Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in the U.S. and the top 100 in the world. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeAn actionable leadership improvement plan enables you to leverage strengths and close the gaps on weaknesses. In this course, you will build your own plan that you can put into practice immediately and realize goals within the next two years. It lays the foundation for an evergreen process of selection and prioritization of skills, and action planning for sustained leadership development.
PHYS 102.1x serves as an introduction to electricity and magnetism, following the standard second semester college physics sequence. Part 1 begins with electric charge in matter, the forces between charges, the electric field, Gauss’s Law, and the electric potential. Electric current and resistance are introduced, and then DC circuits are described, including time-dependent behavior with resistors and capacitors. PHYS 102.1x consists of 5 weekly learning sequences, each with ~1.5 hours of video lectures, conceptual lecture problems, and online homework questions. The course concludes with an online exam during the 6th week. What are the prerequisites?We will assume that you are familiar with vectors, that you know how to calculate integrals, and that you have had introductory mechanics. These topics will be briefly reviewed as needed, but not in a systematic way. If you have not had classes in these topics it may be possible to complete the course with extra study.What textbook is required?The course will not strictly follow or make assignments from a specific textbook. Any recent freshman physics textbook will suffice. Reading assignments will be given by topic, including links to several free online physics textbooks.
Preparing for the AP Biology exam requires a deep understanding of many different topics in biology as well as an understanding of the format of the AP exam and the types of questions it asks. This course is Part 1 of our AP Biology series designed to prepare you for the AP Biology exam. In Part 1, you will learn about the cell, its structure, its functions, and the chemistry that drives all of the processes cells carry out on a daily basis.As you work through this course, you will find lecture videos taught by expert AP Biology teachers, practice multiple choice questions and free response questions that are similar to what you will encounter on the AP exam and tutorial videos that show you step-by-step how to solve problems. By the end of the course, you will be prepared to take on the AP exam!This course is authorized as an Advanced Placement® (AP®) course by the AP Course Audit. The AP Course Audit was created by the College Board to give schools and students the confidence that all AP courses meet or exceed the same clearly articulated curricular expectations of colleges and universities.By taking an AP course and scoring successfully on the related AP Exam, students can:Stand Out in College AdmissionsEarn College CreditsSkip Introductory ClassesBuild College SkillsAdvanced Placement® and AP® are trademarks registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, these offerings.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course will discuss the importance of learning medical language as well as introduce basic word parts and concepts applied in medical terminology. We will also learn about common organization and terms seen in medical records before moving into system-specific terms for the integumentary system (skin), musculoskeletal system (muscles and bones), and urinary (kidneys).
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis short course surveys all the major topics covered in a full semester MBA level finance course, but with a more intuitive approach on a very high conceptual level.The goal here is give you a roadmap and framework for how financial professional make decisions.We will cover the basics of financial valuation, the time value of money, compounding returns, and discounting the future.You will understand discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation and how it compares to other methods.We also step inside the mind of a corporate financial manager and develop the basic tools of capital budgeting.We will survey the how, when, and where to spend money, make tradeoffs about investment, growth, dividends, and how to ensure sound fiscal discipline.Our journey then turns to a Wall Street or capital markets perspective of investments as we discuss the fundamental tradeoff between risk and return.We then synthesize our discussion of risk with our valuation framework and incorporate it into series of direct applications to practice.This course requires no prior familiarity with finance.Rather, it is intended to be a first step for anyone who is curious about understanding stock markets, valuation, or corporate finance.We will walk through all of the tools and quantitative analysis together and develop a guide for understanding the seemingly complex decisions that finance professionals make.By the end of the course, you will develop an understanding of the major conceptual levers that push and pull on financial decision making and how they relate to other areas of business.The course should also serve as a roadmap for where to further your finance education and it would be an excellent introduction of any students contemplating an MBA or Finance concentration, but who has little background in the area.