OpenLearning Courses

Learn to Paint with Len Hend

5

Painting is little like driving. Before you hit the road, you study traffic rules, you choose your new four-wheel buddy and drive. The more you drive, the better you go! Practice makes the perfect driver and also the perfect painter.In this course, you have the unique opportunity to learn with Len Hend, a Master Painter with a lifetime experience. Len has thousands of followers all over the world who have learnt to paint like pros.Learn to Paint with Len Hend will prepare you for the real thing… He will teach you about oil and acrylic paints, art materials, how to set up a cozy place to paint and  how to develop your ability to think like an artist. In this course, you will awaken your inner artist. You will start with basic brush strokes and finish with your very own painting hanging on the wall. Exciting, right?Len will accompany you throughout this wonderful journey; he will answer your questions and will share with you plenty of valuable experience and know-how.

UNSW Computing 1 - The Art of Programming

5

UNSW Computing 1 is a public course presented by OpenLearning with original content derived from UNSW COMPUTING's first year computing course.  Take the course online for free!This 12 week course will explore the world of software engineering, computing and problem solving. While Computing 1 only takes four to five hours a week (that's nothing!), you'll struggle to tear yourself away as you learn:abstraction, estimation, programming, machine code, C, problem solvingtop down design, arithmetic expressions, layout, style++types, variables, memory other numeric typeswhile and for loops, stack frames, arrays...Even better, Computing 1 will give you an understanding of what it's like to be a developer and enable you to appreciate the art of computing.Whether you're in Sydney, Singapore or Santiago, you'll love Computing 1 on OpenLearning. You won't just take the course, you'll be a part of the course by contributing to the lecture notes and helping other students.You'll enjoy a mix of short activities, fun software puzzles and projects. You'll learn at your own pace and feel motivated with helpful and immediate feedback on your progress.

Introduction to Graphic Design

4

Want to design beautiful graphics? Do you have a range of social media accounts, your own blog or a workplace presentation that you need to design images for?Canva is a free, online graphic design platform that makes creating beautiful images a breeze! Design effective social media posts, blog graphics, presentations, posters, flyers or create your own custom dimension design.This course will teach foundational graphic design principles (fonts, colors, images, backgrounds, and layouts) and how to apply them to your own Canva designs.By the end of this course, you will have the skills you need to create stunning graphics that stand out from the crowd!

Success - Achieve Success with Emotional Intelligence

4.6

Success and happiness are what most of us chase for most of our lifetimes. Interestingly, however, little is taught in schools about how to achieve success beyond the academic measures.Increasingly what is needed to succeed in one’s life and career goes beyond the academic achievements. For example, beyond the entry threshold of the required skills and IQs for a given job, emotional intelligence is found to be responsible for 80% of the success of individuals.Employers are seeking individuals who are self aware and able to manage themselves and their relationships with others. This is seldom taught at schools and individuals are not even aware of thisfact. This course offers an opportunity to work in a structured manner to define, discover and achieve success in a fun way working together with other students.This course is offered as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to enable as many people as possible to cultivate traits, skills and habits that will lead them to achieving success and happiness. The course is a simple start of a lifelong journey of self improvement and development. The course is designed and delivered collaboratively by Dr Mushtak Al-Atabi from Taylor’s University and Dr Jennifer DeBoer from MIT.Course StructureWhat is Success?Success is often defined achieving one’s goals. Pursuing meaningful goals results in a happy journey towards success. In this lecture we will, together, define success and how it links to happiness. We will try to define success beyond the normal academic and financial metrics.Thinking, language and successLau Tzu said, “Watch your thoughts they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”  This lecture will explore practical techniques based on brain research that will enable you to start a positive thought patterns through the selection of language resulting in a successful character.Gratitude and brain rewiringThe human brain is wired to respond to negative stimuli. While this is necessary for survival in a dangerous environment, the other side of the coin is that we often do not notice the positive things going in our lives. This can lead to many missed opportunities. The brain rewiring is a daily exercise that you do by reporting 5 things that you are grateful for online. Brain rewiring is fun, especially when dome online with other people.Emotional intelligence and successAlthough IQ is important for success, research has shown that emotional intelligence is even more important for success and happiness. Emotional intelligence is in four domains, self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management. This section of the course will introduce the language that can be used to explore one’s self, leading to self awareness. This awareness is essential for the successful implementation of the self management techniques. We will also discuss how to achieve social awareness and use to that to successfully manage relationships.You will develop the language to daily describe your mental, spiritual, physical and relational state. This will be done online leading to more awareness and management ofboth self and relationships with others.Abundance and Appreciative EnquiryThis is an extension of the gratitude lecture. In this section will lay the scientific reasons for optimism and introduces the technique of Appreciative Enquiry that you can use to build on what is going on positively in your life to achieve your dreams by doing more of what is working well.Communication for successTo successfully communicate, we introduce herewith the SUCCESS model. Described by Chip and Dan Heath in their book “Made to Stick,” the model advises to make communication Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotional, told with a Story. We added Simulation to the model to encourage the communicator to give something to the audience to play with.Thinking techniquesThis section will produce different techniques to use our brains effectively to produce amazing ideas. Techniques such as brain networking and brainstorming will be introduced and practiced. Other ideation techniques such as random entry and trimming will be introduced as well.Personal mission and goal settingWe started by saying that success is about achieving goals. Here you will learn ho to set SMART goals for yourself. You will also work on crafting your own personal mission statement.

