Courses tagged with "HumanitiesandScience" (208)

Gender Through Comics: A Super MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) coming Spring 2013 that examines how comic books can be used to explore questions of gender identity, stereotypes, and roles. This highly engaging learning experience is designed for college-age and lifelong learners. The course, led by Christina Blanch of Ball State University, uses a study of comic books incorporating highly interactive video lectures, online discussions between students, and real-time socially driven interviews. Interviews with the comic industry's biggest names such as Terry Moore, Brian K Vaughan, Mark Waid, as well as others address questions of gender representations and constructions involving both men and women. To purchase the required materials for this course, please visit the Comixology page for Gender and Comic Books. View a video teaser about Gender Through Comic Books

Effective communication skills are recognized as the number one skill desired by employers (Job Outlook, NACE, 2012). This course focuses on the basics of business writing, starting with the fundamentals and understanding your audience before transitioning to two common, but very important business documents: the cover letter and the resume. This course combines discussion boards and exercises, as well as peer review, to focus on core skills in a collaborative and dynamic environment.

Do you want to sound like a native Spanish speaker? Get started by improving your accent. This course provides a practical introduction to Spanish pronunciation for students at all levels. It is taught in English and designed to provide an auditory and visual approach to learning pronunciation. Students will listen to audio files recorded by native speakers and then record themselves pronouncing the same words or phrases. In addition to playing back both recordings to compare the auditory differences, students will have an opportunity to view and compare visual sound waves of both audio recordings. These techniques will help learners assess and improve their pronunciation. Although it will be necessary to some extent, discussion of theoretical issues will be kept to a minimum with the emphasis being on accent reduction.

Introduction to Openness in Education provides a broad overview of the ways in which openness impacts many areas of education

Digital Media One is a four-week online course designed for students who want to learn digital media. This may include artists, designers, or photographers who would like to build a Web site or Web portfolio to showcase their work, as well as students who would like to learn more about the curriculum of Peninsula College

This course provides students with a theoretical and conceptual understanding of the field of game design, along with practical exposure to the process of creating a game. Topics covered include iteration, rapid prototyping, mechanics, dynamics, flow theory, the nature of fun, game balance, and user interface design. Primary focus is on non-digital games. The course instructor recommends purchase of one or more textbooks or other course materials. Please see the details below. * Challenges for Game Designers, by Brathwaite & Schreiber. [Required; estimated cost $16.50] This book covers a lot of basic information on both practical and theoretical game design. It will be referenced heavily throughout the course. * Tabletop: Analog Game Design, edited by Costikyan [Required; free as PDF download] This is a collection of essays on tabletop game design and analysis. * Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, by McCloud. [Recommended; estimated cost $12.50] While this book refers to comics, many of the lessons within it can be applied to game design and other forms of art. It also is written in a comic book format (which makes it fun to read). * A Theory of Fun for Game Design, by Koster. [Recommended; estimated cost $15.50] This book shows the similarities between game design and education. It also incorporated good discussions regarding the concept of Flow.

Algebra+ is a 10-week online course designed for students who have successfully completed high school algebra but who placed into pre-college level mathematics at their local college or university. This course is for refreshing their math skills with a review of pre-college level algebra. After successfully completing this course, the goal would be to retake your college

Writing History is a survey of historical thought, philosophy, and historiography. This course will survey the questions, methods, and debates historians have engaged in over the years and around the world. The course will also address best practices to researching and writing history.

This course familiarizes students with creating instructionally focused interactive media. The tool used in the class currently is Adobe Flash. Topics to be covered include fundamental programming concepts (variables, variable types, code re-use, commenting code, and basic control structures) in addition to the fundamentals of the flash environment (animation or

In Marathon Training 101, 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, exercise physiologist, and author of Running a Marathon For Dummies, Dr. Jason Karp, shows you how to take 26.2 miles' worth of steps to run a marathon, whether it's your first one or fastest one. This unique, four-week online course, which runs January 21 to February 18, includes videos, downloadable podcast workouts, "homework" training runs, and active discussions with other people just like you. It gives you everything you need to know to run a marathon, including: * The fundamentals of marathon training * The knowledge you need to select the right resources for your training * How to structure your very first 20-week marathon training plan * Shoe selection * Ten things you must do on marathon race day * Secrets of long runs * How to avoid injuries The course instructor recommends purchase of a textbook or other course materials. Please see the details below. Recommended materials: Running a Marathon For Dummies, by Jason Karp Where to purchase: www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise or Amazon.com Approximate cost: $18

