The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located near South Bend, Indiana, in the United States. In French, Notre Dame du Lac means "Our Lady of the Lake" and refers to the university's patron saint, the Virgin Mary
The Bible says that Jesus was identified as God's beloved son at his baptism. The same identification was made about Israel in the Old Testament and the disciples of Christ at their baptism. The striking similarity of these titles establishes a tight interrelationship between the people Israel, the person of Jesus Christ, and the church. In this course, we will explore how a close reading of the book of Genesis, the Gospels, and early Christian writers can shed further light on these relationships and, in so doing, deepen our understanding of the figure of Jesus Christ. Unlike many other treatments, this course does not presume that Jesus’ character can be plumbed solely by an examination of the Gospel stories. The witness of the Jewish scriptures and the lives of the saints are also important sources for this task. The course will be eight weeks in length and organized around three topical questions:Who is Israel? (primary source material: the book of Genesis)Who is Jesus? (primary source material: the Gospels and the Creeds)Who is the Church? (primary source material: a selection of post-Biblical Christian writers) No matter what your background in the study of theology, this course will provide a fresh approach to the identify of Jesus Christ that will reveal how the church has explored the unmeasurable depths of his person.
When you meet a new person, it is hard to know what to expect. You may not be able to read the person or understand what they mean. Even if you want to have a good relationship with them, this lack of understanding can make interactions tense, unpredictable and scary! The same is true for a lot of people as they encounter statistics and mathematical ways of working with data. Statistics can be confusing and opaque. Symbols, Greek letters, very large and very small numbers, and how to interpret all of this can leave to feeling cold and disengaged—even fearful and resentful.But in the modern information age, having a healthy relationship with statistics can make life a whole lot easier. We are constantly faced with an onslaught of data and claims about it—from news articles, to Facebook and blog posts, casual and professional conversations, reports at our workplace, advertising, and claims from politicians and public officials. How can we process that information, make sense of it, evaluate truth claims, and put ourselves in a position to act on the information? One of the most important ways is by befriending statistics and consistently using statistical ways of thinking. The purpose of this course, then is to help you develop a functional, satisfying, and useful life-long relationship with statistics. To achieve that goal, we will take a non-technical approach—you will learn how statistics work and why they are so helpful in evaluating the world of information that is around us. You will learn about the logic of statistical thinking and the concepts (rather than the mathematical details and probability theory) that guide statistical inferences and conclusions. You do not need to be a math whiz to take this course. If you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide (or just be able to use a calculator to do that!), you will be more than able to handle what will happen as this relationship develops. By the end of the course you will be able to:Identify the most important features of a data setSelect a statistical test based on the features of the dataThink like a statistical detectiveUnderstand the relationship between two different characteristics or variablesPerform some simple statistical calculations and draw some conclusions from real dataHopefully, love stats! We’ll do all of this using entertaining examples related to real-life situations we all encounter in everyday life.
According to Islamic tradition, the Quran is not simply an inspired scripture. It is a divine book brought down from heaven by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad, and its message is the key to heaven. Join us for an exploration of the scripture that is the word of God to over a billion people. This course will introduce you to various aspects of the Quran, including its basic message, the historical context in which it originated, the diverse ways in which Muslims have interpreted it, and its surprisingly intimate relationship with the Bible. By the end of the course, you will gain an appreciation for the perspectives of Muslim believers and academic scholars alike on the origins and the meaning of the Islamic scripture. No background in Islam or Arabic is necessary for this course. Join us as we discover a text which inspires many and remains at the heart of fascinating scholarly debates.
