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Professional photographers, amateur photographers, and hobbyists all share a goal: to create the best photographs possible. In this course you will learn what makes a photo good. You will discover how to determine your purpose in creating a photo. You will then go out into the field to capture your own set of photos. Throughout the course you will refine your photographic eye through practice and critique of your work and the work of others. Using the fundamentals of photography, you will go back in the field to retake and improve your best images. By the end of this course you will have developed the ability to visualize the world as a photographer and use the fundamentals to improve your confidence in taking pictures. Expect to spend 6-10 hours to complete this course.

The camera is a photographer's primary tool. Other tools, such as lighting and editing, are important, but the use and control of the camera features is what enables a photographer to create fundamentally beautiful photographs. In this course, you will investigate camera types and how to select the one that is best for you. You will consider standard camera features to see how they can be used to obtain the results you want. You will explore the mechanics and uses for the different parts of the camera such as the viewfinder, lenses, shutter speed, and aperture size. You will then discover how to use and manipulate these elements to create different types of photographic results. Using these techniques, you will practice taking different photos of the same subject to get different results. You will also experiment with different techniques to capture mood and motion in your photos. By the end of this course you will have a toolkit of techniques at your disposal to create the type of photo you want. Expect to spend 6-10 hours to complete this course. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Photography Fundamentals.

In this course, you will select and use an image management system to organize, edit, and share your photographs. You will import existing photos, choose appropriate digital information, add keywords and tags, and organize them for an efficient workflow. Then you will edit your photos through manipulating brightness, sharpness, light, color, and other adjustments, to continually refine your image to meet your purpose and ensure your vision comes to life. Finally you will identify the most appropriate way to share photos for your intended audience and do so. By the end of this course, you will complete a professional workflow that allows you to effectively take your photos, edit them, and share them. Expect to spend 6-10 hours to complete this course. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Photography Fundamentals, Camera Selection and Mechanics.

In this course you will explore different lighting effects and the results they have on your photograph. You will analyze existing photos to determine the lighting techniques that the photographer used and identify the effect that it has on the feeling of the photo. Then you will experiment with both natural and artificial light to manipulate the effect of light in your photos. You will determine which techniques are most appropriate for your vision to invoke the desired emotions about your subject. By the end of this course you will have a lighting portfolio that represents your preferred lighting style. Expect to spend 6-10 hours to complete this course. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Photography Fundamentals, Camera Selection and Mechanics, Digital Asset Management.

You will differentiate the functional and expressive components of a photograph in a photographer's interpretation of a subject. You will then evaluate different photos to determine the different styles the photographers are using and the emotions they are invoking. By using camera and lighting mechanics, you will practice stylizing your photos to express different emotions about your subject. You will determine which techniques resonate with your personal artistic persona and begin to refine your stylistic expression. By the end of this course you will have a portfolio to demonstrate your expressive intentions with photos that may make people think, gain their interest, or touch their emotions. It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed Camera Selection and Mechanics and Lighting or have equivalent experience in photography, cameras, and lighting. Expect to spend 6-10 hours to complete this course. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Photography Fundamentals, Camera Selection and Mechanics, Digital Asset Management, Lighting.

In this course, you will use your understanding of camera and lens functions, lighting, editing, style, and expression to create a photography project that is representative of your specific interests and skills. You will first decide what the purpose of your project is, what your portfolio will include, and who your audience is. You will then go into the field to take photographs, assess them, and return to the field to take them again. You will select your best photos and write the wall mount descriptions for each one. You will create an action plan for how you will display your photography project. Finally, you will critique the photography projects of your peers while receiving a critique of your own project to see how your and your classmates' visions and purposes were interpreted. By the end of this course, you will have created a photographic project that demonstrates your skills and which can stand on its own as a portfolio, exhibition, job, or assignment. Expect to spend 14-19 hours to complete this course.

In this course, you will explore what it means to work professionally. In the photographer's context, working professionally is not the nuts and bolts of running a business. Rather, it focuses on developing a professional mindset and work approach that enables you to represent yourself and your work well. First you will determine your goals as a photographer and create an action plan for how to achieve those goals. You will then create a website or social media profile that communicates your photographer persona and/or professional aspirations. You will also define an action plan to protect your work physically and legally and maintain a professional reputation. By the end of this course you will have the appropriate professional mindset and practices to achieve your professional or personal goals as a photographer. Expect to spend 6-10 hours to complete this course. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Photography Fundamentals, Camera Selection and Mechanics, Digital Asset Management, Lighting Style, and Expression Through Photography Building a Photography Portfolio.

In this course, you will gain a foundation in historic preservation by identifying exactly what historic preservation is, its roots, and its associated laws and legislation. You will engage with the topics of historic building preservation and recognize the positive role they play in environmental sustainability and community improvement. Finally, through a practical case study, you will gain strategies and tools to dissect proposals and advocate for historic preservation in a modern building renovation.

In this course, you will explore the factors that contribute to the decision to sustainably preserve a historic structure. You will begin by examining the concept of embodied energy as a tool to evaluate historic structures and materials. You will also gain strategies for collaborating with stakeholders to find creative reuse opportunities in your projects. Finally, through a case study, you will apply your knowledge to practice using embodied energy to evaluate a historic structure and make recommendations for its potential future use, setting you up with practical skills for your next project. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Sustainable Historic Preservation.

In this course, you will contextualize the structural, governmental, and social factors that must be considered in the sustainable rehabilitation of the built environment. You will discover how to consider rehabilitation as a flexible preservation strategy to extend the usable life of historic buildings. To apply these concepts, you will examine cases that show how structures can be adapted to incorporate modern technologies or converted to serve new functions. Finally, you will practice developing recommendations for rehabilitation that both address community concerns and seek to extend the life of historic structures. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Sustainable Historic Preservation, Embracing the Worth of Existing Buildings.

In this course, you will look at ways to make rehabilitation projects more sustainable. You will explore sustainability more holistically, beyond building materials, and assess how economic, cultural, historic, and social sustainability contributes to better communities for everyone. You will identify opportunities to use retrofits to respond to both external and internal threats. You will apply your knowledge and evaluate projects to be responsive and adaptive to future uses. Finally, you will practice community engagement in order to partner with stakeholders throughout the project process. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Sustainable Historic Preservation, Embracing the Worth of Existing Buildings, Advocating for Sustainable Preservation.

Understanding the economics of preservation is essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of your project. In this course, you will examine these crucial elements, including the funding options that might be available to you and your team. First, you will explore how to structure funding negotiations to set yourself up for success. You will then identify how to utilize funds in ways that balance sustainability goals with historic preservation goals. By the end of this course, you will have a better perspective on the economics of preservation, setting you up for success in your future projects. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Sustainable Historic Preservation, Embracing the Worth of Existing Buildings, Advocating for Sustainable Preservation, Developing a Community Plan for Sustainable Preservation.

In this course, you will discover the important role that public policy plays in historic preservation and sustainability. You will evaluate sustainable ideas and translate them into actionable plans. You will then develop those actionable plans into legal mechanisms for encouraging sustainable policies in your own community. By the end of this course, you will be prepared to engage with public policy decision making and strategy as you progress through your career. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Sustainable Historic Preservation, Embracing the Worth of Existing Buildings, Advocating for Sustainable Preservation, Developing a Community Plan for Sustainable Preservation, Economics of Sustainable Preservation.

This course introduces you to policy and data science surrounding income inequality and intergenerational mobility in the United States. You will begin with an in-depth background on sociology, demography, and economics along with an introduction to "big data'' and how it can be used in these fields of study to address complex policy problems. You will also explore essential functions in data science and the language of R before moving on to more complex statistics and data structures that will assist you in articulating big data. You will then investigate income inequality utilizing the Opportunity Atlas data project to examine geographic differences in intergenerational income mobility. Finally, you will further study this mobility across race, ethnicity, and gender, and you will engage in several opportunities to practice your new skill set in R, data, and policy analysis.

In this course, you will explore the data surrounding racial and ethnic inequalities in the United States, particularly in the areas of educational opportunity outcomes, residential segregation, and housing. You will examine visualizations of big data and practice analyzing this data in order to understand and convey its implications. You will not only investigate how these issues are defined but also how to measure different forms of inequality, articulate their cause, and utilize the data for informing policy. You will explore the Educational Opportunity Project to develop your data analysis skill set by examining educational inequalities. You will then use R to visualize housing data and residential segregation. Finally, you will continue improving how your data is organized and shared by quantifying the social and economic impact of neighborhood housing and migration potential. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Income Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility.

The COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives in fundamental and enduring ways, impacting not only our health but also the economy, culture, and politics. In this course, you will examine health inequalities and outcomes across different groups in the United States, utilizing the policies and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as your framework. You will explore the impact of COVID-19 in such areas as employment, healthcare, energy use, patterns of movement, and consumer spending, and you will consider how policies implemented during the pandemic affected these variables for different groups in disparate ways. You will also examine remote data as well as a variety of spatial tools to help visualize the effect of pandemic-related policies. By leveraging data, you will investigate how policies implemented during the pandemic affected health inequalities and outcomes for different groups in disparate ways across the United States, utilizing the policies and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as your framework. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Income Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility, Impact of Racial-Ethnic Segregation on Education and Neighborhood Inequality.

In this course, you will investigate big data and policy analysis as it is applied to issues of crime, incarceration, and policing practices. Drawing upon an economic perspective, you will examine policymaking in the criminal justice system and how it affects crime rates and mass incarceration trends. Incarceration has disproportionately impacted people of color in the United States, so you will also analyze trends of inequality in the United States criminal justice system and policing practices. Finally, you will explore how algorithms can be used with big data to inform policy and decision making, and you will practice building regression models to make predictions about crime rates. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Income Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility, Impact of Racial-Ethnic Segregation on Education and Neighborhood Inequality, Social and Economic Impact of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic.

Negotiations occur in large and small ways across all industries and in our personal lives. So often, though, we lack the skills necessary to reach productive resolutions: Many negotiators focus on getting exactly what they want, but the negotiation usually ends with both parties feeling unsatisfied. What if both parties strove to create value for each other and find solutions that meet both of their needs? In this course, you will discover the art of integrative negotiation, where the focus is on creating value and finding solutions that satisfy the needs of all parties involved. Using policy case studies, you will break past the surface-level statements of the other party and examine their true motivations and interests in order to build trust and foster long-term, productive relationships. You will distinguish between several different negotiation types so that you can customize an appropriate integrative approach based on the context and goals of each negotiation. Utilizing a strategic framework, you will position yourself to understand the impact of the objectives, biases, and external factors involved in your negotiation. Applying the tools from this course will enable professionals from all walks of life, including those making policy decisions in governments and business decisions in organizations, to gain value. By the end of this course, you will have new skills and strategies to apply to reach productive resolutions in your negotiations.

In a global landscape fraught with complex threats, the field of international relations (IR) theory is crucial for policy professionals, who lean on its principles to frame their views of international security, stability, and risks to nation-states. This course offers a vital introduction to realism, liberalism, and nontraditional approaches, helping you differentiate their tenets to inform strategy for real-world scenarios. You will begin by examining the past to grasp the historical context of IR theory, then you will navigate current trends by applying these lenses to contemporary global challenges such as war, the climate crisis, and terrorism. This knowledge will empower you to make informed decisions and develop strategic responses to the dynamic challenges of country risk analysis.

The complexities of international challenges, such as climate change, war, terrorism, great power politics, and disruptive technologies, can pose significant risks to nation-states. Understanding how these issues might impact a country's stability and security is critical for policymakers when making policy decisions.In this course, you will examine case studies to analyze the interplay between environmental crises and geopolitical tensions, investigate the dynamics of great-power politics, and inspect the implications of emerging technologies. You will discover how to assess developing situations as well as how to source and verify information to understand the risks involved for an individual nation-state. You will explore the process of creating effective policy briefs, from comparing their use cases and limitations to identifying their structure and key components. By engaging with these topics, you will develop the skills to identify pressing policy challenges, conduct thorough research, and create impactful policy briefs that guide policymakers in addressing these global issues.

In an interconnected world, risks to nation-states transcend domestic borders. Navigating the dynamics of global stability requires a probe into the political, economic, social, and external dimensions that can disrupt and destabilize. In this course, you will assess these factors critically, examining how international influences can impact a country s stability. Through case studies of Yemen and Somalia, you will explore how past events shape current risks. This historical perspective will enhance your ability to accurately evaluate and synthesize current trends. You will also navigate the essential considerations and decisions involved in the development of a comprehensive country risk report, tailored to meet the needs of your specific audience. After observing the steps of this process, you will gain hands-on experience in independently researching, preparing risk assessments, and crafting detailed reports that inform strategic action.

Strategic foresight analysis can be a powerful tool in navigating future uncertainties. In this course, you will develop the skills to identify pressing policy challenges, conduct thorough research, and create impactful strategic foresight analyses to guide decision makers in addressing global issues.Utilizing a case study as part of your coursework, you will define topics of interest by conducting a horizon scan for trends and expanding your perspective. Building on this foundation, you will perform a megatrends analysis to explore and review large-scale changes over time, identifying critical megatrends that impact countries then linking these trends to various environmental, political, and economic sectors. Finally, you will forecast the future by developing multiple scenarios and using backcasting to create a series of milestones and a roadmap that decision makers can follow to ensure their desired future state.

In this course, you will explore the real-world applications of AI while identifying how to evaluate its risks and opportunities across various industries and functions. You ll examine relevant governance frameworks and develop necessary guardrails and oversight measures for safe AI implementation in your organization. Through practical examples and interactive discussions, you'll gain a clearer understanding of how to balance innovation with responsible AI practices. Finally, you will assess both the potential benefits and challenges of AI integration, exploring real-world cases and best practices to develop strategies for implementing appropriate oversight mechanisms.By the conclusion of this course, you will be equipped with the practical tools to evaluate AI opportunities, apply relevant frameworks, and establish effective oversight measures that align with your organization's goals and compliance requirements.

In this course, you will explore the transformative potential of deepfake technology and its innovative applications across various fields, from educational simulations to creative content production. You'll evaluate both the benefits and potential risks of deepfakes, examining how organizations can leverage this technology responsibly while implementing appropriate safeguards. Through real-world examples, you'll analyze strategies for content authentication and consider emerging best practices for maintaining trust in digital communications. Finally, you will familiarize yourself with existing policy considerations and organizational frameworks. When the course concludes, you will be able to weigh the importance of innovation versus security, helping you develop balanced approaches that promote innovation while ensuring the responsible implementation of deepfake technology.You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: AI Risk and Opportunity.

In this course, you will explore the evolving landscape of cybercrime and its far-reaching impacts on individuals, organizations, and governmental institutions. Through real-world case studies, you'll discover how to identify different types of cyber threats and potential consequences across different sectors. You ll also examine critical warning signs and develop strategies, including whom to contact and when, in the event of a cybercrime. Building on this foundation, you will analyze key vulnerabilities and identify relevant cybersecurity best practices for your personal or professional life. Ultimately, this course will provide actionable insights to mitigate cybercrime risks and strengthen your security posture, empowering you to enhance your personal and professional digital security measures.You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: AI Risk and Opportunity

In this course, you will explore the evolving landscape of ransomware and cyber extortion attacks. Through real-world case studies, you ll discover how to determine the differences between ransomware and cyber extortion attacks, understanding their distinct characteristics and overlapping tactics. You ll analyze what drives organizations to pay or refuse ransom demands as well as the short- and long-term implications of these decisions. This practical knowledge will help you better understand the threat landscape and develop informed response strategies.You will also evaluate proven protection and response strategies, including best practices that strengthen your organization's security posture against these threats. Through interactive scenarios and expert insights, you'll develop a comprehensive understanding of how to assess the long-term implications and policies regarding ransomware and cyber extortion. By the end of this course, you ll be able to identify relevant best practices for your personal or professional life for both preventing and responding to ransomware and cyber extortion attempts.You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: AI Risk and Opportunity

In this course, you will explore the interconnected landscape of critical infrastructure that powers modern society, from healthcare and financial systems to transportation networks and energy grids.. You'll examine diverse threat actors and their motivations for targeting these vital sectors, discovering how to distinguish between criminal activities, espionage, and acts of war through real-world scenarios and expert insights. Beyond traditional infrastructure, you will discover how emerging technologies reshape our security landscape. As the course progresses, you ll evaluate different policies, frameworks, and resources for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity, gaining practical knowledge to implement protective measures in your organization. The course extends into emerging frontiers, including IoT networks, VR/AR systems, and space-based technologies, exploring how these innovations both enhance and challenge infrastructure security. The course concludes with a forward-looking analysis of AI's dual role in both emerging threats and defensive capabilities that could impact critical infrastructure systems vital to daily life and national security. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: AI Risk and Opportunity

Expressions are a core attribute of any Python program. In this course, you will construct expressions and reuse them to manipulate and compute variables in a variety of applications. This reusability enables a "create once, use everywhere" development paradigm which will streamline development of your current and future Python programs. You will develop the knowledge and skills to assign and access variables, combine variables and data in expressions, and leverage Python as a powerful calculator. You'll also use the enhanced capabilities of the IPython environment to do interactive work with Python and to explore your data through new analyses. The knowledge and skills you gain will help you construct Python expressions to streamline the development of your current and future Python data science projects.

This course introduces you to the different scenarios in which you will utilize built-in Python functions, classes, and data types as opposed to creating your own or using a combination of built-in and custom-built capabilities. You will gain experience working with both built-in and custom-built functions, classes, and data types. Through practice and application of these basic building blocks/tools, you will gain an in-depth understanding of how these aspects of Python interoperate to create useful programs. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Constructing Expressions in Python

Python is much more than a programming language. In this course, you will leverage the comprehensive Python ecosystem of libraries, frameworks, and tools to develop complex data science applications. Throughout this course, you will practice using the different Python tools appropriate to your dataset. You will leverage library resources for data acquisition and analysis as well as machine learning. Dataframes will be introduced as a means of manipulating structured data tables for advanced analysis. Additionally, you will practice basic routines for data visualization utilizing Jupyter Notebooks. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Constructing Expressions in Python, Writing Custom Python Functions, Classes, and Workflows

Decision-makers generally do not use raw data to make decisions; they prefer data be summarized in easily understood formats that facilitate efficient decision-making. This course introduces data manipulation and visualization, both critical components of any data science project. This course introduces two commonly used data manipulation tools in the Python ecosystem: NumPy and Pandas. In addition, the Python ecosystem also includes a variety of data plotting packages such as Matplotlib, Seaborn, and Bokeh each of which specialize in particular aspects of data visualization. This course will give you experience integrating NumPy, Pandas, and the plotting packages to create rich, interactive data visualizations that help drive efficient decision-making. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Constructing Expressions in Python, Writing Custom Python Functions, Classes, and Workflows Developing Data Science Applications

Most data science projects that use Python will require you to access and integrate different types of data from a variety of external sources. This course will give you experience identifying and integrating data from spreadsheets, text files, websites, and databases. To prepare for downstream analyses, you first need to integrate any external data sources into your Python program. You will utilize existing packages and develop your own code to read data from a variety of sources. You will also practice using Python to prepare disorganized, unstructured, or unwieldy datasets for analysis by other stakeholders. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Constructing Expressions in Python, Writing Custom Python Functions, Classes, and Workflows, Developing Data Science Applications, Creating Data Arrays and Tables in Python .