Scaling up Excellence - How to run a world class MOOC

0

Welcome to the Mooc on how to create and run an effective MOOC.  The fundamental ideas are not hard but that may be a bit different to the ways you have approached teching before.  In this course we will help you create your first MOOC and guide in designing and making it an effective and successful course.Teachers of effective MOOCS find the experience very enjoyable a fulfilling.  We will do our best to help you experience this pleasure! 

A Business Journey with Caffeine Cafe

0

This MOOC will teach you the fundamentals that you need to start a business. Case study used throughout is based on cafe business "Caffeine Cafe".In the span of just a few weeks we will go through the whole process step by step explaining every aspect of how to manage a cafe business.This course is targeted to secondary school levels however anyone can register into this course and participate in the activities.

An Unloved Story: Lost In Translation / Her

0

An Unloved Story: Lost In Translation / Her by Louis Holder is a self-researched and written study into the elaborate connection between the two title films, how they explore the same feelings and are on the same wavelength in how they share the same ideas. One of the central themes of this study, which critics and film scholars too have identified, is that there is a greater meaning behind the filmmaking - that each film is a personal statement from their respective director to each other; in regards to love, marriage, confusion and loss. Naturally, they had a huge impact on each other's lives - Spike Jonze (director of Her) and Sofia Coppola (director of Lost In Translation) were married from 1999 to 2003 and had been together for many years before that. This short course goes great lengths to explore the real meaning behind the filmmaking through the films' central and shared idea of a sense of isolation, with the characters feeling 'stuck', emotionally and in reality - in a place that is neither home or strange to them.

Kuwait Global Technopreneurship Challenge

0

Our world is facing 14 Grand Challenges that threaten our very existence and our way of life. If you want to be part of the solution, join the Kuwait Global Technopreneurship Challenge KGTC 2015. You can work with a team at your school, university or community to produce a solution for one of the featured challenges. Solutions should be original, innovative and possess clear business value. Teams with the best solutions, as judged by a global team of academics and industry leaders, will be invited to Kuwait to participate in the finals where they will be given the opportunity to pitch to investors to increase their chances to commercialize these solutions.Duration: 1 July to 14 Nov 2015Awards: All participants completing the Challenge (by submitting the final assignment) will receive a certificate and prizes will be awarded to the best teams.It is widely accepted that entrepreneurial skills and behavoiurs are among the key survival skills for the graduates in the 21st Century. Developing entrepreneurial individuals is a key global priority that can positively contribute to sustainable development and job creation.As the College of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University celebrates its 40th Anniversary, it is proud to host this global innovation and entrepreneurship event, Kuwait Global Technopreneurship Challenge 2015. Join us to have fun, discover your true potential and develop you entrepreneurial acumen.  

Effective Financial Management for Small Business

0

Are you running your own business or excited to start a new business initiative, but have limited financial management skills and experience?This course will help you learn and apply fundamental financial management skills to your small business. By the end of this course, you will have skills in developing a solid financial foundation and maintaining standard processes around the financing of a small business.What You Will Learn This course will take you through the essentials of small business finance management. You will feel confident in developing, implementing and monitoring your financial plan while making sure your procedures are compliant with current legislation and industry requirements. You will explore taxation requirements, credit management, monitoring marketing and operational strategies, and much more! Target SkillsThis course will help you develop fundamental skills required to manage finances for your small business and to become a pro in finance management. You will be able to manage taxation requirements, credit management and monitoring marketing and operational strategies.Implement financial planMonitor financial performanceBefore you start this course, please make sure that you have completed a business plan for your small business. This course is an upper level of finance planning and management so if you need more information, please complete the course Small Business Planning Essentials. If you're not familiar with business planning yet, we recommend to complete this course first.