In this course you will learn to use some mathematical tools that can help predict and analyze sporting performances and outcomes. This course will help coaches, players, and enthusiasts to make educated decisions about strategy, training, and execution. We will discuss topics such as the myth of the Hot Hand and the curse of the Sports Illustrated cover; how understanding data can improve athletic performance; and how best to pick your Fantasy Football team. We will also see how elementary Calculus provides insight into the biomechanics of sports and how game theory can help improve an athlete’s strategy on the field. In this course you will learn:How a basic understanding of probability and statistics can be used to analyze sports and other real life situations.How to model physical systems, such as a golf swing or a high jump, using basic equations of motion.How to best pick your Fantasy Football, March Madness, and World Cup winners by using ranking theory to help you determine athletic and team performance. By the end of the course, you will have a better understanding of math, how math is used in the sports we love, and in our everyday lives.
We can read a city in a number of ways: in its plan, in the buildings that make its streets and public spaces, in the skyline. We can ask, what are the buildings or spaces saying? How do they say it? How does it all stitch together?In this architecture course you will learn how to “read” Rome, an ancient city, reborn in the fifteenth century and reshaped substantially in the following three centuries. You will discover how Renaissance and Baroque Rome’s urban form, art, and architecture projected the city’s image of itself to its citizens (urbi) and the world (orbi).Popes, architects, scholars and sculptors invested in Rome a variety of narratives that strove to explain the city’s history, convince its citizens and visitors of its harmony, and exhort society at large to share in and shape its destiny. The city that resulted became a destination for pilgrims and Grand Tourists, and still is today.The Meaning of Rome: The Renaissance and Baroque City is organized around three themes—the city and memory, the city as reliquary, and the city as theater. In uncovering some of the meaning of Rome, you will be equipped with the skills necessary to consider how our own cities and communities are, or could be, meaningful. You will come away from this course not only better informed about the cities of the past, but also better equipped to think about the cities of the present and the future.Students who successfully complete all of the required course assignments will have the opportunity to compile a Digication ePortfolio and earn a digital badge.
Interested in learning how mobile smartphones and tablets convert digital information to and from electromagnetic signals in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum? Curious how radio designers and spectrum regulators avoid harmful interference within a network or among different wireless services? Debating whether television (TV) band spectrum or cellular spectrum is more valuable to society? Want to build a radio transmitter and receiver, or develop a business plan for a wireless network deployment in your hometown? Then sign up for "Understanding Wireless" today! This survey style course offers an opportunity to gain understanding of the technical, regulatory, and economic aspects of the mobile wireless revolution and its impact on society. The course is intended for a broad audience, from engineers to business majors to aspiring lawyers, but students will be most comfortable if they are not intimidated by early-college mathematics. The instructors aim to expose the intricate physics, infrastructure, industry segments, markets, and radio frequency (RF) spectrum challenges behind today's popular smart phones and tablets, and to challenge students to participate in fueling the future growth of these technologies as well as their applications. The course will include such topics as the electrical transmission of information, the physical propagation of radio signals, the principles and challenges of sharing a common medium, standards and patents, spectrum licenses and auctions, privacy and security issues, and societal impact of wireless communication services and applications. In addition to directed readings, video sessions, and learning exercises, students taking the course for a certificate will be required to take several quizzes and, in the last two weeks of the course, to develop a project selected from one of several options. We are excited to introduce you to the myriad aspects of the wireless revolution and to explore with you how wireless is changing today’s society.The University of Notre Dame's Office of Digital Learning is sponsoring a final project competition for "Understanding Wireless" learners located in the United States and Canada. Qualified participants will design and submit a project plan to use wireless technology to improve their local community (town, school, local government, etc.), applying the knowledge and experience they have gained in the course.Finalists will be chosen from the projects submitted according to the potential impact, feasibility, and creativity of the proposal. Students from the U.S. and Canada interested in partaking in this competition must enroll in the Verified Certificate. We regret that the competition is only available to students in the US and Canada at this time. Please note that edX is not involved with sponsoring or administering any aspect of this competition.Three finalists will be flown to the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Indiana to present their projects in person to the course faculty and a jury of industry experts in September or October of 2015. The winning finalist will receive a budget of $5000 to implement their design.