In order to be useful within a professional environment, data must be structured in a way that can be understood and applied to real-world scenarios. This course introduces using Python to perform statistical data analysis and create visualizations that uncover patterns in your data. Using the tools and workflows you developed in earlier courses, you will carry out analyses on real-world datasets to become familiar with recognizing and utilizing patterns. Finally, you will form and test hypotheses about your data which will become the foundation upon which data-driven decision-making is built. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Constructing Expressions in Python, Writing Custom Python Functions, Classes, and Workflows, Developing Data Science Applications, Creating Data Arrays and Tables in Python, Organizing Data with Python

In this course, you will explore some of the machine learning tools you can use to magnify the analytical power of Python data science programs. You will use the scikit-learn package a Python package developed for machine learning applications to develop predictive machine learning models. You will then practice using these models to discover new relationships and patterns in your data. These capabilities allow you to unlock additional value in your data that will aid in making predictions and, in some cases, creating new data. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Constructing Expressions in Python, Writing Custom Python Functions, Classes, and Workflows, Developing Data Science Applications, Creating Data Arrays and Tables in Python, Organizing Data with Python, Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Python

Data drives many real-world endeavors, which means that storing and accessing the data is foundational to success. Relational databases are an industry-standard data storage mechanism for maintaining data integrity while allowing flexible data retrieval. You will begin this course by examining the basic table structures that form a relational database. Using the relational database format, you will define connections between your data fields and determine how those can be expressed. You will then practice normalizing a relational database to ensure data integrity and reduce redundancy. As this course concludes, you will use a relational database system called OmniDB along with structured query language (SQL) to retrieve specific information from the database.

Relational databases are workhorses which form the backbone for much of the information we find at our fingertips on the internet. In this course, you will learn to create and modify databases using OmniDB and structured query language (SQL) to import data, create tables, and modify fields. You will also practice cleaning data to maintain your database and ensure that it provides accurate information. As the course progresses, you will identify questions you want answered and practice translating those questions into SQL. You will also examine different forms of outputting data from a database, including outputting to a program or text file and outputting CSV text. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Querying Relational Databases

In this course, you will explore how to create common visualizations based on your data and goals. We will learn the steps you must take to successfully create a great chart. These include planning the chart, collecting and preparing your data, and choosing an appropriate chart type. You'll examine the different categories of visualizations and determine the best chart for your purposes.

After creating an initial version of a chart, how do you make it better? In this course, we'll explore the process for creating great charts. First, you'll explore how best to plan and draft your chart. Then, you'll need to eliminate distractions in the chart to make your visualization clear. It's also important to emphasize the most critical data in your chart. We'll look at how our brains process visualizations, and how you can use this information to better design your chart. Lastly, we'll examine how to adjust a chart to target your audience and the iterative process you can use to improve it. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Creating Data Visualizations with Tableau

In this course, we will study how you can make a set of charts in Tableau that tell a story to help your audience understand and remember your message. We'll also talk about different approaches to handling technical or complicated content and techniques for getting feedback so that you can improve your presentation. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Creating Data Visualizations with Tableau, Enhancing Data Visualizations with Tableau

Climate change is impacting every sector of society, and there is an urgent need for individuals and organizations to become fully aware of the intensifying risks and take effective action. These impacts present complex challenges to human health, the food supply, the global water cycle, the economy, and transportation. Every effort must be made to minimize our individual and collective effects on the climate and adapt to how a changing climate is affecting us all. This course provides an overview of climate change science and the impacts of climate change, with particular emphasis on the food system that is so critically important to our survival. In the first part of this course, you will explore the causes of climate change so you can begin to assess how you can help address this grand challenge. You will also evaluate potential impacts posed by climate change on your business, your industry, and you personally, using relevant, science-based evidence from leading experts. Throughout the program, you will identify and use climate change terminology so that you may accurately introduce it into your personal life as well as your organization's daily dialog, culture, planning, and operational decisions. Despite the many challenges posed by climate change you will also discover opportunities. As your course progresses, you will analyze the risks and opportunities related to the production, transportation, packaging, and sales of your organization's products. If you don't make a product, you will still benefit from the course. Your classmates hail from all walks of life: education, health, finance, career seekers, and many more. Ultimately, you'll come away better prepared to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change on society and your business and contribute to potential solutions. You will have the invaluable opportunity to interact with your peers from around the world who are also striving to tackle climate change.

From gluten-free diets to lactose sensitivity, an increasing number of adults and children have to actively manage food allergies or food intolerances. In fact, every three minutes an allergic reaction to food sends someone to the emergency room. The last thing you want to happen in your kitchen, restaurant, or manufacturing facility is for a customer to mistakenly ingest a food allergen.In this course, you will be guided through the key steps to assess, manage, and communicate about food allergens. You will first explore the symptoms of food allergies and food intolerances, examining the foods most likely to cause allergic reactions or intolerances. Additionally, you will identify "hidden" ingredients that flag the presence of an allergen.Finally, you will devise a plan to manage food allergens in your facility or home kitchen. You might already be practicing effective cleaning and organization or Good Manufacturing Practices, but this course will provide you with ways to reduce the chance of cross-contact with allergenic food products. By the end of the course, you will draft a script that you can use with customers or guests to enable you to safely serve and effectively communicate to those with food allergies or intolerances.

Identify how confident you are in yourself and your peers and how to create a plan to improve a lack of confidence; Compare and contrast different levels of presence and determine the appropriate level of presence for yourself as well as how to improve your presence if needed; Evaluate how open minded you are and create a plan to become more so if needed; Assemble the dimensions of good interpersonal communication and apply these skills to difficult conversations

How do genes get passed between generations? What is the relationship between the environment plants live in and their genetic makeup? In this course, you will gain an understanding of how plant characteristics are passed between generations by drawing conclusions about plant genetics based on both trait observation and genetic data. You will apply the rules of genetics to determine whether a trait arises from a single gene or multiple genes. Since hemp is a field crop, it is also important to consider the interactions between genetics and the environment. You will discover how to determine whether plant traits vary because the plants have different genes or because they were grown in different environments.

In this course, you will examine the variety of breeding methods and breeding schemes available to help you alter the traits of your hemp crop. Each of these techniques has particular applications as well as benefits and drawbacks, so it is critical to understand when each technique is most appropriate. Once you have mastered the application of these techniques, you'll develop a potential breeding plan that is focused on a single trait of interest. In the real world, your lineage will likely need improvement in multiple connected traits, so you will learn different techniques to achieve this more complex goal. Finally, once a breeding trial has been done, you'll need to evaluate whether or not it is successful. In this course, you will use actual data provided by Cornell researchers to evaluate whether or not their breeding trial worked.It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed Hemp Genetics or have equivalent experience.

In some cases, a trait of interest does not exist or is not easily available to the breeder. In this course, you will analyze how new genetic engineering and genome editing technologies can be applied to hemp breeding. Understanding when and how to use new genetic technologies is essential for a modern plant breeder. You will examine these new technologies one of which, the gene gun, was invented at Cornell University and practice applying them to hemp breeding. Creating a new hemp variety is a lot of work, and as a breeder you'll want to protect your investment with the appropriate intellectual property (IP) protections. As this course concludes, you will compare the different classes of IP protections and evaluate how they can best be used to protect different types of breeding results. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Hemp Genetics, Hemp Breeding and Selection

The craft brewing industry provides more than 150,000 jobs in the United States alone and has been rapidly expanding for several years now. Whether youre looking to enter this growing field or are a home brewer, this certificate program will give you the skills you need to create and refine your own beer recipe. Throughout this program, you will have the opportunity to walk through a hands-on exploration of the four main ingredients used in beer production and their impact on the final product. This in-depth look at each ingredient includes the chemistry and calculations needed to determine the best combination and ratios of ingredients for brewing. You will investigate how malt, hops, yeast, and water impact the aroma and flavor of your beer then determine how to achieve your desired recipe and style. Familiarity with high school-level chemistry, advanced high school-level algebra, and basic calculations will help you be successful in this program. After completing this program, you will be well equipped with the expertise and tools to develop, brew, and refine craft beer.

The craft brewing industry provides more than 150,000 jobs in the United States alone and has been rapidly expanding for several years now. Whether youre looking to enter this growing field or are a home brewer, this certificate program will give you the skills you need to create and refine your own beer recipe. Throughout this program, you will have the opportunity to walk through a hands-on exploration of the four main ingredients used in beer production and their impact on the final product. This in-depth look at each ingredient includes the chemistry and calculations needed to determine the best combination and ratios of ingredients for brewing. You will investigate how malt, hops, yeast, and water impact the aroma and flavor of your beer then determine how to achieve your desired recipe and style. Familiarity with high school-level chemistry, advanced high school-level algebra, and basic calculations will help you be successful in this program. After completing this program, you will be well equipped with the expertise and tools to develop, brew, and refine craft beer.

The craft brewing industry provides more than 150,000 jobs in the United States alone and has been rapidly expanding for several years now. Whether youre looking to enter this growing field or are a home brewer, this certificate program will give you the skills you need to create and refine your own beer recipe. Throughout this program, you will have the opportunity to walk through a hands-on exploration of the four main ingredients used in beer production and their impact on the final product. This in-depth look at each ingredient includes the chemistry and calculations needed to determine the best combination and ratios of ingredients for brewing. You will investigate how malt, hops, yeast, and water impact the aroma and flavor of your beer then determine how to achieve your desired recipe and style. Familiarity with high school-level chemistry, advanced high school-level algebra, and basic calculations will help you be successful in this program. After completing this program, you will be well equipped with the expertise and tools to develop, brew, and refine craft beer.

The craft brewing industry provides more than 150,000 jobs in the United States alone and has been rapidly expanding for several years now. Whether youre looking to enter this growing field or are a home brewer, this certificate program will give you the skills you need to create and refine your own beer recipe. Throughout this program, you will have the opportunity to walk through a hands-on exploration of the four main ingredients used in beer production and their impact on the final product. This in-depth look at each ingredient includes the chemistry and calculations needed to determine the best combination and ratios of ingredients for brewing. You will investigate how malt, hops, yeast, and water impact the aroma and flavor of your beer then determine how to achieve your desired recipe and style. Familiarity with high school-level chemistry, advanced high school-level algebra, and basic calculations will help you be successful in this program. After completing this program, you will be well equipped with the expertise and tools to develop, brew, and refine craft beer.

The craft brewing industry provides more than 150,000 jobs in the United States alone and has been rapidly expanding for several years now. Whether youre looking to enter this growing field or are a home brewer, this certificate program will give you the skills you need to create and refine your own beer recipe. Throughout this program, you will have the opportunity to walk through a hands-on exploration of the four main ingredients used in beer production and their impact on the final product. This in-depth look at each ingredient includes the chemistry and calculations needed to determine the best combination and ratios of ingredients for brewing. You will investigate how malt, hops, yeast, and water impact the aroma and flavor of your beer then determine how to achieve your desired recipe and style. Familiarity with high school-level chemistry, advanced high school-level algebra, and basic calculations will help you be successful in this program. After completing this program, you will be well equipped with the expertise and tools to develop, brew, and refine craft beer.

Many new food product and innovation ideas that make it to the market are ultimately unsuccessful, typically because their creators did not take the proper steps to ensure there was a sustainable market opportunity. In this course, you will assess the feasibility of new food product or innovation ideas. This will enable you to invest your time, money, and other resources in ventures with a possibility for success. You will also incorporate consumer research in order to create a food product or venture protocept. Finally, you will use this research to ensure that your protocept is appropriate to take to the next level of product development.

Food innovators often introduce new and exciting quality products to the food industry. While ensuring the quality is right and consistent, food innovators must also ensure their products are safe and that they meet all federal and state safety standards. In this course, you will explore the different types of safety hazards that can exist in food products that can lead to human injury or illness. Using a hazard assessment tool, you will consider the full food production process and identify the potential physical, biological, and chemical hazards of a food product and how these potential hazards can best be prevented or controlled. Once you have determined the key quality attributes that should be defined for a food product, you will create an initial indication of the metrics for each. By the end of this course, you will be prepared to integrate both food safety and quality consideration into the decisions surrounding product formulation, processing method, packaging material, and product shelf life. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Market Research and Product Development

When envisioning the look and feel of your new food product packaging, it is important to consider not just the design but also the safety and quality needs associated with the food processing and packaging process. In this course, you will explore the different methods and techniques of food processing and packaging to determine which are appropriate for different food products. You will consider the numerous factors that contribute to a processing and packaging decision such as access, capital, feasibility, shelf life, and market preferences. Leveraging these factors and more, you will be able to determine the appropriate methods for your food product or innovation and map out the specifications needed for your product prototype. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Market Research and Product Development, Food Safety and Quality

The U.S. food industry is highly regulated at the federal and state levels. During this course, you will explore regulations associated with food industry innovations, identify applicable regulations to specific food ventures, and pursue regulatory compliance. This course will provide you with the opportunity to work through the process of identifying which overseeing agencies and regulations are applicable to a specific food project of your choice or for one provided by the faculty. You will create a plan for accessing resources for assistance and discover how to obtain non-regulatory certifications such as organic, fair trade, kosher, and halal. Upon conclusion of this course, you will be prepared to locate and address the regulations applicable to your food business. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Market Research and Product Development, Food Safety and Quality, Food Processing and Packaging

The ultimate goal for a food product innovator or entrepreneur is to finally get their product to consumers. In this course, you will explore the food product commercialization process of bringing a prototype to market. This process has multiple steps, including development, production, and distribution. You will explore the components of an effective go-to-market strategy and how to determine pricing and product positioning. You will also discuss how suppliers can affect all elements of the go-to-market strategy. You will then consider how to scale up a process from test kitchen to commercial-level production. Through the course project, you will develop an initial go-to-market strategy for a product of your choice or for one of the provided sample products. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Market Research and Product Development, Food Safety and Quality, Food Processing and Packaging, Regulatory Agencies and Food Regulations

This course is a starting point for the study of medical ethnobotany, which is a study of the plants found in a particular place and how they can be used to treat illnesses. By examining the historical applications of plant-based medicines, the compounds that are commonly found in plant-based medicines, the potential safety considerations when using plant-based medicines, and how to critically evaluate labels and packaging of plant-based medicines, you will be prepared to understand the applications of these types of medicines and what things people need to be aware of if they plan on using them. This is not a replacement for consulting with a physician, but is intended to be an exploration of alternatives that you may not have considered.

In this course, you will focus on a few of the human body systems that can potentially be impacted by medicinal plants. The musculoskeletal, urogenital, and reproductive systems each have specific functions and ailments, and medicinal plants can be a useful complement to established Western medical practices. You will examine plants such as arnica, willow, turmeric, and ashwagandha, along with many others from around the world, that are used to treat the same illnesses in different ways. Through consideration of active ingredients and potential interactions, you will be able to propose appropriate choices of medicinal plants when presented with the problem of treating an illness or achieving a wellness goal. The following course is required to be completed before taking this course: Plant-Based Medicine

In this course, you will focus on the central nervous system and how it can be affected by different types of medicinal plants. The major categories of effects on which this course is focused are stimulants, antidepressants, psychoactives, and systemic pain relief. This can include things like your morning cup of coffee or tea; the chocolate bar you have in the afternoon as a mood elevator; or stronger, more mind-altering vegetation such as psilocybin or cannabis. In addition to recreational uses, there are clinicians studying the psychological applications of many of these plants in controlled environments. Through consideration of active ingredients and potential interactions, you will be able to propose appropriate choices of medicinal plants when presented with the problem of treating an illness or achieving a wellness goal. The following course is required to be completed before taking this course: Plant-Based Medicine

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are critical to an optimally functioning body; their ailments are some of the leading causes of death around the world. Several medicinal plants can be used to complement established Western medicine treatments in reducing the effects of heart attacks, stroke, and high blood pressure. In addition, many people around the world depend on plants to soothe their respiratory systems, with plants that act as cough suppressants, bronchodilators, and mucus-membrane balms, such as camphor, eucalyptus, and echinacea. Through consideration of active ingredients and potential interactions, you will be able to propose appropriate choices of medicinal plants when presented with the problem of treating an illness or achieving a wellness goal. The following course is required to be completed before taking this course: Plant-Based Medicine

The next time you have an upset stomach or a patch of dry skin, you may want to think about what types of plants might be helpful instead of your normal over-the-counter medicine. There is a wide variety of medicinal plants that you may want to consider, such as ginger, chamomile, or cassia for the digestive system, and aloe, tea tree, or marigold for the skin. These types of herbs can often be effectively combined with the medicines that you are already familiar with, if you are aware of the appropriate ways of using them. Through consideration of active ingredients and potential interactions, you will be able to propose appropriate choices of medicinal plants when presented with the problem of treating an illness or achieving a wellness goal. This course will help you to be more confident discussing these types of treatment options with your primary care physician. Historical Applications of Plant-Based Medicine must be completed prior to starting this course.

Your immune system is one of your most important body systems, as it constantly defends you against invasion by a variety of pathogens. In addition to a good diet and regular exercise, there are some plants found around the world that may be beneficial to keeping your immune system working at peak efficiency. In many developed countries, one of the major causes of death is cancer. While it is impossible to predict or prevent cancer, there are some medicinal plants that may be helpful in boosting your natural defenses against this disease. In this course, you will learn about plants such as gotu kola, Madagascar periwinkle, mistletoe, and many others, that have the potential to improve the function of your immune system and possibly impede the development of cancer. The following course is required to be completed before taking this course: Plant-Based Medicine

In this course, you will examine the characteristics of common landscape plants to determine how to distinguish them. There is a particular descriptive language that is used when talking about plant traits, which takes practice to learn. By starting with a small set of traits and expanding it as you examine more plants, you will be able to better identify the plants that you encounter. You will also examine some common landscape plants to develop your understanding of botanical illustration and how it can be used to aid in identification. The combination of illustrations and technical descriptions is a foundational skill that will be used to build your knowledge of plants that are useful in the constructed environment. Finally, you will apply this new language to create and use an identification key; this tool is the industry standard for determining the identity of an unknown plant. These specific tools and takeaways will prove crucial as you start your career or strive to reach your personal goals in your local landscape and beyond.

There are multiple aspects of a soil that will positively or negatively impact the plants that are grown there. In this course, you will examine both the physical and chemical properties of a soil. Physical characteristics, such as bulk density, texture, and water-holding capacity, and chemical properties, such as pH, will play a critical role in your planting. By observing these characteristics, you will discover how to more accurately quantify the properties of a soil and determine which plants perform well in different soil types. Through these exercises, you will gain practical knowledge to ensure a successful design when choosing plants for a particular planting site. By definition, urban planting is done in close proximity to buildings, roads, and other human-made structures, and these structures will impact the sun, soil, moisture, and wind surrounding your planting. This course will show you how to incorporate these crucial variables into your design decisions, ensuring your plant choices are appropriate and offering more opportunity for innovation with successful results. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Identifying Plants

In this course, you will determine how a site may need to be modified before planting. By examining the different properties, you can see how the existing soil will need to be amended so that the plants chosen by the designer will thrive. There are a number of ways to improve the characteristics of a soil, each with its own benefits and limitations. You will explore these considerations and discuss when to choose each type of modification through practical example exercises. You will compare the properties of the different types of amendments and specialized soils, including CU-Structural Soil?, which was developed by Cornell University's Urban Horticulture Institute. Finally, you will address the installation plan. You will specify how much soil will need to be modified, which involves reading, analyzing, and creating both plan and cross-sectional views of the whole site and of the specific locations where plants will be installed. You will also use these views to determine measurements that will enable you to calculate the volumes of necessary soil amendments to make cost prediction more accurate and efficient. Overall, the techniques in this course will increase your understanding of the project design as a whole, allowing you to focus on creativity, innovation, and what you do best. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Identifying Plants, Assessing Site and Soil Properties

Plant selection for a particular location is a balance of multiple dynamic factors. In addition to soil characteristics and aspects of the built environment, plants have inherent traits. Their final sizes and shapes need to be considered as well as how quickly they will grow or if they will spread beyond the initial planting. As you decide on the plants to use for a particular location, you will need to evaluate all of these factors. To simplify the process, this course will highlight the crucial elements of a planting design, allowing you to justify your expert decisions to stakeholders throughout the project. The method of plant production is also a critical element in the design and implementation of your planting. The nursery trade can provide many types of plants in many different sizes, but this also varies based on location. As a designer, you must balance cost, availability, ease of installation, and aesthetic or functional aspects to make appropriate selections. All of these factors are combined in what is called a planting schedule, which you will practice both reading and developing. Overall, this course will highlight the necessary elements of design and planting decisions, providing you with takeaway knowledge and techniques to utilize during your next project. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Identifying Plants, Assessing Site and Soil Properties, Improving Soil Properties

Creating an effective planting plan requires incorporating aesthetics, soil properties, stakeholder goals, existing infrastructure, and desired ecosystem benefits. Given the characteristics of a planting site, as well as what the customer wants to accomplish, you will have the opportunity to design a plan that effectively addresses those needs and goals. You will need to select appropriate plants to meet the design goals, consider what can or should be done to modify the site so that the chosen plants will thrive, and communicate your design clearly to the installation team. By following the steps that are outlined in this course, you will be able to convert your initial design ideas into a standardized format that can be understood by others. You will follow this same process as you continue to design plantings in the future. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Identifying Plants, Assessing Site and Soil Properties, Improving Soil Properties, Plant Selection

To fully appreciate wine, you must first experience how to describe wines using sensory perception. In this course, you will be introduced to a standard evaluation protocol for wine tasting and determine what it takes to see, smell, and taste like a professional. You will also discover important species and cultivars as you take a short journey through 8,000 years of historical wine periods. This grape-to-wine foundation will encourage your critical thinking on your journey toward becoming a wine professional. By the end of this course, your fundamental understanding and your practice in tasting will anchor your learning in subsequent courses, in your career, and at the table. For this course, you will be asked to purchase five wines of global economic importance to help you refine your tasting technique.

Chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, ros pinot noir, Port, Sherry, and Champagne: Each of these is a different type of wine with its own distinct sensorial characteristics. In this course, you will continue on your winemaking journey by determining the workflow and steps needed to produce these wine types. Although not an exhaustive dive into winemaking, you will be introduced to a foundation from which to start. You will then design basic wine production plans for table, fortified, and sparkling wines as you consider what it means to be a wine professional. With this newfound knowledge, you will be set up for a more nuanced and clear path ahead in the wine industry and beyond. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Evaluating Wines

There is a common misperception that winemaking is little more than stomping on grapes. In this course, you will discover what truly goes into making wine. You will explore how to recognize sensory active compounds in wine and identify ways to manipulate them during the winemaking process. For the winemaker, it's a delicate balancing act; for the consumer, it can be a pleasant or unpleasant experience, especially if there are wine faults. You will identify primary and secondary grape metabolites and how they can be controlled to create a balanced wine, all while preventing something from going wrong during the process. By the end, you will have a foundation from which to support continued learning about the operations and processes that surround winemaking, both in the vineyard and beyond. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Evaluating Wines, Developing Wine Production Plans

If you have ever visited or even driven by a vineyard, you may have wondered how grapevines are made and about the stages of grape berry development. In this course, you will dig deeper into the anatomy of vines and their important phenological stages. Whether you are planning on running a vineyard or simply studying them for personal growth, knowledge of key vineyard operations will improve your understanding of the crucial impacts on vine health as well as grape quality and quantity. This course will explore basic wine-growing operations and how they achieve different viti- and vinicultural outcomes. You will also identify the skills to manage pests and diseases, which prove to be a consistent and critical piece of the winemaking puzzle. Using red or black table grapes, you will simulate what a winemaker might do for a sensory assessment to determine taste and ripeness. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Evaluating Wines, Developing Wine Production Plans, Wine Ingredients

When it comes to selecting a site and establishing a vineyard, there are many considerations. Environmental conditions influence vineyard design, and non-environmental factors, such as access to plentiful labor, greatly impact grape growing and winemaking. Furthermore, the product itself is affected, as wines have sensorial differences related to climatic conditions and regions of the world. In this course, you will take a broad look at factors of site selection, including climate, with a much deeper dive into ground operations such as row orientation and plant spacing. Together, these concepts will be applied as you devise a realistic and productive vineyard development plan. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Evaluating Wines, Developing Wine Production Plans, Wine Ingredients, Vineyard Operations

Perhaps no topic is more hotly debated than climate change. One thing is certain: There are major climate implications on the wine grape industry. The wine professional is acutely aware of these challenges, while personally growing and continuously questioning commonly held beliefs of wine grape production. In this course, you will explore various challenges and developments in modern viticulture. You will react to current issues and discover digital agricultural tools that help to offset these challenges. With this added knowledge, you will continue your journey to becoming a wine professional. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Evaluating Wines, Developing Wine Production Plans, Wine Ingredients, Vineyard Operations, Site Selection and Vineyard Establishment

Writing concise copy is a crucial skill for any professional looking to communicate complex ideas to an internal or external audience. This course provides you with important insights about how to write concisely for various professional applications, including effective issue and topic summaries, policy briefs, and memos. You will investigate how to incorporate and summarize complex content as well as how to establish an effective writing format, style, and tone for a given writing product. Finally, you will convert complex or technical content into a concise copy that is understandable for a non-expert audience. By the end of this course, you will be able to craft accessible, information-based copy describing or defining an issue, event, or activity.

Persuasive writing provides an opportunity to influence readers and help facilitate change. Any time you write material that attempts to encourage action, shape opinion, analyze options, or influence perception or direction, you are engaged in persuasive writing. In this course, you will be introduced to a three-step process that will enable you to create compelling, fact-supported analyses, arguments, opinions, and recommendations to influence others. You will then be guided through the process of establishing strong, reasoned content while writing persuasive copy for an audience of your choice. By the end of this course, you will have practiced writing clear, concise copy that persuades readers to engage with and act upon your arguments and recommendations.

In today's communication landscape, writing effective web copy is one of the most important skills you can master. Websites are the primary way that organizations communicate with customers, stakeholders, and an interested public. Crafting effective, tailored web content is an essential skill for communication professionals and others tasked with creating website content. In this course, you will practice skills that will help you master writing web copy for maximum understanding, engagement, and impact. These skills require approaching communication from multiple angles from the big-picture view to the precise language you use. In this course, you will be provided with tools and guidance that will help you define your intended audience and create written copy that will make your website stand out from the crowd not only capturing but maintaining your audience's attention in a meaningful way.

Crafting media stories for the online world is a critical skill for any professional who engages in communication with the general public. This flexible form of writing is used for public relations, marketing, blogs and informative stories. The media format is highly adaptable and is the foundation of press releases, event announcements, newsletters, articles, and other forms of communication with public audiences. This course delves into the best practices for writing for online media. You will start by exploring the basics of effective writing skills and how to apply them in a variety of digital formats to strengthen your foundation. By creating effective headlines and openers, you will discover how to grab your reader's attention and keep them engaged. Using narrative techniques, you will develop the skills to build on your reader's attention and draw your audience in. Ultimately, by refining your transitions, word choice, voice, rhythm, and paragraph structure, you will leave this course with a stronger skill set in media writing.

Creating engaging social media content is critical in today's multimedia world. Even the most seasoned writers often fail to create effective posts; social media platforms differ in content and scope, and the landscape changes quickly. Mastering fundamental best practices and avoiding some of the most common mistakes will greatly enhance your communication strategy, no matter which social media platforms you use. In this course, you will practice amplifying your online content by using social media platforms to drive traffic and increase sharing. You will explore the proven hub and spoke concept to drive readers to your central website content. By learning how to differentiate your content depending on the platform, you will more efficiently reach and resonate with your target audience. Forming an overarching strategic social media approach before you craft individual posts will ensure your messaging has maximum impact. By the end of this program, you will have the skills you need to write punchy, powerful text that readers both enjoy and trust.

A compelling story is the heart of any brand messaging that an organization strives to deliver. Whether you want to inspire, motivate, or gain the trust of your stakeholders, the story you share as part of your brand narrative is the most effective way to do it. In this course, you will explore the principles of digital storytelling and how you can apply them. This course guides you through the elements of a successful brand narrative, examining the advantages of different digital platforms, such as podcasts and videos, and how they can impact the success of your brand narrative. You will also discover ways to overcome writer's block, a common hurdle for many people. The skills you develop in this course will help you shape, refine, and communicate the story within your or your organization's brand narrative.

The way you sound can have a dramatic impact on the way you are perceived. The same is true for your brand narrative. In this course, you will discover how you can use the power of sound, such as music and special effects, to improve how your audience engages with the message of your brand narrative. You will examine how a technology plan sets the foundation for recording your narrative by determining the equipment as well as the location for optimal recording. You will also identify the ways that recording is a layering process that allows you to use sound design to incorporate music and effects that strengthen your message and add entertainment value. Your voice is key, so you will explore strategies for maximizing your presence with tips from a well-known podcaster and voiceover artist. As you complete this course, you will have a recorded brand narrative that portrays you in an authentic, entertaining, and engaging podcast. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Principles of Digital Storytelling

Podcasts are becoming an increasingly popular way to reach a target audience and deliver a message that can motivate them to take action. Your brand narrative is a message you design with a purpose in mind. In this course, you will explore strategies for enhancing the message to be used in a brand narrative podcast. You will discover the importance of setting a production plan that helps you achieve your vision. An interview can improve the engagement of your audience, so you will examine ways to identify the best interview subject and how to ensure you ask them the right questions. With solid content in place, you will then move on to adding elements such as sound design to amp up the entertainment value and appeal for your audience. Even if you are a beginner, you will gain technical skills in recording your podcast and explore tips for maximizing sound quality. You will end this course with a polished podcast ready to use in your social media and marketing plan. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Principles of Digital Storytelling, Developing a Brand Narrative

In a world of fast-paced marketing platforms and social media, video is increasingly more important in catching the attention of potential customers and reaching a wide audience. An array of instantly available software offers video opportunities to novices who once had to rely on pricey production companies to create a brand message. In this course, you will explore strategies for producing a brand narrative designed specifically for video. You will discover how to research a theme to help craft your message and create a pitch that will help your brand video stand out. There are many techniques for enhancing your media in post-production, and you will examine ways to improve quality and keep the focus on your story. With your finished video in hand, you will then uncover the best path for promoting your brand video with an effective press release as part of your marketing plan. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Principles of Digital Storytelling, Developing a Brand Narrative, Producing a Brand Video

Meditation has gained immense popularity in the Western world, made evident through the abundance of books, courses, and apps available on the subject. Western science is increasingly backing the physical and emotional benefits of meditation for overall well-being. In this course, you will be guided through the foundational philosophy and practical insights for establishing a successful meditation practice. The course encompasses various mindfulness meditation routines based on Tibetan Buddhist practices learned from Master Khenpo Sodargye. While emphasizing the current Western interest in meditation, the course aligns with classic Buddhist techniques in posture and breathing exercises. Through instruction and exercises, you will discover traditional mindfulness foundations, tailored to address contemporary societal challenges and encourage compassion and empathy toward diversity. Whether a novice or an experienced meditator, this course is designed to enrich your techniques and foster personal growth, contributing to healing relationships and building compassion. In order to get the most benefit from this course, you will need to be prepared to set aside a total of 10 to 30 minutes each day to practice the meditation exercises.

The formal structure of a workplace inherently places limitations on how the members of certain groups access power while privileging others. Spearheading a project, leading a team, or overseeing staff requires a keen understanding of these formal structures to create inclusion in the workplace. This course is designed for leaders at any level who are seeking a heightened awareness of inclusive practices. You will begin with an analysis of formal organizational structures, as they are extremely difficult to redesign, and understanding boundaries is a crucial starting point. You will explore questions like what do you have to work with, what structure do you have to work within, and how does this impact communication and networking? From here, you will move to diagnosing your own informal social networks within this larger context, identifying the potential shortcomings of your own networks and how you can begin to remedy them. Finally, you will focus on how to diversify the networks within your organization by exploring who you are connected to, what the limitations of those connections are, and how you can expand them. Meditation will be used throughout as an avenue for mindful self-development. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Using Mindful Meditation to Strengthen Relationships

So many theories come and go about how to develop leadership. Originally, people thought leaders needed specific capacities, such as decisiveness or charisma. A common expectation in many cultures is that you have to be an extrovert to be a leader, but that is not necessarily true. There are plenty of examples of introverted leaders, and you don't have to copy others in order to be a successful leader. Leadership is complex; it hinges on understanding followers and their environment. As a result, your ability to mindfully assess your followers' characteristics and the environment is crucial to both the overall survival of you as a leader and your organization. This course encourages you to identify your own strengths and use that self-awareness to lead authentically, discovering the importance of being authentic and true to yourself. In this course, you will investigate universal ethical standards that transcend cultural boundaries and rise above cultural differences. The primary focus will be on your unique development as a leader, and in addition to exploring the variety of leadership models, you will identify factors that affect your leadership identity. By drawing on your mindful meditation practices, you will reflect and integrate lessons, further developing your own distinct professional identity. You will also explore success stories of authentic, ethical leaders and reflect on these qualities for your leadership journey, assessing the roles that team and environment play in how you lead. Through instruction and practice, you will discover how authenticity and ethics are the pillars of impactful leadership in a multicultural society. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Using Mindful Meditation to Strengthen Relationships

The social sciences emphasize three elements when it comes to navigating diversity and cultural differences. The first is cognitive: Do you know what to do? Another is affective: Can you feel for others? The last is behavior: Can you carry out the appropriate behavior? This course explores various dimensions of diversity and cultural difference. It starts by providing an introduction to several scholarly approaches that you can use to identify the intercultural dynamics at play within your organization. You'll also look at a variety of ways that business leaders effectively manage intercultural conflict and use this during your meditation to reflect on your own strategies for managing conflict. The mental rehearsal that mindful meditation allows us is a jumping-off point, and from here you'll look at many East/West cultural comparisons. Through instruction and exercises, you will have the opportunity to expand your focus beyond geographic, national, education, and racial differences to cultural comparisons that are relevant to personal situations. As you engage in meditation, you will explore the connectedness of humanity across cultural differences. Finally, you will explore stories of companies that grew to command a global presence to see how a diversity mindset or lack thereof affected innovation. This will include reflection on your own attitude toward inclusiveness and how it can enable positive change. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Using Mindful Meditation to Strengthen Relationships

Research shows that there are unique challenges and particular steps to knowledge management and collective innovation. In this course, you will explore those steps in a practical way, developing strategies and skills such as self-awareness, mindful reflection, authentic and ethical leadership, and a recognition of the advantages of a diversity mindset. By investigating methods from organizations that have done this well, you will be able to grow your own strategies to create a culture that is conducive to innovation, encouraging knowledge sharing and retention. Meditation continues to form the basis for leadership reflection and growing self-awareness. You will start by looking at ways to promote the exchange of information across your team and assess potential challenges. You'll then delve into the significance of addressing the distinct hurdles to innovation and explore management strategies aimed at nurturing it a critical aspect of staying competitive in today's dynamic landscape. Finally, you'll address the issue of knowledge retention and what you can do to ensure that your organization is able to retain critical information when employees leave. You'll expand your leadership journey by enhancing self-awareness and fostering innovation to ensure lasting success in today's dynamic environment. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Using Mindful Meditation to Strengthen Relationships

There are many great ideas in our world, but not all of them qualify as inventions. Of those that do qualify, even fewer have the necessary elements for commercial potential. How can you determine whether an idea can be turned into something more? In this course, you will explore the interplay of ideas, innovation, and invention. Using an inventiveness analysis, you will leverage new techniques to determine what makes something truly inventive. You will also practice executing a prior art search by examining existing patents, technical literature, and general media to rule out any similar inventions. By the end of this course, you will have the skills and tools needed to execute an in-depth analysis of an invention a crucial foundation to ensure an invention is unique and distinct from other options in the market.

An invention may be a novel way to solve a problem, but does anybody want that problem solved? Is it worth the time and effort to develop that solution? In this course, you will explore strategies for determining the market relevance of an invention. By analyzing each potential application of a given invention, you will start to parse out potential market segments. Using tools in this course, you will determine which market segment makes the most sense for your invention and your team, seeking out the avenue that is most likely to lead to profit. By the end of this course, you will have the tools to forecast where an invention will have the most market relevance, setting you up for success. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding the Invention

To take an idea from its inception to its fully developed potential, it is crucial to properly protect and secure the invention. In this course, you will explore the different options for protecting inventions and investigate how each option can be leveraged strategically. Starting with the patent, you will explore the full process for how to obtain one, discovering tips and tricks for how to best craft a quality claim. Moving on to other intellectual property tools like trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights, as well as bioproperty tools, you will analyze which option makes the most sense for a particular invention. By the end of this course, you will have strategies to identify and secure supportive protections for an invention. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding the Invention, Developing a Unique Value Proposition

Once you have articulated and documented an invention's unique qualities, identified the applicable intellectual and bioproperty tools, and determined the market segment, you will be able to create a winning package to start the commercialization process. Defining a clear and realistic path to market will help ensure your success. In this course, you will examine how to maximize the value proposition for a given invention for your desired market segment. You will explore how to identify and analyze risks associated with an invention and how to frame those risks in your opportunity package. By leveraging a tool originally developed by NASA, you will determine the steps needed to bring an invention to market and develop a roadmap for meeting that goal. By the end of this course, you will be able to bring all the pieces of an opportunity package together, giving you the foundation needed to begin thinking about a business development plan going forward. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding the Invention, Developing a Unique Value Proposition, Securing Inventions, IP, and Bioproperty

One of the most impactful stages of the invention and intellectual property management processes is embarking on the commercialization journey. In this course, you will explore the different options for commercializing an invention and identify how to select the best option for your needs. Whether your team will take on internal development, pursue a licensing route, or even initiate a startup outside of your organization, you will determine the pathway and the partnership model that is most likely to lead to success. By investigating both the commercialization pathway and the partnership model, you will ultimately be able to propose the combination best fit for a given invention. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding the Invention, Developing a Unique Value Proposition, Securing Inventions, IP, and Bioproperty Preparing for Commercialization and Implementation

While bringing one invention to market is a crucial skill, developing a system and processes for long-term invention management is necessary for the success of your team's innovative ventures. In this course, you will examine how to establish a system for invention management at your organization. By leading ideas through an official documentation process, you will discover strategies for helping ideas to become inventions. You will also develop a plan to stimulate ideas and finalize details around the invention or innovation. You will then refine a practice for guiding inventions through the development process. To support the invention management process, you will explore best practices for working with lawyers, giving you a key skill set for invention and intellectual property (IP) management. By the end of this course, you will have a plan in place to create and manage an invention system in your organization and facilitate a mindset geared toward unlocking the commercial potential of inventions. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding the Invention, Developing a Unique Value Proposition, Securing Inventions, IP, and Bioproperty, Preparing for Commercialization, and Implementation Partnerships and Contracts

The legal landscape of high-THC cannabis production, agriculture, and investment is continually evolving. The intersection of rapidly changing legislation and the expanding cannabis industry requires a comprehensive understanding of federal legislation, providing a foundation for informed decision making, responsible practices, and strategic investments.In this course, you will review federal regulation and how it affects the various cannabis industry roles, including how each role may come with their own set of federal rules and regulations. You will explore the relationship between state and federal laws, as well as how federal and state laws can sometimes conflict with each other. You will also be introduced to the concept of federal decriminalization and what federal decriminalization of high-THC cannabis could mean for those in the industry.Upon completion of this course, you will feel better equipped to discern the different aspects of federal law that impact various sectors of the cannabis industry.

New York legalized high-THC cannabis for medical use in 2016, decriminalized possession in 2019, and, in 2021, became the 15th state to legalize high-THC cannabis for adult recreational use. How did New York get to this point, and what does the future of NYS regulation look like?

Every business structure has its own set of benefits and drawbacks, and that holds true in the cannabis industry. When operating in a developing market, it is especially important to understand the nuances of various business entities and discover the perfect framework tailored to your unique venture.