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeBuild a toolkit of communication skills that will give you the knowledge and confidence to be an effective engineering leader.Engineers who want to advance in their profession need to be effective communicators. They need to clearly communicate complex ideas and technical project plans. They also need to be strong persuaders. Engineers who are good communicators get recognized by their supervisors and by their clients.In this three-course Specialization, you will practice designing and giving strong, persuasive presentations; you will learn how to communicate across cultures, genders, and generations, how to create your personal brand and leadership presence, how to hold effective meetings with global teams; you will learn how to handle difficult conversations, and how to handle crisis communication; you will also learn writing skills immediately applicable in your daily activities. Courses are taught by faculty from the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL). RCEL is focused on developing engineering leaders at the Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering. It is home to one of a very few academically approved Certificates in Engineering Leadership.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course will cover the topics of a full year, two semester General Chemistry course.We will use a free on-line textbook, Concept Development Studies in Chemistry, available via Rice’s Connexions project. The fundamental concepts in the course will be introduced via the Concept Development Approach developed at Rice University.In this approach, we will develop the concepts you need to know from experimental observations and scientific reasoning rather than simply telling you the concepts and then asking you to simply memorize or apply them.So why use this approach? One reason is that most of us are inductive learners, meaning that we like to make specific observations and then generalize from there.Many of the most significant concepts in Chemistry are counter-intuitive.When we see where those concepts come from, we can more readily accept them, explain them, and apply them. A second reason is that scientific reasoning in general and Chemistry reasoning in particular are inductive processes.This Concept Development approach illustrates those reasoning processes.A third reason is that this is simply more interesting! The structure and reactions of matter are fascinating puzzles to be solved by observation and reasoning.It is more fun intellectually when we can solve those puzzles together, rather than simply have the answers to the riddles revealed at the outset.Recommended Background: The class can be taken by someone with no prior experience in chemistry.However, some prior familiarity with the basics of chemistry is desirable as we will cover some elements only briefly.For example, a prior high school chemistry class would be helpful.Suggested Readings:Readings will be assigned from the on-line textbook “Concept Development Studies in Chemistry”, available via Rice’s Connexions project. In addition, we will suggest readings from any of the standard textbooks in General Chemistry.A particularly good free on-line resource is Dickerson, Gray, and Haight, "Chemical Principles, 3rd Edition".Links to these two texts will be available in the Introduction module.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course will cover an introduction to the atomic molecular structure of matter, similar to a typical first semester General Chemistry course. The fundamental concepts will be introduced via the Concept Development Approach developed at Rice University and utilizing a free on-line textbook, Concept Development Studies in Chemistry, available via Rice’s Connexions project. In this approach, rather than simply telling you the concepts you need to know and then asking you to memorize them or apply them, we will develop these concepts from experimental observations and scientific reasoning. There are several reasons for using this approach. One reason is that most of us our inductive learners, meaning that we like to make specific observations and then generalize from there. Many of the most significant concepts in Chemistry are counter-intuitive. When we see where those concepts come from, we can more readily accept them, explain them, and apply them. A second reason is that scientific reasoning in general and Chemistry reasoning in particular are inductive processes. This Concept Development approach illustrates those reasoning processes. A third reason is that this is simply more interesting. The structure and reactions of matter are fascinating puzzles to be solved by observation and reasoning. It is more fun intellectually when we can solve those puzzles together, rather than simply have the answers to the riddles revealed at the outset.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis two-part course is designed to help students with very little or no computing background learn the basics of building simple interactive applications. Our language of choice, Python, is an easy-to learn, high-level computer language that is used in many of the computational courses offered on Coursera. To make learning Python easy, we have developed a new browser-based programming environment that makes developing interactive applications in Python simple. These applications will involve windows whose contents are graphical and respond to buttons, the keyboard and the mouse.In part 1 of this course, we will introduce the basic elements of programming (such as expressions, conditionals, and functions) and then use these elements to create simple interactive applications such as a digital stopwatch.Part 1 of this class will culminate in building a version of the classic arcade game "Pong".