Spark Innovation Within a Team

0

Are you ready to create a thriving culture of innovation in your workplace? This course will help you develop the skills to not only innovate effectively, but to support and encourage innovation within a team environment.Innovation is the process of changing or creating more effective products, processes and ideas. Without it, businesses falter and progress stagnates. Businesses that foster an innovative team environment will improve customer experiences, products, services and business processes. In the current business climate, innovation in businesses is more important than ever before.What You Will LearnIn this course, you will be guided towards creating a culture of innovation in your team through effective leadership and management, along the way exploring methods of encouraging your team to approach every day as an opportunity for improvement and innovation. Throughout the course, you will work together in virtual teams on a business-related innovation challenge, and will have opportunities throughout to promote innovation within your team. Target SkillsThis course will help students to unlock their own and their team's innovation thinking skills. It will provide them with the skills necessary to be an effective and proactive member of an innovative team.Create opportunities to maximise innovation within the teamOrganise and agree effective ways of workingSupport and guide colleaguesReflect on how the team is working

Personal Branding: How to build & manage your image

0

Brands originated as proofs of ownership, such as those burnt onto cattle. They evolved to become the symbolic identity for goods and services. This easy identification, with logos and trademarks, became a short cut for quality and trust. People putting their services in the marketplace also became ‘brand names’. This used to a game only for the rich, successful, or notorious. But In the 21st Century anyone participating in the Web has a searchable identity. So whether we like it or not, we have a brand to cultivate.This course provides systematic ways of reviewing and implementing your existing and proposed brand identities, based on psychology and demography. Multimedia is now so affordable that a full Hollywood-style extravaganza is possible. So technology is no longer a constraint. Rather, the focus is on strategy to drive the use of the technology.Who should take this course?A personal brand can be useful for people needing to announce their presence and get out a message. Commonly that is a job seeker, someone promoting their art or music, someone starting a business, or a group promoting a ‘cause’. 

Drive an Operational Plan to Success

0

Are you ready to excel in achieving your business goals, through effective operational planning and developing a motivated and confident team?Developing, implementing and monitoring an operational plan is a key asset for businesses looking to grow and succeed. Skills in operational planning will help you plan human and physical resources, anticipate and manage risks, find a perfect fit for your team and facilitate high-performing and motivated teams! What You Will Learn This course will guide you towards developing the skills necessary for running successful operations in your business. You will learn to implement an operational plan, to recruit, select and induct new team members, to implement successful procurement strategy, monitor business operations and create a resourceful and motivated team environment where everyone is encouraged to take an active part in achieving business goals. Target SkillsThis course will help you develop skills required to implement and manage business operations and create a motivated, passionate and effective team. You will develop leadership and management skills, including implementing an operational plan, resource acquisition, recruitment, selection and induction process, effective monitoring and increasing productivity.Implement operational planImplement resource acquisitionMonitor operational performance

Scribble: Writing for New Writers

3.4

This course will take students through the process of writing from simple paragraphs to more complex writing structures and eventually research writing. Writing is often seen as something we do in order to remember grammatical forms and words to learn. However, I'd argue that we need grammar and words in order to write. Writing is becoming increasingly important as we communicate even more online. And increasingly we have to communicate with people from other countries. This means that we have to be able to express our ideas clearly and in a way that people can understand. If you want to get more information on writing, this is the course for you. Writing is a process and simply taking this course will NOT make you a great writer over night. It's hard work and takes practice. What I hope for this course is that it will give you some easy tips to help move your writing in a positive direction. That said, you will still need help with your writing, so where possible, ask someone to help check and proof read your work.

Services Marketing - The Next Level

4.5

Do you want to develop tradeable knowledge and strategic thinking to advance or change your career? Do you want to improve your business bottom line? Do you need to do your own marketing? Whatever your reason, this course is designed to take your services marketing knowledge to the next level. In this course you'll go through a variety of fun activities, learn new things and socialise with new friends.You'll learn loads of great things, including:Developing an Integrated Services Marketing Communications (IMC) planSpecial challenges for marketing servicesPositioning services in competitive marketsPeople issues - Customers' and employees' roles in delivering servicesDesigning an effective customer service organisation

Building Information Modelling 101

0

In this course, Building Information Modeling 101, your instructor Bruce Lee will share with you the fundamentai concepts of building information modeling (BIM) and with his guidance you will model a simple shelter with BIM software.Requirement: Student must have access to "Revit 2014"At the end of the lesson, learners will be able to:       1. Understand and describe the fundamental concepts of building information modeling (BIM).       2. Model a simple shelter with building information modeling(BIM) software.