Navigating the complexities of taxes can be challenging in any line of business, especially given the unique intricacies of individual tax situations. When discussing taxation in relation to the cannabis industry, taxes can appear even more daunting if one doesn t know the right questions to ask. This course is designed to empower you with the knowledge and skills needed to confidently tackle tax-related challenges within the evolving cannabis industry. You will explore key topics of the tax landscape and the public policies they inform as well as state and municipal tax responsibilities. You will also examine the tax cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 then continue with an in-depth background on the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) along with the proposed effects CAOA will have on federal regulation. Upon completion of this course, you will not only have a solid understanding of these complex tax matters but also be able to identify resources that will aid you in making well-informed tax decisions.You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding Federal Cannabis Regulation

As societies and medical paradigms evolve, so does the approach to healthcare and therapeutic interventions. Medical cannabis has proven to be a pivotal development in the healthcare industry, and it operates under a separate legal framework. In this course, you will examine the historical context in which medical cannabis legalization has unfolded along with the potential shifts in its regulatory framework. You will explore comparative analysis of New York State's regulations and draw parallels with other states that have embraced the legalization of medical cannabis.Upon completion of this course, you will have a better understanding of the evolving legal landscape surrounding medical cannabis and be better equipped to make informed predictions on the impact legalization will have on adult-use cannabis. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding Federal Cannabis Regulation

In today's dynamic world, individuals engaged in the cannabis sector bear the responsibility of staying informed about the constant changes to laws and policies. In order to navigate this evolving legal landscape, it s crucial to understand how change happens as well as how to stay informed and updated.In this course, you will explore recent law and policy changes and look at how to stay apprised of changes going forward. You will also discover how historical shifts have shaped the current regulatory framework and gain insights into emerging trends that will influence the future of the industry. From addressing issues like the illicit cannabis market to tackling safety and health concerns, you will examine the pressing challenges facing policymakers today.Upon completion of this course, you will possess the tools and strategies necessary to stay informed and updated on changing laws and policies.You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding Federal Cannabis Regulation

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes several species. Hemp is a variety of the Cannabis sativa species and is grown specifically for its strong fibers and seeds, which are used for various industrial, medicinal, and food products. Cannabis is a complex plant with a variety of characteristics and features, including growth habits, chemical composition, and genetics. In this course, you will explore the differences among cannabis species in order to help determine their suitability to different agricultural goals. You will also review the many different cultivars, or varieties of plant, within each species, each with its own unique combination of traits, such as high fiber content, high seed yield, or high CBD content. Lastly, you will examine the physiology and morphology of hemp to optimize growth and cultivation practices. Upon completion of this course, you will have gained a basic scientific understanding of cannabis in regards to producing high-quality hemp crops. You will also be able to select the appropriate cultivar based on your agricultural goals to optimize hemp production.

Hemp propagation is the process of producing new plants from existing ones, and there are several methods that can be used to achieve different agricultural goals. Some of the main types of hemp propagation methods include seed propagation, cloning (vegetative propagation), and tissue culture. In this course, you will take a deep dive into the world of seed propagation and germination. Understanding these concepts will allow you to assess the germination of your chosen cultivars and make improvements if necessary. You will also explore cloning, or vegetative propagation, including the steps involved and limitations of this method. Lastly, you will explore micropropagation and the tissue culture method to round out your options for hemp propagation methods. Upon completion of this course, you will have gained an understanding of the different methods of hemp propagation and how their purposes can help growers align propagation methods with their agricultural goals, such as increased yields, improved plant health, and higher-quality hemp products. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Hemp Biology

Indoor hemp cultivation requires careful consideration of various environmental factors. By controlling and monitoring these environmental factors, indoor hemp growers can create a suitable growing environment that helps them achieve their agricultural goals and produce high-quality hemp products. In this course, you will examine indoor cultivation factors and best practices depending on your agricultural goals; this includes different growing media, light and temperature, and other potential manipulation factors. The aim of controlled environment growth is to achieve specific agricultural goals, such as increased yields, improved plant health, and higher-quality hemp products. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Hemp Biology, Hemp Propagation

Growing hemp outdoors requires careful consideration of several factors to ensure success and meet agricultural goals. Identifying the appropriate outdoor site is crucial, and details such as access to water, soil quality, and exposure to sunlight should be taken into account. In this course, you will explore the main considerations when selecting an appropriate outdoor hemp production site. This will include addressing the specific nutrient requirements of hemp crops based on their preferred soil type and fertilizer. Upon completion of this course, you will have an understanding of the factors that should be taken into account in order to select an outdoor site that is suited to your agricultural goals and provides the right conditions for growing a successful hemp crop. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Hemp Biology, Hemp Propagation, Indoor Hemp Cultivation

The management of insects, weeds, and diseases is critical to the success of hemp production. There are several strategies and tactics that can be used to minimize the impacts of these potential threats. In this course, you will begin by reviewing the importance of weed management and how to easily identify different types of problematic weeds to determine which strategies would be best to implement. You will also explore various integrated weed management strategies, including methods for the successful management of cultural, biological, and physical threats. You will then delve into the world of pest management, from understanding the potential effects of pest infestation on your hemp plants to available resources to help identify these pests as well as proper management techniques. Additionally, you will explore hemp plant diseases and how to identify common pathogens present in your growing area. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to identify effective management strategies for combating problematic weeds, insects/pests, and diseases to ensure successful hemp cultivation. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Hemp Biology, Hemp Propagation, Indoor Hemp Cultivation, Outdoor Hemp Cultivation

Hemp harvesting is an important step in the hemp production process. In order to achieve your agricultural goals, it is crucial to determine the best time to harvest the hemp for the desired product. In this course, you will explore a variety of harvesting factors such as the maturity of the plant and how the desired use of the product can influence the ideal harvesting time. You will also identify the proper equipment that should be used to ensure a successful harvest; this could include items such as pruning shears or a combine, depending on the scale of the operation. After the hemp has been harvested, you will explore why it is important to store the product under optimized conditions to preserve its quality and maximize its shelf life before processing. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Hemp Biology, Hemp Propagation, Indoor Hemp Cultivation, Outdoor Hemp Cultivation, Managing Insects, Weeds, and Diseases

Humans have been using the cannabis plant as a source of medicine in many cultures for thousands of years with positive effects. In this course, you will document your thinking about the complexity of medical cannabis options and demonstrate your understanding of the history and legal responsibilities of utilizing cannabis medicines. You will consider the historical context for the use of medical cannabis within the traditions of Indigenous groups. You will explore the journey of the cannabis plant and its relationship with people and culture across time. You will also examine how cultures used cannabis medicinally in ancient times and research a historical use of cannabis to compare its usage to modern applications.

The methods of growing and producing cannabis distinguish medical cannabis from other forms. In this course, you will gain insights into how to optimize growing conditions for medical use. You will explore the stages of development and best practices for the collection of plant material. You will study the potential of cannabinoids produced by the cannabis plant and explore options for whole-plant use as well as individual natural and synthesized compounds. You will examine the most common extraction methods and associate them with resulting chemical properties. You will identify the pros and cons of each method to develop a foundation in how extraction processes impact drug discovery as well as how the choice of extraction method influences the health benefits of the final cannabis product. IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION: Due to the experiential nature of this program, you will need to purchase or find a small amount of materials before the start of your course. Below, please find the list of materials and suggested retailers. We encourage you to order, purchase, or collect supplies now. Please note: You will be asked to refrigerate one of the experiments. Go to amazon.com or a local pharmacy or grocery store to find the following supplies: Black Tea Cloves (the spice) A neutral oil such as canola, sesame, coconut, or olive oil 30g (or 1 ounce) of dried culinary herb such as rosemary, sage, or thyme White vinegar Kitchen thermometer You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Medical Cannabis History

To understand how cannabis can be used as medicine, it's important to recognize the regulatory role of the endocannabinoid system in maintaining health and well-being. You will explore the history of humans, who have been cultivating cannabis for thousands of years, and how the concentrations of compounds the plant produces are the product of human preferences. You will examine the combinations and synergy of these compounds that accentuate the pharmacological effect, referred to as the entourage effect. You will also recognize cannabis as a particularly complex plant producing hundreds of bioactive compounds. You will gain insights into how the endocannabinoid system was discovered and why it is known as "the whole-body modulator," being widespread throughout the body and making it a potential drug target. You will investigate research to determine what is known and what is yet unknown to be able to pinpoint ways to potentially manipulate the endocannabinoid system. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Medical Cannabis History, Medical Cannabis Extraction

Pharmacology studies the effect of compounds on the body as well as what the body does to a compound. In this course, you will examine the dosing, benefits, safety, and adverse effects of bioactive chemicals such as phytocannabinoids. You will explore the anatomical or functional changes created by exposure to cannabinoids and discover the mechanisms of action which are not fully understood but show a range of potential therapeutic possibilities. Cannabis is a potent medicine; it can produce significant side effects and negatively interact with other medications or substances one may be taking. You will gain insights into these and other factors that can influence drug metabolism and recognize why the rate of drug metabolism determines the duration and intensity of its pharmacological action. Undesired effects from cannabis are incredibly variable, and you will discover how use should be tailored for each individual patient. IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION: Due to the experiential nature of this program, you will need to purchase or find a small amount of materials before the start of your course. Below, please find the list of materials and suggested retailers. We encourage you to order, purchase, or collect supplies now. Go to amazon.com or a local pharmacy or grocery store to find the following supplies: One teaspoon of sodium polyacrylate OR two disposable diapers (which can be taken apart for the sodium polyacrylate) A small package of sodium polyacrylate can be purchased on Amazon for about $10 Tap and distilled water You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Medical Cannabis History, Medical Cannabis Extraction, The Role of the Endocannabinoid System

Medical cannabis is limited by the historic regulation that prevented pharmaceutical research for decades. In this course, you will examine how pharmaceutical products, herbal supplements, and cannabis products are regulated. You will understand how new drugs are brought to market by reviewing and analyzing the FDA drug discovery and development process. You will explore the necessary steps of approval and consider cannabis medicine currently approved by the FDA. After reviewing the drug development and FDA approval process, you will discover expectations for the reproducibility and effectiveness of medical cannabis products then develop a plan for testing reproducibility and effectiveness based on the FDA guidance. You will evaluate what it takes for a product to be approved by the FDA and consider how the FDA treats single isolated compounds versus whole-plant products. With insights into this process, you will determine the pros, cons, and differences of both approaches. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Medical Cannabis History, Medical Cannabis Extraction, The Role of the Endocannabinoid System, The Pharmacology of Medical Cannabis

The journey of a food product, from the raw materials in a manufacturing plant to the final commodity sitting on grocery store shelves, involves a series of physical transformations. Mechanical unit operations are a foundational set of processes used to achieve these transformations that date back to pre-modern times and are crucial for shaping the final commodity.In this course, you will examine mixing, emulsifying, homogenizing, and filtering as the key mechanical processes used in the food industry. Beginning with the underlying principles, you will build your understanding of how these processes create products that are not only desirable but also safer for consumption and shelf stable. You will assess the function and design of typical mechanical processing systems, which will help inform future decisions about best-suited applications in food and beverage production. This course will provide you with a sweeping view of the mechanisms, variables, and equipment that factor into a successful mechanical food processing operation.

Heat is a fundamental element in the food toolkit, playing a pivotal role in enhancing product quality, extending shelf life, ensuring commercial sterility, and preserving essential nutrients.In this course, you will explore the thermal technologies of thermization, pasteurization, ultra-pasteurization, sterilization, aseptic processing, and refrigeration. You will then navigate through the steps that typify each operation and practice the calculations that are used to establish industry values. By identifying key process parameters, you'll not only assess efficiency rates but also establish connections to overall food safety measures, making the knowledge immediately applicable to real-world scenarios.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Mechanical Food Processes

In this course, you will explore mass-based unit operations used in the food processing industry, examining the industry tools, techniques, and processes that harness the physico-chemical properties and kinetics of molecules to transform raw food materials into the diverse products on our market shelves. You will evaluate the strategies and technological innovations commonly employed to optimize evaporation, dehydration, membrane separation, and extraction procedures. You will also observe how variables like product viscosity and heat sensitivity play a role in the selection of certain systems over others. By comparing the requirements and formulations for each mass transfer method, you will gain insight into the most effective ways to ensure the quality, safety, and sustainability of processed food commodities.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Mechanical Food Processes,Thermal Food Processes

In this course, you will explore the cutting-edge technologies and methodologies that distinguish nonthermal unit operations. These innovations revolutionize product safety and appeal, all without the reliance on high temperatures. Our exploration spans a diverse array of products, including packaged meats, juices, dairy, and seafood.You will begin by examining industrial settings for nonthermal unit operations, differentiating the equipment, mechanisms, and parameters associated with various strategies. You will navigate the consumer landscape by examining customer perception and demand, providing you with a comprehensive look at the advantages and drawbacks of these technologies. Through the careful analysis of each treatment, you will balance the variables that influence processing efficiency, allowing you to optimize systems and adapt to the changing environment of nonthermal unit operations within the food industry.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Mechanical Processes, Thermal Processes, Processes Based on Mass Transfer

Whether you're an aspiring chef or food scientist, or simply curious about what happens in the kitchen and the factory that creates your favorite foods, in this course, you will explore the operations of the food processing industry. You ll have the opportunity to examine the design and construction of commercial food processing equipment, the principles of machine and facility design, process controls, sanitation practices, and the art of food packaging.As you delve into the applications of traditional and emerging facility procedures, technologies, and planning, you will discover how industry professionals navigate the many options and decisions required for the development of a successful food processing facility and put control mechanisms in place to keep operations running efficiently. You ll also gain a deeper understanding of the best ways to verify the effectiveness of sanitation and CIP (cleaning in place) schemes, which are key to ensuring safe, healthy products. Finally, you will evaluate the purpose and optimization of food packaging for various products. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Mechanical Processes, Thermal Processes, Processes Based on Mass Transfer, Nonthermal Food Processes

There are many ways to use creative writing in the nonfiction space. Each style helps writers meet different goals whether it's informing, persuading, engaging, or inspiring making the ability to choose and adapt styles crucial for effective communication. This course provides an overview of creative nonfiction and its elements, identifying the various forms and building techniques to understand their potential uses.

Editing is an important part of any type of writing, and through the lens of creative nonfiction, it ensures that the final piece is clear and engaging and that it communicates its intended message effectively. This course is designed to elevate your writing skills by offering a comprehensive exploration of editing principles, whether editing your own work or another piece.

While op-eds and persuasive essays share the creative nonfiction foundation of blending fact with narrative, each is distinct in its focus on argumentation, structured persuasion, and engagement with current issues. In this course, you will explore the process of crafting compelling op-eds and persuasive essays, starting with an in-depth exploration of their structures. You will examine how to construct a robust argument by carefully organizing your points and effectively supporting your main thesis. In addition to building structural components, the course will introduce creative techniques that will help you amplify your message, ensuring that your voice resonates with your audience. By employing these creative approaches, you will discover how to capture and maintain the reader s attention, making your arguments more persuasive and impactful.

You will begin with the top-down approach, stepping through the process of assessing and refining both content and structure. You will explore ways to refine language, improve clarity, and ensure consistency while assessing and improving the overall organization and coherence of a piece.

The hemp industry is rapidly evolving, driven by an increasing demand for sustainable and versatile products. Understanding the nuances of hemp and its market potential is crucial for anyone involved in this industry. In this course, you will explore key aspects of hemp, including plant characteristics, genetic variations, and market classifications. You will consider the legal distinctions between hemp and marijuana, focusing on the chemical compounds like THC and CBD that define these categories. You will examine the three primary market classes of hemp fiber, grain, and cannabinoids and understand how different cultivation techniques and genetic selections influence the quality of hemp products. You will also delve into the anatomy of hemp stems, flowers, and seeds as well as their roles in the production of compounds and materials.Upon completion of this course, you will have an understanding of the hemp plant's biological functions and diverse applications. You will gain insights into the latest developments in hemp genetics and cultivation techniques, enabling you to make informed decisions in the hemp industry. Whether you're a cultivator, processor, or marketer, this course will enhance your expertise and help you navigate the complexities of the hemp market.

Cannabinoid extraction is a vital process in the production of high-quality hemp products, focusing on the isolation and refinement of phytochemicals such as CBD and THC. Understanding the extraction process and the tools used for cannabis analysis is essential for ensuring the quality, potency, and safety of the final products. In this course, you will delve into the products from cannabinoid extraction and consider the key measurements necessary for quality control. You will explore analytical measurement methods, how to perform these measurements, and the importance of each step in the extraction process. You will also examine the drying process, effective drying practices, curing techniques, and optimal storage conditions to preserve cannabinoid quality. Upon completion of the course, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply best practices in cannabinoid extraction and analysis, contributing to the advancement of your goals in the hemp industry.You are required to have completed Hemp Markets and Products or have equivalent experience before taking this course.

The extraction of cannabinoids from cannabis is a nuanced science that plays a critical role in determining the quality and efficacy of the final product. There are various methods of extraction, each suited to achieve specific results based on the desired end product.In this course, you will review a range of extraction methods, including solvent-based extractions like alcohol (ethanol) extraction and supercritical fluid (CO2) extraction as well as hydrocarbon extraction using butane. You will also delve into solventless extraction methods and post-processing approaches.Upon completion of the course, you will have the ability to analyze the purpose and process of various cannabinoid extraction methods, which will enable you to choose the most appropriate extraction method for your desired results.You are required to have completed Hemp Markets and Products or have equivalent experience before taking this course.

Hemp serves as a high-yielding, sustainable, and eco-friendly crop that offers valuable raw materials for numerous applications. Hemp grain and fiber has been cultivated for centuries due to its versatility and its use in the production of a variety of products seen and utilized today.In this course, you will delve into the history of hemp grain and fiber to further your understanding of current applications. You will explore the various stages of hemp fiber processing as well as the unique structure and composition of hemp fibers and their applications in various products. You will also gain insights into the process and considerations for hemp grain processing and the potential of hemp grain as a valuable agricultural commodity.Upon completion of this course, you will have a thorough understanding of the historical and current significance of hemp in various industries. You will be equipped with knowledge about the challenges and advancements in hemp fiber processing along with the diverse applications of hemp fibers and grains. You will also understand the nutritional profile of hemp seeds and the steps involved in hemp seed processing. This course will empower you with the insight and skills to appreciate the versatility of hemp and its growing importance in various consumer and industrial markets.You are required to have completed Hemp Markets and Products or have equivalent experience before taking this course.

The course concludes with a focus on structural and line editing, refining word choice, and sentence construction. This approach will allow you to develop skills to improve sentence construction and ensure that every element of a piece of writing contributes to a polished and professional final product.

Being a great storyteller allows you to engage with your audience in a meaningful way, building their trust as you communicate your message. In this certificate program, you will apply transmedia practices, or techniques that leverage various forms of media, to communicate your message to various stakeholder groups. By using any variety of media formats videos, ad buttons, posters, social media, presentations, websites, or even comic books and graphic novels you will discover how to choose the appropriate media form to engage specific stakeholders and create a campaign that targets and engages them. Using real-world examples, youll break down different campaigns and explain how the elements work together to address your stakeholders. This certificate program will provide you with the opportunity to practice strategic storytelling through rapid prototyping using an innovative UX design frame, creation of information-based comics, and the design of TEDx-style and PechaKucha-based presentations using your own content. You will also analyze real-world advertising and information campaigns to assess which storytelling elements could be leveraged to make the communications more effective. By the end of the certificate program, you will be able to apply strategic frameworks to improve your storytelling ability and reach new audiences wherever your work takes you. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.