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis if the final course in the specialization which builds upon the knowledge learned in Python Programming Essentials, Python Data Representations, and Python Data Analysis.We will learn how to install external packages for use within Python, acquire data from sources on the Web, and then we will clean, process, analyze, and visualize that data. This course will combine the skills learned throughout the specialization to enable you to write interesting, practical, and useful programs.By the end of the course, you will be comfortable installing Python packages, analyzing existing data, and generating visualizations of that data.This course will complete your education as a scripter, enabling you to locate, install, and use Python packages written by others. You will be able to effectively utilize tools and packages that are widely available to amplify your effectiveness and write useful programs.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreePart of being an effective leader is learning how to play to your strengths and overcome characteristics that don't lend to good leadership practices. During the course, you will examine your own strengths and learn ways to use them in a leadership role. Learn to manage stress and solve problems creatively. Throughout the course, you will also build a tool kit of useful techniques that you can begin using right away in your engineering career.This course is designed for engineers who are interested in and have the desire to advance into leadership and management roles. You don't need any leadership experience to do well in this course. We ask you to reflect on your personal experiences pretty often, so some work experience will help you in that aspect, but we hope that most of what you learn here will be applicable to many areas of your life.Looking to advance even further as an engineering manager & leader for Industry 4.0?Rice University's top-ranked School of Engineering now offers a Master of Engineering Management & Leadership, 100% online for your convenience.Visit www.rice.edu/engineeringleaders to learn more.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThe English and Academic Preparation - Pre-Collegiate non-credit course is for students with a (minimum) high-intermediate level of English. This certificate course is designed to help domestic and international students develop the academic skills necessary for success in undergraduate studies at an American university while strengthening their English proficiency.Ideally, prospective students have completed or are near completion of a high school diploma in their country and would like to come to the United States to study for a bachelor’s degree.The total length of time required to complete the course is approximately 4 weeks. Students should expect to spend about 5-7 hours per week working with the materials and assignments.The course is made up of 4 modules:•Listening, Speaking, and Critical Thinking•Writer’s Workshop•Reading and Note-taking•Capstone ProjectEach module consists of video lessons, opportunities for practicing English and academic skills, interactive discussion boards with classmates, and graded activities. All courses are asynchronous, which means that the lessons and their activities can be completed at any time of day or night, provided that all course assignments are completed by the final day of class.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course covers communication skills that engineering leaders use every day to motivate, inspire, and support the people in their organizations. Speaking and writing are basic leadership communication skills. (We covered these topics in the Specialization course 1 and 3.)However, leaders also need to be skillful interpersonal communicators. Modern business requires communication skills that are effective across cultures, generations, and genders. Communication is also a key skill in building your personal brand. Leaders need to look, act, and speak like leaders. Another important leadership skill is the ability to handle difficult, emotional communications with employees, supervisors, and colleagues. Finally, engineers are often at the center of crisis communication.In this course, you will learn1. How to communicate in a global environment, 2. How to communicate across cultures, generations, and genders3. How to use communication to build your personal brand, communicate your values, and your leadership promise4. How to handle high-stakes, emotionally charged, difficult conversations with employees, supervisors and your colleagues5. How to handle crisis communicationRequired Material Disclaimer- The purchase of a case study is necessary to complete this course, as it is tied to an assessment. This case is an excellent illustration of the typical business situations requiring skillful handling of difficult conversations. Currently, the cost associated with this case study is $8.95 USD and is subject to change.Selected materials courtesy of Communiation Faculty at Rice University - all rights reserved.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeScope, time, and cost management are at the heart of successful project management. This course will give you the tools to develop a project scope, schedule and budget and then status them to predict project performance. Throughout the course, you will learn about change management and techniques to implement it. By the end of this courseyou will be able to:•Create a requirements document•Create a Project Scope Statement•Identify ways to control the scope of the project•Decompose the work and develop work packages•Create a Work Breakdown Structure•Develop a Critical Path Schedule•Review types of cost estimates and identify whether they are “top down or bottom up”•Review budgets, contingencies and reserves•Calculate planned and earned values to compare with actual cost•Perform a cost and schedule analysisEach week you will prepare a key deliverable for the project plan based on a provided Case Study.These deliverables include:•Project Scope Statement•Project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and WBS dictionary•Critical Path schedule sequence diagram•Bar Chart Schedule (Gantt Chart)•Project Cost Estimate•Project Status using an Earned Value CalculationAll of this will position you to set up a plan to control your next assignment or your next project whether this is as the project manager or as an area leader.Rice Center for Engineering Leadership is a Registered Education Provider through the Project Management Institute (PMI)®. Learners who complete this course on the Certificate track will be awarded 14 hours of Profession Development Units. These are recognized by PMI for continuing education or can be applied toward the 35 hours of education required for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification. PMI and PMP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeA revolution is underway in science classrooms. The demands of the new workplace and the ready access to information afforded by new technologies have radically changed the way we define a scientifically literate society. More than ever teachers need professional development that provides them with the resources they need and empowers them to take the action required to build classrooms where the next generation of scientifically literate students will flourish. Inquiry Science Learning: Perspectives and Practices consists of four courses, each designed to address a different strand in the development of skills teachers need to meet the demands of their career, including the following.Science LeadershipTechniques for SuccessScience ContentStudent-Centered InquiryIn this fourth course we will focus on helping teachers change the nature of their classrooms to promote student engagement and proficiency in inquiry science