.

This course will explore government policies dealing with African-Americans and Native Americans; the rise of big business and urbanization; the second industrial revolution and immigration; U.S. overseas expansion and participation in the First World War; as well as progressivism and the modernist cultures of the 1920s. Full series: U.S. History 1: First Peoples to the Early Republic: Born in Colonialism U.S. History 2: The Civil War Era: Dividing a Nation U.S. History 3: The Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties: The Emergence of Modern America U.S. History 4: The Great Depression to the War on Terror: Enter the World Stage

This course examines the social, political, and economic development of the United States since the end of the Civil War. It traces the rise of an industrial and urban social order, the emergence of the U.S. as a world power, social and political reform movements, and recent transformations. Readings and written assignments focus not only on the major political events and economic developments of the period, but also the experiences of diverse groups, including women, African-Americans, immigrants, workers, and others. Full series: U.S. History 1: First Peoples to the Early Republic: Born in Colonialism U.S. History 2: The Civil War Era: Dividing a Nation U.S. History 3: The Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties: The Emergence of Modern America U.S. History 4: The Great Depression to the War on Terror: Enter the World Stage

This course will explore the reasons for the Great Depression and the accomplishments of the New Deal; the role of United States in the Second World War and its involvement in the Cold War; the strategies and results of the Civil Rights Movement; the foreign and domestic impacts of the Vietnam War; as well as U.S. social, political, and economic issues since the 1970s. Full series: U.S. History 1: First Peoples to the Early Republic: Born in Colonialism U.S. History 2: The Civil War Era: Dividing a Nation U.S. History 3: The Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties: The Emergence of Modern America U.S. History 4: The Great Depression to the War on Terror: Enter the World Stage

Do you know what you’re watching? What you’re reading? You might think that what comes across your television or web browser, in your newspaper or magazine, or on your movie screen is pretty much the whole message; what you see is what you get. But the content we see, read, and hear is the product of complex forces − economic, governmental, historical, and technological. This course will explore those underlying forces and provide analytical tools to evaluate media critically. An overall goal is to become media literate, to gain an understanding of mass media as cultural industries that seek to influence our behavior and affect our values as a society. Unit 1 aims to define mass communication, mass media, and culture. It also will introduce the core concepts of media literacy and the concept of transmedia, the practice of integrating entertainment experiences across a range of different media platforms. Unit 2 will introduce selected theories that will help in analyzing mass communication and its effect…

Abnormal psychology is one of the most recognizable and intriguing subfields of study in psychology. Part of what makes this field so intriguing is that it challenges us to define what is normal and abnormal. Most experts in the field have settled on several criteria to define abnormal behavior; however, this definition and even the very existence of certain disorders still remain a source of debate. This course will help us to define abnormal and normal behaviors and to group these abnormal phenomena into disorders. These disorders are used to capture a particular type of abnormal psychological phenomena and to help us diagnose or make an educated decision regarding what disorder a patient/client may have. In order to distinguish between different disorders, clinicians often use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which identifies the specific criteria used when diagnosing patients/clients. This manual represents the industry standard for psychologists and psychiatrists, who often…

This course is about the fundamental concepts of sociology; foundations of group life; social change, processes, and problems. This class describes the discipline of sociology—the study of social life. It is a fundamental social science (in good company with Economics, Psychology, History, Anthroplogy, Communication, and Political Science). What is interesting about sociology is that it actually tackles fundamental questions in each of these sub-disciplines. You might even call it the “father” of the social sciences. That said, it is a pretty new discipline (younger than our country). Still, we have done a lot in just a very short time. It is very likely that you have heard of some of its early founders—the most famous is Karl Marx but others include Max Weber and Emile Durkheim.

人文學，其特色在於「慢熱」，需要耐心細嚐、咀嚼古聖先賢的智慧結晶與其文字背後所隱含的真正意義。史記系列課程將透過對《史記》一書的導讀，引領同學們探究史學之「真」與「善」。 不管你是對中華文化感興趣者、想更深入了解傳統史學者、喜歡論理分析者、或是久仰太史公司馬遷之名之愛好者，這門課一定會讓你收穫良多。因為《史記》不僅記載了無數精彩非凡的歷史人事，更貫串了在它之前的多數古代典籍，可說是集中國上古文明精粹於一書。更重要的是，這門課程中將引導大家如何讀《史記》，進而學會如何讀中國史書、如何讀中國書。 這是一場史學的思辨之旅，希望各位同學千萬不要錯過！

This course will explore the mutual influences of ideas of nature, theories of city design and planning, and practices of urban design, construction, and management. We will investigate how natural processes shape urban landscapes (from the scale of street corner to region) and how to intervene strategically in those processes in order to achieve certain goals. We will examine cases of cities that adapted successfully to natural processes and those that did not. Students will then have the opportunity to research a case of their choice and to present their findings for discussion. The subject may be historical or an an example of contemporary theory and practice. Additional information is also available at Professor Spirn's class website.

The Beijing Urban Design Studio is a joint program between the MIT and Tsinghua University Schools of Architecture and Planning. The goal of the studio is to foster international cooperation through the undertaking of a joint urban design and planning initiative in the city of Beijing involving important, often controversial, sites and projects. Since 1995, almost 250 MIT and Tsinghua University students and faculty have participated in this annual studio, making it one of the most successful and enduring international academic programs between China and the US. It has received the Irwin Sizer Award from MIT for outstanding innovation in education. The studio takes place over five weeks in June and July including several weeks in residence at Tsinghua University and two brief study tours to locations and projects that inform the work. It will include 18-20 MIT and 10-15 Tsinghua Architecture and Planning students. The Beijing City Planning Institute, responsible for strategic planning in the city, participates in the studio as the client.

In 2008, the Beijing Urban Design Studio will focus on the issue of Beijing's urban transformation under the theme of de-industrialization, by preparing an urban design and development plan for the Shougang (Capital Steel Factory) site. This studio will address whether portions of the old massive factory infrastructure can be preserved as a national industrial heritage site embedded into future new development; how to balance the cultural and recreational value of the site with environmental challenges; as well as how to use the site for urban development. A special focus of the studio will be to consider development approaches that minimize energy utilization.

To research these questions, students will be asked to interact with clients from the factory, local residents, city officials and experts on transportation, environment, energy and real estate. They will assess strategic options for the steel factory and propose comprehensive plans for the design and development of the brownfield site.