When contemplating the different forms of media you can use to reach your customers, it's important not to forget about information-based comics. Yes, comics! Often thought of as a format for children or teens, comics can be an effective way to reach new stakeholders. Information comics situate knowledge within concrete scenarios. The characters and plots bring the knowledge to life through dialogue, illustration, and narration. To create an information comic for your campaign, you will create characters, storyboards, dialogues, and imagery to help relay the knowledge to your stakeholders. Once you have established these elements, you will use a web-based website/software tool to bring your vision to reality. In this course, you're going to be making an information comic. You will discover how to write dialogue, create storyboards, and pull together all of the elements into a story about your strategic storytelling campaign. You will also identify how you plan to reach your different stakeholders. In addition, you will explore a tool that you can use to create an info comic. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Strategic Storytelling Across Media, Engaging Specific Stakeholders

When it comes to creating presentations, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed while trying to strike the perfect balance of engagement, information, and simplicity. Using industry-standard techniques employed on platforms such as TEDx Talks and in styles such as PechaKucha, you have the ability to create a transformative presentation that moves your audience through images and narration. These styles challenge you to focus on your message, which enables you to transform your presentation and empower and motivate your stakeholders through user experience and information design. Throughout the course, you will explore the functions and forms of presentations; develop a presentation using important components drawn from TEDx and PechaKucha; and practice, present, and refine your presentation, allowing you to experience the process from start to finish. By the end of this course, you will have your own presentation, highlighting the best practices you acquired during the strategic creation process. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Strategic Storytelling Across Media, Engaging Specific Stakeholders

To perform basic computations in the Machine Learning certificate program, you need the ability to solve elementary linear algebra problems in two dimensions. In this course, you will execute mathematical computations on vectors and measure the distance from a vector to a line. This course will provide you with the theory and activities to start building the linear algebra foundation needed to be successful in your Machine Learning courses. This optional self-paced course supports the required linear algebra in the Machine Learning certificate. If you are already comfortable with the computations from the pretest, we recommend that you take the final assessment to confirm your readiness.

This Machine Learning certificate program requires you to think and solve problems in multiple dimensions. In this course, you will learn to solve linear algebra problems in three or more dimensions and perform computations with matrices.You will perform computations that focus on solving problems in high dimension; that is, multiple dimensions. This course will provide you with the theory and activities to solidify the linear algebra foundation needed to be successful in your Machine Learning courses. This optional self-paced course supports the required linear algebra in the Machine Learning certificate. If you are already comfortable with the computations from the pretest, we recommend that you take the final assessment to confirm your readiness.

What can the Classics teach us about how to be a good leader? In this course, you'll examine what Roman leaders can teach us about effective leadership. For example, is it better to seek pleasure or virtue? And how can you tell the difference between the two? You will read translations of Cicero and other Roman scholars and participate in hands-on activities to engage with key leadership skills. You will gain best practices related to four key virtues: critical thinking, fairness, bravery and self-control. By the end of this course, you will have a new perspective on time-tested leadership traits and how to apply them in your daily life.

How can you find happiness as a leader? Is being a leader really all about the money and the prestige? In this course, you will look to ancient Roman thought leaders for recommendations on how to be happy as a leader. You'll also consider the purpose of becoming a leader and its impact on your experience as one. As you examine strategies for managing anger in the workplace, you'll also gain insight into ways to determine when it's time to step back from being a leader. By the end of this course, you will have gained recommendations on how to apply these lessons from the Classics to today's leadership climate.

Emotions are a big part of what makes us human. Emotions not only help us understand ourselves and our social relationships with others, they help us respond to stimuli in our environment, and to change our behavior accordingly. In this course, you will investigate the function of emotions in daily life, as well as how to differentiate them from similar, but different "feeling states." You will also explore the history of the study of emotions, including initial perspectives from Western philosophy, as well as how it transformed into a science whereby researchers developed more empirical, systematic methods to study the human emotional experience. Finally, you will compare the evolutionary perspective with other important sources of emotion, such as culture, biological response, and appraisals.

Building your emotional vocabulary is a critical step in recognizing emotions. Naming emotions helps you understand and articulate what you are feeling, and recognize what others are feeling. In this course, you will explore the benefits of broad emotional lexicon. You will also examine strategies for using facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice to identify emotions, and consider how the expression of certain emotions are the same all over the world. You'll practice recognizing emotion in others and, you will consider the limitations of people in being able to recognize and properly identify emotions.

In this course, you will examine the relationship between emotion and cognition, and explore the ways emotion can affect your judgment and decision-making. You will consider how emotion can shape what you are perceiving and paying attention to, and how it impacts your memory. You will examine how emotion can influence creativity and practice measuring your own creativity. Next, you will explore how emotions impact morality and how that can impact behavior. Finally, you will explore how emotions can affect your interpersonal relationships, and consider emotional conflict in both romantic and workplace relationships. Throughout the course, you will use a journal to reflect how the interplay between emotions and cognition affects your life. NOTE: This course relies heavily on visual cues as the majority of cited research is based on visually identifying and recognizing emotions.

You are not a passive recipient of your emotions. In this course, you will explore emotion regulation as a strategy for taking control of your emotions to help you achieve important life goals. You will examine what emotions are automatic, what ones you can control. You will then discuss how emotion regulation affects your day-to-day life, and then consider five major strategies for improving your awareness and regulation of those emotions. You'll identify which strategy you use most frequently, and then practice using a strategy. Finally, you'll explore tactics for influencing the emotions of others, and you'll develop a strategy for regulating your own emotions to achieve important life goals, and how you can influence the emotions of others.

Strong writing skills are essential for crafting impactful stories and communicating ideas effectively. This course will equip you with strategies to enhance your writing skills and improve the productivity of your writing endeavors. Through workshopping, you'll discover ways to refine your writing practices with the help of a supportive community. You'll delve into script and literary analysis and experiment with form and format to improve clarity and effectiveness. Finally, you'll explore the art of crafting compelling narratives, techniques for generating ideas, and approaches for developing story elements.

Vivid characters and immersive worlds are key to captivating storytelling. In this course, you will develop compelling characters and rich story settings through hands-on writing exercises and targeted techniques. You ll craft detailed character biographies, explore the interplay between setting and personality, and build cohesive story worlds with their own internal logic and "dark matter." Through focused exercises in both poetry and prose, you ll create rich narrative environments that authentically reflect and shape your characters' experiences.The following course is required to be completed before taking this course: Developing the Story and Idea

Mastering the flow of story progression and dramatic tension allows writers to keep readers engaged from beginning to end. In this course, you will craft compelling narratives by honing the essential mechanics of plot development and character transformation. You ll examine conflict types, story beats, and plot structures, and you ll practice techniques for guiding characters through meaningful change. These principles will be applied across multiple forms, from traditional narrative to poetry, creating dynamic scenes that drive stories forward.The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing the Story and Idea,World-Building and Character Development

The way a story is told can shape its impact and deepen its connection with readers. This course explores the strategic use of narrative perspective and voice to craft distinctive, engaging stories. By experimenting with different points of view, tonal approaches, and voice techniques, you will refine your storytelling style while building meaningful connections with your audience. Examples from multiple genres, including poetry and film, will provide inspiration and expand your narrative toolkit.The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing the Story and Idea, World-Building and Character Development, Building Blocks of Scene and Structure

Dialogue has the power to bring characters to life and drive the story forward in subtle, impactful ways. In this course, you will craft authentic, purposeful dialogue that advances plot, reveals character, and enriches stories with layered meaning. Practical exercises in dialogue construction, exposition management, and subtext development will help you create conversations that feel natural while serving multiple narrative functions. You will also build a systematic approach to revising and refining dialogue.The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing the Story and Idea, World-Building and Character Development, Building Blocks of Scene and Structure

Scenes that captivate readers and draw them into the world of a story are built through rich detail and intentional action. In this course, you will craft vivid, dynamic scenes using sensory detail and purposeful movement. By practicing description, metaphor, and action sequences, you ll create immersive experiences that drive your stories forward. Techniques for balancing showing and telling, maintaining clarity in action scenes, and weaving imagery into the narrative will further enhance your storytelling skills.The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing the Story and Idea, World-Building and Character Development, Building Blocks of Scene and Structure

As leaders, we often give and receive feedback about weaknesses and development opportunities. There are typically systems and processes within organizations that encourage this type of feedback and drive employees to improve in specific areas. The question is, why do we spend so much time on weakness, and does it help? In this course, you will take a different approach to leadership development. Leading from strength is about looking at what someone is naturally good at, as well as the skills gained through experience. You will harness these strengths and learn to leverage and expand them. Leadership development takes timeyou won't be done with your journey when you complete this course. With that in mind, the course asks you to look into the future and set personalized development goals.

It's not uncommon for people to act differently when at home, at work, or with different types of people; while common, this is not advisable. Everyone has a set of personal core values, but not everyone is aware of them, and often people don't spend much time thinking about their values. In contrast, the best leaders learn not only how to tune into their own values, but also how to communicate and live those values in all aspects of life. In this course, you will work to lead with integrity while inspiring and empowering those around you. Professor Dawson will help you to discover and align your core values. She will guide you to apply your values to your leadership and to create an action plan for the future. Those who master values-based leadership will be able to rise more effectively through the engineering ranks, ultimately allowing them to emerge at the top without losing sight of what values are most important.

Leaders of all kinds have to make informed and resolute decisions. Engineers are often fact and data driven, which can make them excellent decision makers. In general, everyone has a decision-making stylewhat separates out great decision makers is their ability to adapt based on a problem's needs. You will begin this course by evaluating your default decision-making style using a data-driven tool, Decision-Making for Leaders designed by Victor Vroom, a leading expert on decision making. You will then explore what quality decisions look like. These initial steps will set you up to more effectively take action and make good decisions. Professor Erica Dawson, PhD., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, guides you through the course, allowing you to evaluate yourself, digest the results and data, then assess your ability to effectively adapt. The course concludes with the creation of an action plan, setting yourself on a path for future success.

Leaders need to be able to collaborate, innovate, problem solve, and build relationships. All of these core responsibilities require excellent communication skills. Often when thinking of leaders, we picture them addressing crowds, giving directives, and commanding forces. Leaders need to be able to do those things, but they also need to be top-notch listeners and have the ability to use a variety of communication tactics at the right times. In this course, Professor Erica Dawson, PhD., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will break down critical skills that facilitate collaborative communication. She will guide you as you practice and apply these techniques. Many of the skills in this course, including listening and asking powerful questions, are core to strong interpersonal communication. These skills help you establish, improve, and maintain relationships. You will focus on workplace examples, but these skills are applicable outside of the workplace as well. Many of the skills are hard to learn and even harder to make a habit. Your life outside of work will impact your work and your ability to have good relationships. Mastering these communication skills and learning to leverage them to create open and collaborative communication is key to the future of any leader.

Leaders need to be bold visionaries and trendsetters. They need to guide people and inspire those people to achieve the vision they lay out. To do so, the leader must be courageous. As leaders put so much of their efforts into guiding and inspiring others, it's fundamental for them to be skilled communicators. Engineers may not have spent much time refining their communication skills, especially those that involve a great deal of courage. However, leaders have and feel emotions within the workplace, and can harness those emotions to improve their leadership skills and become more courageous communicators. In this course, Professor Erica Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will help you develop your confidence and motivation to enact courageous communication. You will start by developing a new perspective on what courageous communication in the workplace is and how emotions play a role. You will then set intentions for moving forward. Ultimately your work will help you use the skills associated with courageous communication to develop and manage your team using feedback and leveraging difficult situations.

Leaders need to be bold visionaries and trendsetters. They need to guide people and inspire those people to achieve the vision they lay out. To do so, the leader must be courageous. As leaders put so much of their efforts into guiding and inspiring others, it's fundamental for them to be skilled communicators. Engineers may not have spent much time refining their communication skills, especially those that involve a great deal of courage. However, leaders have and feel emotions within the workplace, and can harness those emotions to improve their leadership skills and become more courageous communicators. In this course, Professor Erica Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will help you develop your confidence and motivation to enact courageous communication. You will start by developing a new perspective on what courageous communication in the workplace is and how emotions play a role. You will then set intentions for moving forward. Ultimately your work will help you use the skills associated with courageous communication to develop and manage your team using feedback and leveraging difficult situations.

The world is full of possibilities, but how likely are any of them to occur? Immerse yourself in probability theory and discover how to evaluate the likelihood of different outcomes in a variety of real-life circumstances. You will get started by examining the different methods for describing and representing data, including the basic axioms that form the core of probability theory. You will then explore real-world applications and discover how engineers and scientists use random variables and associated analytical functions to quantify the likelihood of various occurrences in experiments and processes. You will gain experience using discrete random variables, or when the number of possible outcomes can be counted, as well as continuous random variables, or when the number of possible outcomes is infinite. You will also explore data transformation and several kinds of probability distributions, including ones that assess the joint probability of two or more related variables. Toward the end of the program, you will apply what you have studied and investigate ways of modeling and predicting variability and patterns in data through the use of ordered collections and graphical representations, including normal, lognormal, Gumbel, and Weibull distributions. Note: You will need a working knowledge of algebra and univariate calculus prior to enrolling and will need to get access to the course's textbook, the ninth edition of Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences by Jay Devore. We suggest you obtain the book prior to the start of the course and consider the interactive eTextbook version, available for purchase online or from other retailers.

An enterprise with an innovation culture doesn't just happen. You must plan for both financial success and cultural change. There are several types of and approaches to innovation. How do you create an innovation strategy for your enterprise? In this course, you will begin to create a roadmap called the innovation placemat. You will identify your organization's goals and align your innovation strategy to it. You will cultivate an executive champion and set SMART goals for your new product, service, or technology. You will identify risks and barriers to deployment and create mitigation plans to overcome them. Along the way, you will hear case studies of organizations large and small, private and government, established and startup, and in many domains who have successfully established an innovation strategy with sustainable positive effects on their bottom lines.

To create and sustain a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in your organization, it is helpful to establish an environment that supports certain mindsets. And these mindsets can create first a culture change in your organization, often followed by a higher financial return on investment. These mindsets are the competencies that convert ideas to impact. In this course, you will learn about and apply three key innovation competencies: lean startup, maker culture, and design thinking. Each of these competencies are used by large and small organizations, resulting in new products and services and satisfied employees and customers. Lean thinking is a form of customer discovery where you will develop a series of hypotheses and then test them. Maker culture is based on the do-it-yourself ethos and can help you prototype and test products quickly, reducing time to market. Design thinking is a process of empathetically listening to and then co-designing with your customers. While the three competencies have some overlapping methodology, one or two of them will best support your innovation strategy and tie in more effectively with your organization's overall strategy. The following course is required to be completed before taking this course: Developing Innovation Strategy

There are many exciting tools you can use to implement innovation at your organization. These tools are the hammer and nails of innovation. In this course, you will learn about 14 innovation tools. You will also see how other organizations have used them to successfully increase cultural and financial ROI, please customers, and improve operational efficiencies. These tools range from simpler activities such as conducting employee training, hosting hackathons, and implementing design sprints to more complex methods such as establishing an external incubator, founding a center of excellence, and acquiring another company. You will then further iterate your innovation placemat. The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing Innovation Strategy, Building Innovation Competencies

So far you have created an innovation strategy and established a vision, SMART goals, and outcome measures. You've identified competencies such as lean startup, makerspace, and design thinking, and selected tools to build an innovation culture. Now you will learn how to implement your strategy. After you map key internal stakeholders, you will devise a campaign plan for your strategy and build a dedicated team. You will understand the different motivations of your innovation shop and the performance engine and learn to work effectively with performance engine team members. You will further build out your innovation placemat with your implementation plan, identifying policies that can enhance innovation at your organization. The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing Innovation Strategy, Building Innovation Competencies, Innovation Tools

In this course, you will devise a strategy to manage a portfolio of innovation projects at your organization. You will examine best practices for portfolio management and establish a plan to spread your innovation and innovation culture. Then you will examine typical risks to your scaling strategy and establish a sustainment plan. Finally, you will revise your innovation placemat and present a practice pitch. This activity will prepare you to pitch your innovation placemat at your organization. The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course: Developing Innovation Strategy, Building Innovation Competencies, Innovation Tools, Implementing Innovation

With the number of applications available today, it is easy to create an assortment of graphs, charts, and other visualizations of data. This does not, however, guarantee that the data and the story behind it are being compellingly conveyed; without pinpointing that story in the data, it is impossible to communicate it effectively with visuals. In this course, you will examine how to frame the narrative in your data, determining the right visualization for the right question. Next, you will explore design principles that consider human attention and perception, then apply these concepts to your own visualizations in order to create simple, effective visuals that illustrate the key points in your data. Finally, you will compile your visual narratives and prepare them for professional presentation. You will be required to purchase "Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals" by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic to complete your coursework.

In this course, you will begin to create data visualizations in Python. You will do this by exploring the array of visual tools available in Matplotlib, a Python package designed with straightforward code techniques to make effective visualizations of data sets. You'll start by examining visualization libraries to determine the styles that best meet the needs of your data. You will then examine some simple approaches to efficiently utilize the Matplotlib documentation. Finally, you will create several plot types in Python, applying best practices and design principles in order to clearly and accurately communicate the story contained in your data. At the end of this course, you will be able to create and customize your own visualizations with minimal programming experience required.

To be successful, product managers need a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They also need a clear sense of the required skills and competencies. An appreciation of the roles, responsibilities, and requisite capabilities of this important position is also beneficial for stakeholders and team members who need to work closely with product managers. This course lays the foundation for success in product management by exploring a product manager's position in an organization and the key associated responsibilities. You will examine the specific skills and competencies most likely to lead to success in carrying out those responsibilities. To further improve your understanding of product management, you will consider how product managers typically work with a product team and other stakeholders to develop successful products, whether they be digital products, hardware, or service offerings.

Before a product is developed, product managers must know how to organize and manage a team. They must understand the typical product development lifecycle and be able to select an appropriate development methodology. They must lead the process of identifying and embracing core principles and values appropriate for their team, and they must engage effectively with stakeholders and funding sources. This course will help build skills in the "nuts and bolts" of product team leadership. You will consider the typical phases of product development and the roles that are involved in each step of the development process. You'll look at possible team structures and the importance of a team charter. You'll survey a number of product development methodologies. Finally, you'll explore ways to foster a dynamic team culture, run effective team meetings, and keep a product team motivated and focused on shared goals. It is recommended to take Preparing for Success as a Product Manager prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

Products can only be successful if they address the real needs of customers. Product managers must lead a team effort to research customer needs and propose products that address those opportunities in innovative ways. This course will guide you through the steps that effective product managers take to propose a product, research the market, begin work on a product roadmap, and identify and analyze specific needs that will inform the design process. You will explore the importance of user stories and develop personas that represent your potential customers. It is recommended to take Preparing for Success as a Product Manager and Managing Product Teams prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

After customer needs are identified, product managers must lead a team effort to decide how a new or revamped product can best meet those needs. They must translate customer insights into specific design ideas and establish priorities for the design and development process. They must develop a convincing business case and win the support of stakeholders and funding sources. This course will guide you through the process that effective product managers use to develop and prioritize design ideas based on customer research. You will see how product roadmaps are updated as ideas are refined. You will develop a business case, explore ways of winning buy-in for your project from the people whose support is essential to success, and develop a product charter. It is recommended to take Preparing for Success as a Product Manager , Managing Product Teams , and Identifying and Targeting Customer Needs prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

When customer needs have been analyzed and broad priorities have been set for product development, actual design and development can commence. The design process often uses a variety of methods to hammer out increasingly detailed plans. After these plans are validated, development work begins. This course will start you on the design and development process by showing you how to document detailed project requirements. You will see how to develop prototypes of increasing precision. You will explore how to seek and evaluate design feedback from customers. Finally, you will consider a range of development issues and best practices, including the use of sprints, the establishment of appropriate infrastructure, progress tracking, and working with remote and third-party teams. It is recommended to take Preparing for Success as a Product Manager , Managing Product Teams , Identifying and Targeting Customer Needs , and Prioritizing for Product Roadmaps prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

After a product has been developed, the product manager must bring it to market and manage the product lifecycle as it evolves. The PM must work with other departments to sustain and improve the product over time and must take steps to retire the product at the right time. This course will show you how to prepare for product launch through close coordination with key departments like marketing, operations, sales, and quality assurance. You will explore ways to build up to an effective mass product launch, and then track and manage the product in the market after launch. You will see how to work with your colleagues in other departments to ensure appropriate growth in product features as well as market viability. Finally, you will reflect on the decisions and steps needed when "sunsetting" a product at the end of its life cycle. It is recommended to take Preparing for Success as a Product Manager , Managing Product Teams , Identifying and Targeting Customer Needs , Prioritizing for Product Roadmaps, and Designing and Developing Products prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

As a person working in a technical field, you most likely have to give talks or presentations to different audiences, some of whom will be non-experts or decision makers outside your sphere of expertise. In this course, you will look at your own current practices for giving talks as a technical expert and establish a set of action items for improvement. You will look closely at your old habits and establish new ways to design, build, and deliver effective in-person and virtual presentations for an array of internal and external audiences. You will also examine, reevaluate, and apply best practices for engineering, technical, and scientific presentations, and explore current and past presentation practices that do not achieve the intended goals and results. This examination will help you refine your ability to deliver an effective message. Specifically, you will perform an assessment of presentation techniques, both personal and at your workplace. From that starting point, you can reengineer your presentations to meet specific technical communication needs. Most importantly, you will have an opportunity to discover and articulate your organization's presentation culture, identify areas for improvement in your own slide design and presentation skills, set goals for leveraging effective new presentation habits, and formulate a detailed action plan for improvement. Throughout this course, you will read various selections from Dr. Traci Nathans-Kelly's book "Slide Rules," which contains helpful insights and examples that you can apply in your own presentations. Furthermore, you will prepare for a specific work-related talk and define the needs of co-presenters, audience members, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders.