This course will provide a generally non-technical introduction to learning analytics and how they are being deployed in various contexts in the education field. Additionally, the tools and methods, ethics and privacy, and systemic impact of analytics will be explored, presenting a broad overview of the current state and possible future directions of the field. Capturing and analyzing data has changed how decisions are made and resources are allocated in the fields of business, journalism, government, military, and intelligence. Through better use of data, leaders are able to plan and enact strategies with greater clarity and confidence. Data is a value point that drives increased organizational efficiency and a competitive advantage. Analytics provide new insight and actionable intelligence. Companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Amazon are investing heavily in technologies and techniques to help individuals and organizations make sense of and unlock the value within big data. In education, the use of data and analytics to improve learning is referred to as learning analytics. Software companies, researchers, educators, and university leaders are starting to recognize the value of data in improving not only teaching and learning, but the entire education industry. The growth of online learning and open online courses generates new sources of data for researchers and educators to better understand the learning experience.

What is cheating? Do students do it more online than in traditional face-to-face courses? How do students cheat online and what strategies are instructors and institutions using to minimize it? How can course design and instructor/facilitator behavior impact student attitudes about cheating and academic honesty? What philosophical and psychological factors can inform our thinking about the subject? These are some of the many questions that will be explored in this course. Participants in this eight-week open course will examine philosophical and psychological perspectives on cheating; consider instructor, institutional, and student perspectives on cheating; learn about specific strategies and practices used by students to cheat in online courses; and develop a plan for cultivating a culture of honesty, integrity, and accountability in online courses. The end goal of the course is for participants to gain a deeper understanding of cheating in online courses.

This course explores the concept of online reputation and its potential impact on participants

Build a personal life plan in a small group environment. Life Prep on Canvas Network is a course for self-discovery and goal setting. Progress through a series of short journaling exercises, engage in small group discussions, and get and provide feedback with peers as you build a personal life plan, revise your goals, and move toward your personal success. Plan on 2-3 hours of work per week and on being an active, supportive group member. Root your goals in your nature, beliefs, and values to move with clarity, purpose, and confidence.

Project-based lab course on advanced skills and strategies for integrating technology into the PreK-16 classroom. Optional credit offered.

During this four week course, instructors will learn how to create and teach an exciting new type of developmental math course known as a pathways course. These courses (e.g., Math Literacy for College Students, Quantway

Students often encounter grave difficulty in calculus if their algebraic knowledge is insufficient. This course is designed to provide students with algebraic knowledge needed for success in a typical calculus course. We explore a suite of functions used in calculus, including polynomials (with special emphasis on linear and quadratic functions), rational functions, exponential functions, and logarithmic functions. Along the way, basic strategies for solving equations and inequalities are reinforced, as are strategies for interpreting and manipulating a variety of algebraic expressions. Students enrolling in the course are expected to have good number sense and to have taken an intermediate algebra course.

The New York Times said 2012 was "the year of the MOOC" and EDUCAUSE said MOOCs have �the potential to alter the relationship between learner and instructor and between academe and the wider community.� Many elite universities are offering Massive Open Online Courses, but most colleges and educators are unsure about what MOOCs are and if they are worthwhile. Can an "open" course offered at no cost to a very large number of participants who receive no institutional credit be a worthwhile venture for a college? And can a course be effective if participants and course materials are distributed across the Web? In this class, we will briefly cover the history and development of MOOCs. Participants will engage in discussions about why institutions offer these courses, and the possible benefits to both schools and students. This four-week course will examine MOOCs from four perspectives: as a designer building a course, as an instructor, as a student, and as an institution offering and supporting a course.

Do you have a dream for an online course you have been meaning to develop? If you can dream it, you can build it! The goal of this course is help you look at the course design process from a different perspective using a backwards design approach to address your specific disciplinary needs. This 8-week course is designed for instructors, graduate students, and instructional designers regardless of their level of online teaching experience. Students will be guided through a practical process of designing online instruction or redesigning current instruction. You will design the structure of an online course, build active and engaging teaching and learning activities, and learn strategies for developing online community. The content of this course will include learning how to write measurable objectives, designing teaching and learning activities, and facilitating online community and evaluating your online course.

Ready to explore web-based tools to ignite student engagement in your K-12 classroom? This course examines various web tools and teaches the basics for integrating them into the classroom. Each week we will explore different instructional methods and utilize emerging technology tools to develop presentations, posters, binders, stories, and scavenger hunts. We will investigate the uses and good practices for both teacher-led and student-driven activities through the use of free web-based tools like Prezi, Animoto, Glogster, and many more.