Our Courses

Growth & Development through the Life Span

A study of human development from the prenatal period through death. Using a Biopsychosocial framework the lifespan is explored with explicit consideration to cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural development.

This course is eligible for Audit and Verified Certificate only.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 20
• English

Specialty Topics: Biology Across Disciplines

In this course, we will explore the applicability and relationship of biology to the arts, business, and psychology. First, we’ll discuss art as a foundational practice to biology and how biology as a science can explain how we interact with the arts, in particular, our experiences making and listening to music. Next, we will discuss the business of biology and how research is funded and the process of clinical trials and human subjects research.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 12 hours
• English

Science of Firearm Injury Prevention Among Children & Teens

Firearm injuries are a leading cause of death among children and teens. However, there are many ways that these injuries and deaths can be prevented using evidence-based practices and policies. Presented by the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and the Firearm Safety among Children and Teens (FACTS) Consortium, this course lays a broad foundation for understanding the science of pediatric firearm injury prevention and the latest research and evidence-based solution.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 40 hours
• English

Assessment for Learning

For several decades now, assessment has become an increasingly pressing educational priority. Teacher and school accountability systems have come to be based on analysis of large-scale, standardized summative assessments. As a consequence, assessment now dominates most conversations about reform, particularly as a measure of teacher and school accountability for learner performance. Behind the often heated and at times ideologically gridlocked debate is a genuine challenge to address gaps in achievement between different demographically identifiable groups of students.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 14 hours
• English

Introduction to Psychology

This course will highlight the most interesting experiments within the field of psychology, discussing the implications of those studies for our understanding of the human mind and human behavior. We will explore the brain and some of the cognitive abilities it supports like memory, learning, attention, perception and consciousness. We will examine human development - both in terms of growing up and growing old - and will discuss the manner in which the behavior of others affect our own thoughts and behavior.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 15 hours
• English

Anatomy & Physiology: Support & Movement

The second course begins the systems-based approach to human anatomy and physiology at the organ, organ system, and organism level. Three major body systems related to support and movement will be explored in detail: the skeletal and muscular systems. Course material will cover both the structure (anatomy) and function (physiology) of each system with direct application to human development and disease.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 12 hours
• English

Anatomy & Physiology: Regulation, Integration, & Control

This course continues the systems-based approach to human anatomy and physiology at the organ, organ system, and organism level. Two major body systems related to regulation and integration of information will be explored in detail: the nervous and endocrine systems. Course material will cover both the structure (anatomy) and function (physiology) of each system with direct application to human development and disease.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 9 hours
• English

Negotiating Learner Differences: Towards Productive Diversity in Learning

An investigation of the dimensions of learner diversity: material (class, locale), corporeal (age, race, sex and sexuality, and physical and mental characteristics) and symbolic (culture, language, gender, family, affinity and persona). Examines social-cultural theories of difference, as well as considering alternative responses to these differences in educational settings - ranging from broad, institutional responses to specific pedagogical responses within classes of students.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 16 hours
• English

Resilience in Children Exposed to Trauma, Disaster and War: Global Perspectives

How do children overcome hazardous experiences to succeed in life? What can be done to protect young people at risk from trauma, war, disasters, and other adversities? Learn about the importance of fostering resilience in children at risk.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 20 hours
• English

Ubiquitous Learning and Instructional Technologies

This course will analyze currently available technologies for learning. Areas addressed include: learning management systems, intelligent tutors, computer adaptive testing, gamification, simulations, learning in and through social media and peer interaction, universal design for learning, differentiated instruction systems, big data and learning analytics, attention monitoring, and affect-aware systems.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 14 hours
• English

Multimodal Literacies: Communication and Learning in the Era of Digital Media

Whereas the focus of traditional literacy pedagogy has been the written word in its standard and literary forms, this courser expands the scope of literacy learning to encompass contemporary multimodal texts and the wide range of ways of making meaning that occur in different social and cultural contexts. Another course, "Literacy Teaching and Learning: Aims, Approaches and Pedagogies" addresses pedagogical aspects of literacies.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 24 hours
• English

New Learning: Principles and Patterns of Pedagogy

Education is in a state of flux – transitioning from traditional architectures and practices to new ecologies of teaching and learning influenced by the tremendous social and technological changes of our times. What changes are afoot today in workplaces, civic life and everyday community life? What are their implications for education?

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 15 hours
• English

Planning for Climate Change in African Cities

Climate change poses a threat to economic growth and long-term prosperity of many countries around the world. Africa is not an exception, considering the actual and potential impacts of climate change and climate variability that will threaten its vulnerable sectors and human populations. African countries are projected to experience changing rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and higher temperatures that will affect food security, agricultural production, water availability, and public health, among others.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 22 hours
• English

Learning, Knowledge, and Human Development

This course sets out to provide an understanding of theories of learning and development and how these theories relate to educational technology. It has two components. The first is theoretical, in which we attempt to develop an overall frame of reference, locating approaches to the psychology of learning in terms of large paradigm shifts, from ‘behaviorism’ to ‘brain developmentalism’ to ‘social cognitivism’.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 10 hours
• English

e-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age

For three decades and longer we have heard educators and technologists making a case for the transformative power of technology in learning. However, despite the rhetoric, in many ways and at most institutional sites, education is still relatively untouched by technology. Even when technologies are introduced, the changes sometimes seem insignificant and the results seem disappointing. If the print textbook is replaced by an e-book, do the social relations of knowledge and learning necessarily change at all or for the better?

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 20 hours
• English