Since the advent of presentation software like PowerPoint, presenters have been led astray by the design of slide templates. The software applications were originally created to help presenters outline their talks, but the slideware's design did not account for the needs of audiences nor factor in cognitive research. As a consequence, the templates have ingrained poor presentation habits that often confuse and disengage the people who are meant to benefit from these talks. In this course you will have an opportunity to begin challenging the norm and break this cycle of "slide deck drudgery." By replacing old presentation habits with new best practices that you gain from this course, you can shift your focus to the needs and interests of your audience, and you can begin to use your slides to communicate your ideas more clearly and effectively. You will explore new techniques that will help you to improve the flow of your talk and keep your audience focused on your main ideas. You will then study effective presentation design and development practices as you read various selections from Dr. Traci Nathans-Kelly's book "Slide Rules," which contains valuable insights and examples that you can apply in your own presentations. It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed "Redesigning Slides for Impact" or have equivalent experience.

When giving a presentation, you want to ensure you communicate all of your critical ideas while you have your audience's attention. There are more effective ways of doing so beyond the standard large amounts of text and bullet points. In this course, you will have the opportunity to rethink the way you design your presentations and slides. You will discover that there are straightforward ways to use your slide decks to serve two purposes: support your technical and business presentations while making your slide decks reusable and valuable resources inside your organization. You will then examine the life cycle of your presentations and begin to document who uses your slides, when they are used, and what clearances are needed to share and use them. You will also consider legal issues or proprietary concerns that may exist. Finally, you will start to build a process to help you protect proprietary information before you share it with external parties. As part of your study, you will review various selections from Dr. Traci Nathans-Kelly's book "Slide Rules," which provides helpful insights and enlightening examples that you can apply in your own presentations. It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed "Redesigning Slides for Impact" and "Engaging Presentation Techniques," or have equivalent experience.

Your work in a technical field likely means that you periodically interact with colleagues, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders who live in a different part of the world, speak a primary language different from your own, or have expertise in a different or non-technical field. As a technical expert, your ability to anticipate the needs of audiences from diverse backgrounds and communicate effectively with them is essential. In this course, you will have an opportunity to explore how you can prepare to meet the needs of audiences with differing backgrounds, primary languages, and levels of expertise, and even varying degrees of receptivity to your message. You will examine principles of persuasion and consider how and when to apply them both effectively and ethically. As part of your studies, you will also review pertinent selections from Dr. Traci Nathans-Kelly's book "Slide Rules," and you will look at how you can prepare for the unexpected in your talks and maintain your composure when disruptions occur. By the end of this course, you will have gained techniques and insights that you can apply as you prepare and develop presentations for a wide range of audiences with varying needs and interests. It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed "Redesigning Slides for Impact," "Engaging Presentation Techniques," and "Designing Slides for Live and Legacy Use," or have equivalent experience.

Effective communication skills are the hallmark of a professional no matter what the profession. In this course, you will begin to parse the ways in which you present yourself to others as a technical expert. In any presentation or talk that you give, whether face to face or online, you want to project expertise, confidence, and professionalism. The idea of professionalism, however, can vary. Everyone expects professionalism, but the definition and perception of professionalism differs greatly among individuals, organizations, nations, and cultures. In this course, you will delve into the concept of professionalism in presentations and explore how it varies depending upon the context, the participants, and their expectations. You will study effective practices for designing, developing, and delivering professional-grade online meetings and team presentations. Additionally, you will have an opportunity to examine the importance of your body language, eye contact, and voice in projecting confidence in your talks, regardless of the setting or delivery medium. You will then record a talk and take an inventory of your expert presence in the video. You will also investigate the nuances and complexities of developing and delivering team presentations. In the final part of the course, you will complete the process of preparing to deliver a professional-level team talk. It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed "Redesigning Slides for Impact," "Engaging Presentation Techniques," "Designing Slides for Live and Legacy Use," and "Strategizing for Audiences With Different Expertise," or have equivalent experience.

Thanks to ongoing advances in communication technologies, you can collaborate in real time with colleagues, customers, suppliers, investors, and other stakeholders around the world. That reality presents both exciting opportunities and potential challenges. You can share ideas and receive information with great ease, but your message could encounter cultural and language barriers as you communicate with diverse audiences. In this course, you will explore effective ways to deliver high-impact content that meets the needs of multinational audiences in live, online, and face-to-face presentations. Using practical insights studied in this course, you will strategize and prepare for high-impact presentations in formal settings. You will scrutinize how to design and adapt your slides and delivery techniques to meet the needs of international audiences speaking multiple languages. You will also see how you can leverage your slide presentations to create custom videos that address the needs of your target audience. It is recommended to only take this course if you have completed "Redesigning Slides for Impact," "Engaging Presentation Techniques," "Designing Slides for Live and Legacy Use," "Strategizing for Audiences With Different Expertise," and "Projecting Expertise and Confidence During Presentations," or have equivalent experience.

By some estimates, 90% of the data that has ever existed has been created in the last two years. This is a staggering figure and has given rise to new challenges and opportunities in almost every industry: What kind of data do you need to collect to compete, and how can you make sense of it once you have collected it? As technology evolves and the volume of data increases, how can you make the best use of all this information? How can you use the data to help drive your decision-making? How can you make data work for you? How can you ensure your data accurately reflects the population in which you're interested?In this course, you will determine the types of engineering and business questions you can answer, the kinds of problems you can solve, and the decisions you can make, all through using data analytics. You will explore best practices for collecting information so that you can make informed predictions, develop insights, and better inform organizational decision-making. You will see real-world examples that demonstrate how those tools work. Additionally, you will have a chance to apply some of the concepts to your own work. You will explore best practices for sampling and examine how different types of sampling are suited for different situations. Finally, you will see real-world examples that demonstrate how those tools work and have a chance to practice sampling techniques in some case-study scenarios.

Visualization is one of the most simple and effective ways to find patterns in data. These patterns include: What is the general range and shape of the data set? Are there any clusters of observations? Which variables correlate with each other? Are there any obvious outliers?As your data set grows in terms of the number of data points and variables, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to visualize all this information at once. At most, you can plot data points on a three-dimensional axis and add further distinctions of size, color, shape, and so on. Yet this can easily become too busy and difficult to read. How, then, do we find patterns in really big data sets?In this course, you will explore several powerful and commonly utilized techniques for distilling patterns from data. You will implement each of these techniques using the free and open-source statistical programming language R with real-world data sets. The focus will be on making these methods accessible for you in your own work.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Understanding Data Analytics

When you have large groups of objects, it is often helpful to split them into meaningful groups or clusters. One example of this would be to identify different types of customers so that a company can more efficiently route their calls to a helpline. As a second example, suppose an automobile manufacturer wanted to segment their market to target the ads more carefully. One approach might be to take a database of recent car sales, including the social demographics associated with each customer, and segment the population purchasing each type of automobile into meaningful groups.Specialized approaches exist if your data contains information that relates to time and geography. You can use this additional information to identify geographical and temporal hotspots. Hotspots are regions of high activity or a high value of a particular variable. These results can help you focus your attention on a particular region where a problem is occurring more than usual, such as the incidence of asthma in a large city. In both cluster and hotspot analysis, the results can help you discover new and interesting features, problems, and red flags regarding the data being analyzed.In this course, you will explore several powerful and commonly utilized techniques for performing both cluster and hotspot analysis. You will implement these techniques using the free and open-source statistical programming language R with real-world datasets. The focus will be on making these methods accessible and applicable to your work.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:Understanding Data Analytics Finding Patterns in Data Using Association Rules, PCA, and Factor Analysis

A story can play an important role in understanding data. It can help distill complex information into something manageable- something we can think about easily, relate to, and use to make decisions. For many problems that we encounter globally, however, a story that describes what already happened is not enough precision for the job we want to perform. Often, we would like to use available data to make numerically accurate predictions about what might happen in the future. This task requires the construction of mathematical models that are well suited to our real-world problems.In this course, you will explore several types of statistical models used with data to make predictions. These models bring with them a whole batch of important concerns, such as estimation and validation, that make the entire process into both an art and a science. You will implement each of these techniques using the free and open-source statistical programming language R with real-world data sets. The focus will be on making these methods accessible for you in your own work.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:Understanding Data Analytics Finding Patterns in Data Using Association Rules, PCA, and Factor Analysis Finding Patterns in Data Using Cluster and Hotspot Analysis

Supervised learning is a general term for any machine learning technique that attempts to discover the relationship between a data set and some associated labels for prediction. In regression, the labels are continuous numbers. This course will focus on classification, where the labels are taken from a finite set of numbers or characters. The prototypical and perhaps most well-known example of classification is image recognition. The goal is to take an image (represented by its pixel values) and determine what objects are in the image. Is it a dog? A grapefruit? A stop sign?There are many practical classification tasks, such as determining whether an individual's financial history makes them high risk for a loan, whether there is a defect in a material based on some sensor readings, or whether a new email is spam or not. These problems share the same basic form and can be solved with many different types of mathematical, statistical, and probabilistic models developed by the machine learning community.In this course, you will explore several powerful and commonly utilized techniques for supervised learning. You will implement each of these techniques using the free and open-source statistical programming language R with real-world data sets. The focus will be on making these methods accessible for you in your own work.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:Understanding Data Analytics Finding Patterns in Data Using Association Rules, PCA, and Factor Analysis Finding Patterns in Data Using Cluster and Hotspot Analysis Regression Analysis and Discrete Choice Models

Neural networks, a nonlinear supervised learning modeling tool, have become hugely popular within the last two decades because they have been successfully applied to a wide range of problems, including automatic language processing, image classification, object detection, speech recognition, and pattern recognition. They are mathematical models that are loosely built up based on an analogy to the interconnected neuron in the brain. They take in a vector or matrix of input data and output either a classification value or an approximation to a functional value. The beauty is that the relationships between the inputs and outputs can be highly non-linear and complex.In this course, you will explore the mechanics of neural networks and the intricacies involved in fitting them to data for prediction. Using packages in the free and open-source statistical programming language R with real-world data sets, you will implement these techniques. The focus will be on making these methods accessible for you in your own work.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:Understanding Data Analytics Finding Patterns in Data Using Association Rules, PCA, and Factor Analysis Finding Patterns in Data Using Cluster and Hotspot Analysis Regression Analysis and Discrete Choice Models Supervised Learning Techniques

Many real-world decision situations are complicated by uncertainty, complexity, and competing objectives. When you begin to frame and analyze a complex decision, you quickly realize: Defining the problem is the problem. In this course, you will explore the concepts and tools you'll need for framing and analyzing complex decisions. You will define and frame the key components of a problem and identify the values that will inform your decision. You will then begin to map your values to your objectives with applicable examples. Finally, you will apply decision analysis to a wicked problem. Overall, you will examine how your unique perspective can alter how you frame and make complex decisions.

As you begin to frame your decisions, it's important to organize the problem in a manner that allows for the proper examination of solutions and their varying impacts. At this point, you can begin to incorporate the use of decision trees to meet that goal. What are the various kinds of decisions you can make? How is the impact of each decision path weighted and differently valued? Constructing decision trees will provide you with some answers to these questions. In this course, you will explore the aspects of decision trees and when to best incorporate them into your decision analysis. You will map how performance measures may influence different sequences and outcomes. You will calculate risk profiles, develop modeling measures, and decide on the proper usage of decision trees in discrete choice situations. While decision trees are commonly and widely used, they won't always be the right approach; you will explore in detail why that is and when it can make the most sense in given situations.

When you conduct your quantitative analysis, the fact that it is quantitative may seem to imply that the data is objectively set in a definitive manner and not suited for subjective analysis. In reality, quantifiable metrics include subjectivity at several points, including how the problem is approached and how you elicit the observations of knowledgeable individuals. It may surprise you, but you will often encounter subjectivity while you're trying to frame a decision process that is objective. Many times you'll discover that the questions that you're asking, the types of probabilities you need, and other information won't involve perfectly clear observations. Making a decision, therefore, isn't always as simple as picking the "best" quantitative option. When you consider potential solutions, how does the elicitation of subjective data come into play? In this course, you will analyze the processes and theories you must consider as you begin to explore the subjectivity of objectivity in decision making and how they are related. You can potentially elicit subjective expertise to get a sense of the demand for a certain approach. You can also think about the overall riskiness of your potential choice as you deliberate over options. And there are biases and heuristics that may affect your decision. This all points to the importance of understanding the value of information and how it might influence your decisions. Evaluating how the subjectivity of objectivity can affect how you view options will provide added context and tools for decision making. These elements will help guide you as you further consider how to frame your choices.

Making a decision often isn't as simple as choosing between Choice 1 and Choice 2 because one option is clearly better than the other. In the real world, not only are there complexities regarding financial costs, but there are deeper considerations around risk. Adding risk into the equation then requires considering whether the more profitable option is not worth the risk, and adding utility theory allows for the proper modeling of these complex choices. Risk and other considerations can subsequently be placed into a decision tree for further evaluation. You have explored how subjective probabilities and the value of information can be integrated into your decision analysis. In this course, you will examine how risk attitudes and utility theory also impact your decision analysis. You will identify how risk attitudes are related to several axioms and paradoxes. You will also use utility theory to devise a model for quantifying subjective inputs to a decision then apply these additional considerations to a decision tree framework. Risk and utility theories have the potential to totally change how you may have originally framed your decision, but this fuller picture provides invaluable insight into how you should make your decisions. It will also offer clearer context for when you incorporate more complicated analysis tools into your analysis process.

In complex engineered systems and design processes, you do not have the luxury of having fully defined decision alternatives with a clear mapping of their performance trade-offs or consequences. As you transition from classical discrete-choice problems, problem structuring and evaluation tools must become more advanced in their ability to explore large design problems while providing innovative decision analytical tools for helping to clearly map possibilities, their trade-offs, and key consequences. In this course, you will discover how to formulate multi-objective design problems and more formally consider their trade-offs using the concepts of non-dominance, Pareto optimality, and a posteriori decision support.

As computational simulation becomes more commonplace in design and decision processes, it is important for you to consider how uncertainty could be impacting your perceptions of performance, trade-offs, and consequences. A single simulation can be seen as mapping from your design alternative to its performance objectives based on a single set of assumptions and choices used in the model's representation of the system of interest. Monte Carlo simulation can be thought of as accounting for uncertainties in your modeling assumptions and choices where you can simulate performance if your design resides in many different but plausible alternative worlds (i.e., many states of the world). In this course, you will broaden the types of performance measures that can be used in your decision framings to include risks and vulnerabilities. You will assess the value of Monte Carlo simulation in better understanding the sensitivities, risks, and consequences of your candidate design alternatives. You will also explore the emerging insights and analytics associated with decision making under deep uncertainty. Given the many ways that our decisions shape concerns surrounding people, profit, and planet, finding solutions that maintain acceptable performance across many plausible futures then explicitly mapping their vulnerabilities is extremely valuable.

Decision making for complex systems often necessitates the modeling of system dynamics, optimization across multiple conflicting objectives, the analysis of uncertainty, and the visual analysis of performance. The depth of analysis is often limited by the tools available to decision makers. Recently, however, a number of software packages have been developed and deployed specifically to aid in decision making for complex systems. In this course, you will explore the latest options in real-world decision making in the face of uncertainty. You will also use the open source Python library Rhodium to examine the shallow lake problem by testing multiple problem formulations, examining trade-offs between conflicting objectives, and discovering consequential combinations of uncertainty. In your final project, you will examine your decisions in simulated situations of uncertainty.

A foundation in risk analysis is a crucial skill set in today's business marketplace. When you can understand risk and apply strategies to manage it, you set yourself up for success in an ever-changing world. In this course, you will explore key risk evaluation strategies and tools. You will begin by delving into the basics of risk analysis, studying hazards, risk management strategies, and vulnerability identification. You will then broaden your focus to visualizing and estimating risk, discussing models such as risk matrices that categorize risks by likelihood and consequence. Finally, you will analyze the causes and effects of adverse events, constructing event trees and performing fault tree analysis using practical tools like Python and R. By the end of this course, you will have a firm grasp of risk analysis and evaluation, including how to assess the likelihood and effects of adverse events.

Evaluating risk can feel difficult without the proper statistical techniques in your toolbelt. To give yourself that foundation, you will need to understand both the concepts and the tools involved in the process. In this course, you will walk through the process of risk assessment using several statistical techniques. You will begin by learning to monitor and analyze variations to ensure product or service quality. You will then practice evaluating risk using discrete distributions and summarizing findings using common statistical techniques for risk analysis, including skewness and distributions such as log-normal distributions. You will also gain familiarity with critical functions and concepts in risk analysis, including power law functions and distributions, semi-variance, volatility and beta, and value at risk (VaR), a financial metric used to assess potential asset or portfolio losses. Finally, you will examine design methodologies geared toward improving product reliability, including design for reliability, design for Six Sigma, and quality control. By the end of this course, you will be well-equipped to analyze and evaluate risk using numerous statistical methods. You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Risk Analysis Foundations

Once you have a sense of risk for a situation, how can you model that risk using the most common tools of the industry? In this course, you will assess a given situation, select the appropriate modeling tools, and perform a risk analysis. You will begin by identifying the attributes that make a model strong, providing you with a blueprint for creating user-friendly and reliable models for risk analysis. You will explore the most commonly used risk analysis tools, including simulation, fault trees, event trees, Bayesian networks, and statistical tools. Your examination of simulation tools will have you quantifying risk by creating a Monte Carlo simulation and constructing a Bayesian network. Finally, you will discuss mitigation, diversification, and transfer of risk as well as how to pick the correct combination for a given situation. By the end of this course, you will have the necessary foundation to model risk and apply strategies to set you up for success. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Risk Analysis Foundations Risk Evaluation

Reducing risk in business and life is a goal for many of us, but how can we effectively assess risk in a world where everyone's perceptions are so different? In this course, you will explore risk perception, which describes how each person views and measures the nature and severity of danger. Unlike the numerical depiction of risks, risk perception is influenced by personal experiences, mental activities, context, and inherent personality traits. You will discuss the effects of risk perception on risk evaluation and decision making. You will then explore models such as expected utility, bounded rationality, and prospect theory, giving you a foundation in the elements of risk perception. Finally, you will investigate cognitive shortcuts and biases, including the availability heuristic, anchoring and adjustment, confirmation bias, and overconfidence, and determine their repercussions on behavior. These skills will give you the tools to examine the risk perceptions of various stakeholders, address cognitive biases, and identify suitable models for decision making under uncertainty. By the end of this course, you will be equipped with the methods and insights necessary to effectively evaluate and manage risks, even in complicated situations. You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course: Risk Analysis Foundations Risk Evaluation Risk Modeling

Lasers have affected the human story. Through the use of lasers, we have been able to create almost unlimited high speed global communication, modify materials ranging from the lens in your eye to carbon steel, and completely transform how our music, video, and data is stored. What's next? Currently, emerging applications such as LIDAR and remote sensing are already changing the way we think about and advance our technology, improve industrial productivity, and create new opportunities.In this course, you will analyze the design of a laser system, identifying the unique aspects of laser light that provides the power and accuracy needed to perform in the broad spectrum of applications. You will see multiple demonstrations of lasers, including all the parts of the system, and discuss how they are being used to solve complex productivity issues. You will explore the underlying fundamentals of how lasers work by calculating the energy and physics required to power and manipulate the laser beam for your own application or design goals, completing exercises modeled after real-world applications of the laser.

Even experienced project leaders will ask themselves "Why won't people listen to me?" or "What went wrong with my plan?" Of all the skills critical to project leadership, emotional intelligence may be the most important and least understood. In this course, you will learn to identify, analyze, and manage emotions, both yours and your team members'. It is a common mistake among project leaders to focus too heavily on the mechanics of project management while neglecting the critical people skills that keep everyone engaged and working harmoniously. In this course, from Robert Newman of Cornell's College of Civil and Environmental Engineering, project leaders will explore concepts of emotional intelligence and practice skills relevant to managing emotions so that they can enjoy better project outcomes. You will focus on five critical aptitudes: communication, relationship management, decision making, conflict management, and motivation.

Even experienced project leaders often find that regular meetings and status updates don't lead to meaningful communication. When the team doesn't fully understand project goals or how the work is going to get done, that lack of clarity will have a direct impact on whether the project is on time, within budget, and will lead to quality output. At the same time, team members may mislead you about their progress. Stakeholders may not always explain their expectations. Customers may be unclear about what they want and need. What's going wrong? And how can a project leader do better? In this course, authored by Cornell Instructor Robert Newman, you will examine typical project-related communication problems and explore practical strategies for overcoming them. You'll learn to host kick-offs and lead meetings that actually guide the team toward successful outcomes. You will practice communicating with a fresh, even sometimes unfamiliar, perspective in order to bring about productive and high-functioning working relationships. The course Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Project Results is required to be completed prior to starting this course.

Getting skilled people to behave and perform as high-functioning teams can be a challenge. In this course, you'll take a look at how teams tend to progress, what might impact motivation and engagement, and how culture can influence behaviors and results. This course, authored by Cornell Instructor Robert Newman, will show you how the fundamentals as taught by top researchers like Frederick Herzberg, Bruce Tuckman, and Meredith Belbin can help turn a group of workers into a high-performing team. It is recommended to take Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Project Results prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

Seasoned project leaders sometimes apply the same leadership approach to every situation. In this course, authored by Cornell Instructor Robert Newman, you'll explore a number of leadership styles to assess their relative strengths and weaknesses. You'll learn how to manage safety concerns, when to be directly coercive, and see how creative collaboration and a shot of inspiration can turn things around for a team. After taking this course, you'll be ready to employ a particular style or model of leadership just as a carpenter would a tool. Does the occasion call for a hammer or a saw? Every style of leadership has its merits and its place. Find out what style works best for the situation. It is recommended to take Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Project Results prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

As a project leader you need to be able to distinguish between when conflict is healthy and when it's damaging to relationships and productivity. In this course, authored by Cornell Instructor Robert Newman, you'll learn to identify various causes and sources of conflict and learn to foster healthy disagreement within a project team. It is recommended to take Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Project Results prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

When errors, misses, over-runs and problems occur during projects, a balanced, measured response from the project leader is critical. If you underreact, stakeholders will begin to doubt your effectiveness. If you overreact, your teams will be in fear, crushing any creative effort and stifling information sharing. In this course, authored by Cornell Instructor Robert Newman, you will examine the human elements of project monitoring and control and review common errors that occur on projects. You'll learn how to ask the right questions and improve team connectedness. It is recommended to take Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Project Results prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

On the surface, project management seems straightforward. However, at best, only 80% of projects end up being economically successful. The remaining 20% of projects usually cost more than estimated, run late, or fail to satisfy goals or meet objectives. In this course, Linda Nozick, Professor and Director of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell, shares clear, understandable, and practical methods for achieving better results. You will practice breaking down a project into pieces that can be scheduled, tracked, and controlled. While this is not a prep course for a project management certification, it will be quite valuable for anyone who is interested in pursuing one. This program will equip you with the concepts, tools, and language of project management that can be applied to any size and type of project. The course is not specific to any formal project management software (e.g. Microsoft Project), but will require that learners have Microsoft Excel with its free Solver add-on installed.

Research shows that a high percentage of projects take significantly longer than expected and cost more than anticipated. Moreover, if you ask people for an estimate of how long a task will take them to complete, their estimate will usually be overly optimistic. Sometimes, if you bring in extra people to help with a task, that actually slows down progress instead of accelerating it. Why is this so? And what can you do about it? In this course, from Linda K. Nozick, Director and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell, you will examine these questions. Students will identify strategies to integrate resource availability constraints into project planning, scheduling, and control. This course is designed for project managers who seek better practical results for aligning available resources with tasks and bringing activities to completion on time. Students will examine compression strategies for bringing a project that's running late back on track and will explore how to handle common types of project creep, such as handling customer requests that require extra time, and working with team members who decide independently to invest extra effort in a task. This course combines a focus on formal project management mechanisms with an emphasis on the human element: what can project managers do to resolve issues brought about in the normal course of working with customers, team members, and stakeholders? It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

Risk management is a key function in project management. Project managers should be able to apply a variety of risk-management tools in their work, including performing risk identification, quantification, response, monitoring, and control. In this course from Professor and Director of Civil and Environmental Engineering Linda K. Nozick, you will examine the nature and types of project risk and learn to apply specific mitigation strategies. You'll have an opportunity to analyze a past project you've worked on and assess what the risks might have been and why. Then you'll analyze the outcomes: Did the known risks come to fruition? What were the leading indicators? What could they have done for contingency planning at the beginning? By asking these questions, you'll then be able to perform several calculations to compute the probability that a project will finish on time. It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components and Planning and Managing Resources prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

Project managers need to keep things on track by keeping a close eye on the scope of and resources invested in a project. Forecasting, adjusting, and applying corrective measures during the project lifecycle are also key functions of a project manager. This set of processes and protocols that help ensure project success is called earned value management (EVM). Every project manager should have at least a working knowledge of EVM and its theoretical underpinnings. This course is designed for project managers who seek an introduction to EVM to achieve better practical results for implementing project controls, including financial controls and schedule controls. The calculations presented here are meant for any experienced project manager, including those who are not engineers, to apply to any size project. Students in this course will be most successful if they have a foundational understanding of standard project management tools and processes including project networks, project budgets and schedules, and work breakdown structures. It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components , Planning and Managing Resource s, and Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

In traditional project management, we tend to make assumptions: the customer knows precisely what they want, or the team's workflow and tasks will go according to plan and in sequence. Practically speaking, this is rarely the case. Sometimes the customer doesn't know what they need until they see an early iteration of your team's work and can provide feedback. Because of this, work is usually done incrementally. We must build flexibility, even agility, into the model in order to succeed. This course is designed for project managers who want to get better practical results with adaptive approaches to projects. Students in this course will be most successful if they have a foundational understanding of traditional project management tools and processes including project networks, budgets and schedules. It is recommended to take Organizing the Project and Its Components , Planning and Managing Resources , Using Earned Value Management for Project Managers , and Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk prior to this course or have equivalent experience.

In this course you will begin an empathy-based process that leads you to a solution which serves a broad, diverse user base. Along the way, you will identify key stakeholders who will drive critical decisions later in the design cycle. Your process begins when you identify an opportunity and develop a challenge statement summarizing what you are trying to do along with your aspirations. From there, you will gather support for your idea and refine your intent. Your effort will culminate in presentation-ready document that summarizes and describes in detail the challenge you are trying to address and what you hope to achieve by taking on the challenge.

In this course you will conduct fieldwork to collect information about the users whose needs you are trying to meet within a challenge and empathy space that you have defined. You will venture out into the empathy field and observe and interact with people to gain the insight you need. Ultimately the insights gained from this fieldwork will help you develop a robust model of your users' needs, expectations, and connections with one another. The course Identifying and Framing a Challenge is required to be completed prior to starting this course.

In this course you will convert the raw data from your empathy fieldwork to create a powerful problem definition that sets the right context for brainstorming solutions. You will prepare a physical or virtual space in which you will thoughtfully unpack your observations to create a robust record of your experiences in the field. You will apply methods to extract empathy data from first, second, and third person empathy experiences. You will then distill this data into a series of needs, insights, and surprises that will drive creativity and innovation later in the process. At the same time, you will analyze the empathy data to identify patterns and connections within and among your observations. The methods described in this course are an efficient approach to problem definition with results that are powerful and authentic. The resulting model is rich with not only qualitative data such as user personas, but also quantitative results that can be reviewed and shared throughout the remainder of the process. The act of constructing this model can bring into sharp focus the defining features of your problem. The ideas and insights generated may in fact be provocative, and this is very appropriate at this stage in the design process. The courses Identifying and Framing a Challenge and Gathering User Emotions are required to be completed prior to starting this course.

In this course you will build on the extraction and interpretation of emotional data generated while unpacking observations. You will work through the personas that you previously defined and situate these in context diagrams that examine the relationships between individual users and the problem space. You will also use emotional relationship data maps and flow of thoughts to create capabilities diagrams that crystallize the needs your system must address. With an actionable model of your problem in place, you will engage in a series of brainstorming sessions that use as their core inspiration the personas, capabilities diagrams, and context diagrams. From this process you will gather ideas that will propel you toward the creative solutions in your problem space. The courses Identifying and Framing a Challenge , Gathering User Emotions , and Crafting User Narratives are required to be completed prior to starting this course.

In this course you will evolve a first design, called design zero , for your problem. Your design zero builds on all the prior work, including your capabilities diagrams and the brainstorming sessions you recently completed. You will create visualizations of your personas in action called persona concept sketches . You will use other modified systems engineering tools to document your product features. From this point, you will create rough prototypes and role play as end users who are working with these prototypes. From this process you will learn about your product's strengths and shortcomings. The courses Identifying and Framing a Challenge , Gathering User Emotions , Crafting User Narratives , and Generating User-Centered Solutions are required to be completed prior to starting this course.

In this course you will test your design zero , which is the culmination of the design process leading up to this point. In the testing process you will use tools similar to those used when gathering emotional data. In a similar way, you will end up collecting needs, insights, and surprises along with tensions, contradictions, and synergies. The purpose here is to hone in on a viable system that truly meets user needs. The gathering and analysis of user data will point you in the direction of a refinement of your design zero , which is referred to as design one . Your design one may look deeper into product details, and it may also lead to subtle refinements or radical changes. Your design one is the starting point for a subsequent round of testing, and in adopting this approach you will see how iterative development brings your system closer to the best possible product for your users. The courses Identifying and Framing a Challenge , Gathering User Emotions , Crafting User Narratives , Generating User-Centered Solutions , and Design Prototyping are required to be completed prior to starting this course.

In order to optimize your system, you first need to define it. In this course, you will learn how to use a tool called the Context Diagram to map the responsibilities and elements of your system and how those elements interact with each other. Then you will define the functionality of your system. By using case analysis, you will study the different scenarios that your system may need to accomplish in order to meet your project goals. You will learn not only how to define and analyze your system, but also how to visualize and communicate this information with stakeholders.

This course guides you through the process of deciding how your system should interact with all the elements in the context you identified. You will articulate what your system needs to do to successfully complete its use case using a tool called the Use Case Behavioral Diagram (UCBD). With the UCBD you will derive professional, functional requirements that describe what any valid solution must do throughout its use cases. Then you will develop the UCBD in a way that will meet your customers' needs, but not so prescriptive that it prevents your team from using all of your talent in service of making your project a success.

In this course, you will bring together disparate system functions that have been described in isolation to show how they all might operate together. You will explore what different kinds of interactions might occur in a way that brings your whole team together to create a cohesive solution that truly meets the challenge's needs. Then you will interpret a flexible tool called the Functional Flow Block Diagram that will add value throughout your design-build-test process.

Decision matrices are one of the most commonly used engineering tools. They are used to help rationalize why one option should be chosen over another, and you can find some form of them in just about every business, industry, and government. Decision matrices may not always be identified as such but can be used as part of a trade study, competitive analysis, or options review. As prevalent as these matrices are, they are also one of the most misused tools out there. In this course, you begin by developing performance metrics. These performance metrics will allow you to objectively determine the value of any potential solution to a challenge. You will then develop a decision matrix around these metrics by applying justifiable weights and tuning the metrics to account for the needs and priorities of specific customers. By learning how to create a superior decision matrix with these well-defined performance metrics, you can achieve tremendous influence on a project even if you do not have official authority.

The quality function deployment (QFD) is one of the most effective methods for relating performance metrics that a customer cares about to technical criteria and engineering parameters and ultimately, the design targets a team needs to build their solution. You will learn that the QFD expresses this relationship in a way that allows you to compare your concepts to your competitors' and to understand the trade-offs between engineering parameters and their influence on performance criteria. This equips you to argue effectively that your design targets will lead your team to a winning solution. In this course, you will go through a detailed, step-by-step process to build a QFD for your own project. You will examine the interrelationship between different engineering characteristics. You will use all this information, along with factors such as cost and technical difficulty, to establish strong design targets and get an estimate of your final system's performance. The course Assessing Your System's Performance and Value is required to be completed prior to starting this course.

Interfaces are one of the most important parts of design and design implementation. However, they are often one of the most challenging aspects to identify and manage, and one of the most common points of failure of any system. As a result, there has been a multitude of software developed to aid in managing this process. However, without a strong understanding of the interfaces and how the subsystem teams work together, the use of the software packages is futile. They are only as good as the information put into them. In this course, you will explore a number of different tools including sequence diagrams and interface matrices to help tease out and formalize your interfaces and interface specifications. This formalization step will help your team to discuss the impact and the dependencies of these interfaces. You will then produce the details and record them as interface specifications so that your team can design and create a well-integrated credible system.

Everyone worries about risk. How do we identify risks? Is this issue more risky than another? Or even worse, "Sorry, but this project sounds too risky. We can't approve it." Wouldn't it be better if you could show an objective understanding of risks, how to plan to address them, and be able to justify the decisions behind those plans? In this course, you will learn how to assess risk with failure modes and effect analysis. You will evaluate different losses of functionality that your system could experience, and determine the possible effects and related causes. You will then develop objective ways of measuring the severity and likelihood of each of these causes, ultimately to develop a quantifiable measure of system risk. You will produce this analysis in a way that not only allows you to make decisions on how to handle these risks, but also justify your actions to others. This course equips you to recognize risk and reduce it.

As leaders, we often give and receive feedback about weaknesses and development opportunities. There are typically systems and processes within organizations that encourage this type of feedback and drive employees to improve in specific areas. The question is, why do we spend so much time on weakness, and does it help? In this course, you will take a different approach to leadership development. Leading from strength is about looking at what someone is naturally good at, as well as the skills gained through experience. You will harness these strengths and learn to leverage and expand them. Leadership development takes time you won't be done with your journey when you complete this course. With that in mind, the course asks you to look into the future and set personalized development goals.

It's not uncommon for people to act differently when at home, at work, or with different types of people; while common, this is not advisable. Everyone has a set of personal core values, but not everyone is aware of them, and often people don't spend much time thinking about their values. In contrast, the best leaders learn not only how to tune into their own values, but also how to communicate and live those values in all aspects of life. In this course, you will work to lead with integrity while inspiring and empowering those around you. Professor Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will help you to discover and align your core values. She will guide you to apply your values to your leadership and to create an action plan for the future. Those who master values-based leadership will be able to rise more effectively through the technology ranks, ultimately allowing them to emerge at the top without losing sight of what values are most important.

Leaders of all kinds have to make informed and resolute decisions. Tech people are often fact- and data-driven, which can make them excellent decision makers. In general, everyone has a decision-making style what separates out great decision makers is their ability to adapt based on a problem's needs. You will begin this course by evaluating your default decision-making style using a data-driven tool, "Decision-Making for Leaders" designed by Victor Vroom, a leading expert on decision making. You will then explore what quality decisions look like. These initial steps will set you up to more effectively take action and make good decisions. Professor Erica Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, guides you through the course, allowing you to evaluate yourself, digest the results and data, and then assess your ability to effectively adapt. The course concludes with the creation of an action plan, setting yourself on a path for future success.

Leaders need to be able to collaborate, innovate, problem solve, and build relationships. All of these core responsibilities require excellent communication skills. Often when thinking of leaders, we picture them addressing crowds, giving directives, and commanding forces. Leaders need to be able to do those things, but they also need to be top-notch listeners and have the ability to use a variety of communication tactics at the right times. In this course, Professor Erica Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will break down critical skills that facilitate collaborative communication. She will guide you as you practice and apply these techniques. Many of the skills in this course, including listening and asking powerful questions, are core to strong interpersonal communication. These skills help you establish, improve, and maintain relationships. You will focus on workplace examples, but these skills are applicable outside of the workplace as well. Many of the skills are hard to learn and even harder to make a habit. Your life outside of work will impact your work and your ability to have good relationships. Mastering these communication skills and learning to leverage them to create open and collaborative communication is key to the future of any leader.

Leaders need to be bold visionaries and trendsetters. They need to guide people and inspire those people to achieve the vision they lay out. To do so, leaders must be courageous. As leaders put so much of their efforts into guiding and inspiring others, it's fundamental for them to be skilled communicators. Technologists may not have spent much time refining their communication skills, especially those that involve a great deal of courage. However, leaders have and feel emotions within the workplace and can harness those emotions to improve their leadership skills and become more courageous communicators. In this course, Professor Erica Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will help you develop your confidence and motivation to enact courageous communication. You will start by developing a new perspective on what courageous communication in the workplace is and how emotions play a role. You will then set intentions for moving forward. Ultimately your work will help you use the skills associated with courageous communication to develop and manage your team using feedback and leveraging difficult situations.

The best leaders are inspirational and transformative. They motivate, inspire, and empower rather than simply dictating or directing those around them. Leaders need to garner specific results that often require sustainable behavioral changes for both individuals and groups. To get these results, you need to both influence and motivate the people around you. Many people view influence and motivation as one and the same, but they are not, and it is important to be able to use them separately or together. Influence involves having an impact on other people's actions, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, or emotions, while motivation is about getting people to change and sustain that change after they have been influenced. In this course, Professor Erica Dawson, Ph.D., the Nancy and Bob Selander Director of Engineering Leadership Programs at Cornell University, will help you expand your repertoire of tools and techniques for influencing and motivating others, ultimately leading to the desired and sustainable behavioral changes you want to see.

People who are currently employed in helping professions may not see themselves as counselors, yet they frequently serve in this role. In this course, you will learn how client-directed counseling can be effectively blended into a variety of fields where behavioral change is needed. You will reflect on a listening experience and articulate the benefits of client-directed counseling. With a colleague, or friend, you will practice the effective use of silence in a counseling setting. You will also practice interpreting clients' nonverbal cues. You will create a plan to integrate self-management into your sessions, and finally, you will outline research-based principles and techniques to use in your practice. At the end of this course, you will be positioned to use research-based techniques to create rapport, build trust, elicit useful information from clients, and enhance their effectiveness, along with the success of the groups you serve.

In this course, you will practice techniques to elicit information from clients, uncover their deeper needs and in turn help them set better goals. You will conduct a session with a colleague, or friend to practice your client-directed counseling skills in a real-life setting, gather feedback from your partner, and then reflect on what you did well and what you would change. You will describe how the use (or lack) of continuing responses in a conversation you've had in the past has affected trust within that conversation, and you will make a plan to better integrate continuing responses into future conversations. You will observe and evaluate another counselor's use of client-centered techniques to elicit information. While identifying and overcoming challenges in implementing client-centered counseling techniques, you will create an action plan to help clients set goals that align with their true needs. At the end of this course, you will be poised to apply new techniques to better identify the client's "need behind the need."

In this course, you will use a variety of tools and techniques to help clients set achievable goals and stay motivated. You will identify the top techniques and tips that are specifically applicable to your style of counseling or that can best help you grow as a communicator in your field, and use them to compile a resource for future practice. You will practice applying empathy in order to find out what truly matters to your clients and apply that valuable information to goal setting. You will conduct a motivational interviewing session with a colleague, or friend to practice your skills in a real-life setting, reflect on what you did well and what you would change, and receive helpful feedback from the course facilitator. Finally, you will use five best practices to create your own script for a conversation in which you help a client set a realistic and actionable goal.

Client-directed counseling is effective for one-on-one interactions, working with groups, and working with organizations. This course allows you to further develop your counseling skills, explore wellness for groups and organizations, and solidify a plan for your future. You will create a plan to expand your wellness counseling skills and integrate them with your current area of expertise. You will then expand your counseling skills to support group facilitation. You will practice these skills by engaging with a colleague, or friend outside of the course. Finally, you will create a wellness vision and plan how you will communicate your vision to organizations and employees. By the end of this course, you will be prepared to use your counseling skills to work within organizations focused on improving the health and wellness of their employees.

Nonprofit organizations may not be in business to make money, but they must still pay close attention to their finances to achieve their mission. Nonprofits, like all organizations, need to have enough money to pay salaries, run programs, purchase goods, or pay debts. Often nonprofits come under fire when they don't have a good financial balance, have too much cash, have high expenses, or are not putting the right amount of money toward programs serving their mission. Tracking the financial health of a nonprofit is not only the responsibility of the chief financial officer but also of its administrators, board members, directors, and key program staff. It's the responsibility of the entire organization to engage in the process and secure the organization's ongoing financial health. In this course, Professor Grasso draws on a wealth of first-hand experience with nonprofit management to give you a guided tour through the structure and interpretation of typical nonprofit financial statements. Professor Grasso will walk you through reading and interpreting financial statements including an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Using financial ratios, he will show you how to analyze the health of an organization by analyzing its cash reserves, debt burden, and expenses. You will practice calculating 10 different ratios and interpreting their results. And Professor Grasso will provide you with guidance on how to adjust your organization's strategy based on those results. As you move through the course, carefully-crafted tools and activities will guide you in applying what you learn about financial assessment and management to the specifics of your own nonprofit organization.

The course Assessing Nonprofits using Financial Statements and Ratios is required to be completed prior to starting this course.

The courses Assessing Nonprofits using Financial Statements and Ratios and Determining Appropriate Budgeting, Debt Financing, and Cash Flow are required to be completed prior to starting this course.

These courses are required to be completed prior to starting this course: Assessing Nonprofits using Financial Statements and Ratios Determining Appropriate Budgeting, Debt Financing, and Cash Flow Fundraising and Revenue Generation

Whether you need to tackle a complex project, communicate more effectively, rethink your organization or your job, solve world hunger, or figure out your teenager, systems thinking can help you. All of these are complex and challenging real-world problems, sometimes called wicked problems. We all confront problems, big and small, in our personal and professional lives, and most of us are searching for better ways to solve them. In this course, Professors Derek and Laura Cabrera will demonstrate how we can use systems thinking to solve everyday and wicked problems, to transform our organizations, and to increase our personal effectiveness. At its core, systems thinking attempts to better align the way we think with how the real world works. Our thinking is based on our mental models, but these models, created from our unique perspective with its inherent biases, are usually inadequate representations of reality. The Cabreras illustrate how we can use feedback to recognize and adapt our mental models so that they better align with reality, enhancing our problem-solving capabilities. For systems thinking to be successful, it must be adaptive. In this course, you will explore the concept of complex adaptive systems, and while these systems seem unnecessarily complicated, the Cabreras will reveal a surprising discovery. Underlying all complex adaptive systems are simple rules, and applying these rules is the key to transforming the way we frame and solve everyday problems.

While you may not realize it, you are already making use of some of the patterns of systems thinking. For example, you may take a certain perspective on a problem however, you might not be aware of your perspective and more importantly, may not recognize that you are likely omitting other perspectives. It is these types of omissions that contribute to both the creation of our most challenging problems and our inability to solve them. This course will walk you through the four simple rules of systems thinking, which provide a new paradigm for solving problems. These rules represent distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives, or DSRP. Throughout this course, you will start to unlearn some of the deeply ingrained thought patterns that result in unproductive interactions, unintentional bias, and faulty binary or linear thinking. Systems thinking means intentionally reflecting on how you think, including both the information and the structure of your thoughts and ideas so that you can break old habits and think more systematically. With a variety of examples, tools, and techniques, you will practice making distinctions between ideas or things, organize ideas into systems, recognize hidden or underlying relationships, and identify the perspectives implicit in the information you analyze. As a result, you will be equipped to identify more innovative solutions, build consensus across diverse groups of people, and approach problems with more creativity, adaptability, and clarity. The course Framing Complex Problems with Systems Thinking is required to be completed prior to starting this course.

How do you make sense of all the information you are bombarded with on a daily basis? We can barely absorb the overwhelming amount of information, let alone determine its meaning. As Derek and Laura Cabrera illustrate in this course, we humans process information best with our eyes and our hands, and we can take advantage of this fact by using visual maps. Visual maps can help you corral this information, organize and structure it, and most importantly, convert it into knowledge that you can act upon. In this course, you will use the online mapping software, Plectica, so that you can break down your complex problems using the simple rules of systems thinking, DSRP. Building maps with this easy-to-use software will help you gain insights into processes, relationships, or challenges of any kind, and enable you to quickly and easily share these insights with others. As you become more adept at creating visual maps, your systems thinking skills will increase as you deepen your understanding of complex ideas, communicate these ideas more effectively, and enhance collaboration across groups to spur innovation. The courses Framing Complex Problems with Systems Thinking and Using the Four Simple Rules of Systems are Thinking are required to be completed prior to starting this course.

Recent surveys show that employers are looking for individuals who have both analytical and emotional intelligence. Organizational leaders across a wide spectrum of industries and professions want people with strong problem-solving skills who can handle their emotions and work effectively with others. How can you learn to better balance your emotions with critical thinking, to balance your own needs with the needs of another? This course will provide you with the tools and guidance for using the simple rules of systems thinking (DSRP) to build both your analytical and emotional intelligence. By asking more robust questions and challenging yourself to go beyond traditional forms of thought and logic, you can more quickly identify and bridge the gaps in your thinking and build new knowledge about any problem or situation. You will transcend either-or thinking to consider a wider range of possibilities that more closely reflect the real world. These same approaches for building your analytical capabilities also enable you to harness your emotions by helping you gain awareness of your own thinking. This awareness will build your emotional intelligence, which in turn will increase your ability to collaborate, think creatively, and solve tough problems. You will come away from this course with practical approaches you can apply in every area of your life to enhance your work, your decisions, and your relationships. These courses are required to be completed prior to starting this course: Framing Complex Problems with Systems Thinking Using the Four Simple Rules of Systems Thinking Visualizing and Modeling Complex Systems

Why do we start organizations in the first place? We have a vision for the future, and we need to work with others to bring that vision to life. The whole purpose of any organization is collective action. When organizations fail, it is often the result of the failure to harness the collective power of individuals to drive toward that singular vision. However, much like you would design an iPhone, you can also design organizations that are adaptive and can focus everyone on achieving the organization's vision. In this course, Cornell University faculty members Derek and Laura Cabrera present you with the design principles of intelligent, adaptive organizations built for systems thinking. With expert guidance and hands-on activities, you will create your organization's vision and mission, and build capacity and learning systems that support your organization's ability to achieve these core principles. This approach is a systems leadership and organizational design model that will help you better design, guide, manage, and change your organization. It provides you with a blueprint to build the culture you need to attain your ultimate goal: to have your entire organization, at every level, working toward realizing your company's vision. These courses are required to be completed prior to starting this course: Framing Complex Problems with Systems Thinking Using the Four Simple Rules of Systems Thinking Visualizing and Modeling Complex Systems Building Analytical and Emotional Intelligence with Systems Thinking

For organizations to succeed, they need to develop individuals who are constantly learning and adapting according to information on the ground. Sharing key mental models at the organizational, team, and individual levels is critical to creating a culture of learning that enables the organization to survive and thrive through chaos and complexity. In this course, Professors Derek and Laura Cabrera demonstrate how to become a systems leader; that is, someone who can use systems thinking at the organizational level, at the team level, and at the individual level. You will create a culture for your organization that is built on shared mental models and develop techniques to incentivize thought leaders to support the culture based on your vision, mission, capacity, and learning. At the team level, where the real work of the organization gets done, you will explore the process of building, sharing and evolving mental models through collaborative mapping and feedback processes. And finally, you will turn your own thinking into doing, to ensure that your actions are aligned with key organizational mental models. With tools, techniques, and expert guidance, you can begin to implement systems thinking at all levels of the organization, creating teams and individuals upon which organizational culture, values, and success are built. These courses are required to be completed prior to starting this course: Framing Complex Problems with Systems Thinking Using the Four Simple Rules of Systems Thinking Visualizing and Modeling Complex Systems Building Analytical and Emotional Intelligence with Systems Thinking Designing Organizations for Systems Thinking

Management of the international public sector is a growing challenge of the 21st century. International organizations are increasingly charged with taking a major role in solving global problems. Management of international organizations, however, is qualitatively different from managing national institutions or private sector corporations. In this course, Professor Mathiason presents results-based management as the core tool you'll use to do this work. This course will provide you with an overview of how to define and address complex international problems. This information will help you be more effective working within this complex, historic, and ever-changing industry. You'll practice planning for results-based management (RBM), a management method that focuses on obtaining results that are outside the control of a program or project but which can be achieved through the production of outputs. Accomplishing this requires careful planning, and you'll focus throughout the course experience on how this can be done.

As the world changes and more issues must be handled at the international level, there will need to be more agreements and more international systems to address specific problems. Agreements, especially those that involve consensus, are difficult to achieve even in the best of circumstances. Fortunately, there is a lot we have learned from history and through research about effectively negotiating an agreement. In this course, you'll explore what is needed for successful agreement negotiation and how you can participate in creating the required consensus. In addition, you'll think about how can you make sure states do what they say they'll do. Before you close the books on the planning stage, you'll consider a strategy for the enforcement and evaluation of the agreements you're creating.

Managing natural and political emergencies is one of the most important areas for international public management. International organizations have to collaborate with governments to anticipate and pre-plan for all types of emergencies. They have to coordinate services and support from donors and member nations in order to mobilize financial and human resources. Similarly, the international public sector aids the transfer of funds and technology from one country to another. This international development assistance is an important function that must be managed effectively. In this course, you will assess how country-level development assistance can be effective. You'll determine effective ways to provide international investment for development and explore how to collaborate with governments to anticipate and pre-plan for international emergencies. You'll look at how to coordinate services and support in an emergency as well as how to mobilize financial and human resources. You will also examine how to anticipate and address recovery needs in planning for relief.

Are leaders born, or can they be made? In this course, we'll tackle this classic leadership conundrum, and at its conclusion, you will have developed your own perspective on what makes a leader successful. Using his experience as the former Deputy Secretary of Labor and background as a Cornell Visiting Professor, Professor Seth Harris will explore the skills and traits that make leaders effective in today's public-sector organizations. With real-world examples combined with scholarly research, you will analyze and reflect on both the personal characteristics and the skills and competencies that define great leadership. You will have the opportunity to assess yourself and other leaders on these critical skills and traits using leadership assessment tools. Because this course focuses on public leadership, Professor Harris will walk you through the key differences between public and private organizations to help you develop a more thorough understanding of the characteristics of your public organization. With this information, you will be able to determine your leadership readiness and create a plan for the areas you want to develop to become a successful leader within your organization.

Are public organizations different from private sector organizations? Do they require different sets of leadership skills or traits? In this course, Professor Seth Harris will provide you with a framework that you can use to better understand your organization. With this understanding, you will be well positioned to determine how you can be a more effective leader in your organization. There are many elements that affect every organization and dictate the type of leadership skills needed to thrive. You will learn about societal factors that affect all organizations, such as technology, demographics, and cultural conditions, as well as how organizations and leadership are affected by these factors in areas like mission, resource availability, and process. Additionally, public organizations have certain unique external factors that private sector organizations don't need to consider. These systems and structures, public expectations, and external influencers, which can have an enormous impact of the role of the public sector leader. Lastly, you will explore the specific internal characteristics of public organizations, including factors such as the goods or service it provides and the types of employees who are attracted to public sector organizations. At the conclusion of the course, you will have a detailed picture of your own public organization and how its defining characteristics influence the leadership skills and traits required for success.

Part of being a great leader is understanding why your employees want to work in a public sector organization, how you can motivate them individually and as a group, and what incentives and tools are available to do so. In this course, you will explore your own reasons for working in a public organization as well as the motivations of your colleagues using a well-tested survey tool. You will also determine what types of monetary and non-monetary incentives are available to you within your organization so that you can match them to the motivations of the organization's employees. Professor Harris will also explore how certain leadership behaviors can be a strong motivational force. Many employees will only be motivated by a leader when the leader's style and behaviors meet the employee's needs and those of the organization. In this course, you will explore some of these leadership styles, assess the behaviors of leaders in your organization, and determine which leadership traits are compatible with which public service motivations.

In this course, Secretary Harris will guide you through several leadership models that you can use to identify the most effective leadership strategies for you, your employees, and your organization. You will perform a thorough assessment of the employees to determine their overall level of competence and commitment to the organization's goals. Focusing on the organization, you will examine the degree to which tasks are highly structured, your level of positional power, and the state of the relationship between employees and leaders. Using your assessment of both your employees and your organization, you will determine which leadership behaviors will be most effective in influencing and motivating your staff to perform at a high level and meet the organization's goals. You will also determine which leadership behaviors will be most effective in overcoming obstacles to achieving critical team and organizational goals. At the end of this course, you will leave with a set of leadership strategies that are best suited to your organization and its employees.

We all know that setting goals is critical to achieving success in any endeavor. But in order to do this effectively, you need an approach that works. In this course, Professor Harris guides you through the performance pyramid, a system you can use to set challenging goals and then develop operating plans and accountability tools that will enable you to measure and monitor your organization's progress toward those goals. Mastering a measurable performance framework, navigating challenges, and utilizing goal-setting theory will help galvanize your employees around a specific vision and optimize engagement and accountability.

In any organization, teams can be an effective way to organize employees, meet critical objectives and move the organization forward. But how do you lead teams in public organizations? Do you need to adjust your approach because of the limits or constraints present in public organizations? In this course, Professor Harris will present you with proven characteristics of successful teams and help you to determine how your teams measure up. You will examine a model of team leadership that will help you determine when you should intervene and when you should step back and let your team find its way. You will also explore different possible interventions and determine the right circumstances to employ each one. Finally, Professor Harris will discuss the challenges of managing team conflict and provide you with strategies and examples that will enable you to successfully navigate the inevitable issues that occur when groups of people work together.

In this course, you will critically examine the sustainability-based interactions among corporate entities, their peers, regulators, the public, and other stakeholders in order to identify opportunities for improving the outcomes of these interactions. To do this, you will examine how corporate structure affects business practices and how different industries are affected by the sustainability movement. You will then identify how these factors influence a company's motivation to act more sustainably. You will also consider the balancing act that today's corporate leaders face as they uphold their corporate fiduciary duties and navigate evolving sustainability demands. Finally, you will assess the impacts of business activities on the environment and pinpoint a company's positive and negative sustainability efforts. By the end of this course, you will be better prepared to assess your company's sustainability practices relative to industry standards.

In this course, you will identify sustainability risks associated with particular corporate activities and propose actions to mitigate these risks. To do this, you will review a corporate 10k to evaluate and identify a company's identified risks. You will then examine ways that corporations disclose, report, and manage reputational risk. Finally, based on your previous findings, you will develop several strategic corporate sustainability initiatives focused on a company and its key stakeholders. By the end of this course, you will be better prepared to identify regulatory and reputational sustainability risks and develop strategies to mitigate these risks.You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:Evaluating a Corporate Sustainability Strategy

In this course, you will explore how values-informed purchasing and investment decisions, along with generational shifts in investment and consumption patterns, create opportunities for companies that adapt to trends in sustainability. You will also examine ways in which regulatory changes, growing scrutiny, and increased pressure by civil society create growing markets for products and services that have fewer impacts on people and the planet than conventional products and services. Building on this base, you will identify how investment decisions can influence societal outcomes and how private, return-seeking capital can improve social and environmental outcomes by fostering more sustainable business activities. By the end of the course, you will be prepared to propose sound sustainability initiatives or new sustainable business ventures that you believe represent real opportunities for a company like yours to increase its profitability.You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:Evaluating a Corporate Sustainability Strategy Sustainability Risk Management

Human-computer interfaces have become a part of everyday life, whether we consider technology that we use at home or at work. People rely on technology to help them achieve a goal or solve a problem, and this idea is central to the emerging and rapidly expanding field of human-centered design: Who is using the interface, and for what purpose? How can we help them do that better? Answering these questions should be at the heart of the design process, as technologies are ultimately for people to use, and designers need to make this as intuitive and smooth as possible. Design doesn't happen in a lab; it happens in the world, and gathering information about the users of your product ensures better design. In this course, you will be introduced to human-computer interaction design, use practical methods for applying sound design principles, and execute the entire process. You'll discover the basics of how to identify a human need, how and why you need to keep that need at the center of the design process, uncover what can be measured to improve the design, and ensure that you conduct your research fairly and ethically.

User-centered design does not start with the design, but rather with the users: Who are they? What are their goals? What do they need to achieve those goals? In what context will they be using your design? And how would a designer discover these things from the user base? Answering these questions requires a plan. Interviewing potential users in a controlled, systematic way helps to clarify their expectations and their requirements. Doing so helps to inform your design and make it better; no one wants to invest time, effort, and money into designing a solution no one will use. In this course, you will examine best practices for planning and conducting interviews of potential users so that they yield the most insights. Over the course of the project, you will narrow down the target user group for your design, plan your interview, create meaningful and clear interview questions, and help ensure you can leave the interview sessions with the most useful insights.

After you have conducted interviews with your users, it is time to sift through your notes and transcripts in order to get at the most important insights; this is the data, which will be your guide to what the users actually need as well as what the design requirements ultimately need to be. However, one challenge we face as designers is that the data we have gathered is qualitative and not quantitative, which means that interpreting the data requires us to make associations and inferences as we read through the users' stories, thoughts, and feelings. Fortunately, we have several strategies for translating data into design requirements. In this course, you will practice analyzing data from your user interviews and identify insights that are not always immediately apparent. After you extract insights from your interview data, you will create a fictitious user called a persona that will serve as a model of your users and help guide your design decisions. Finally, you will create design requirements that will help as you move from explaining the current state of your users to imagining a future where they use your design to better meet their needs.

When designing a product, we must always consider the experience that the user will have while interacting with it, and we do this by visually sketching the product and our vision of how a user would interact with it. A pen-and-paper sketch helps us to conceptualize abstract design ideas more effectively, communicate these ideas to others, and get feedback. Regardless of your artistic skills, you can effectively, quickly, and inexpensively communicate design ideas by sketching; it is much faster (and cheaper) to modify or throw away a pen-and-paper sketch than a full prototype. In this course, you will learn numerous techniques to improve your sketching skills in order to more clearly convey your design ideas and improve your design. In your course project, you will sketch many design ideas so that you can explore alternative ways of meeting the user requirements. You will also create a design concept based on one of those sketches, then expand the idea into a full scenario and storyboard of the user completing several tasks. Additionally, you will develop a user interface design concept to better envision how your users will actually interact with your design. Finally, you will update your sketches to better fit your user's mental model, as a designer's concept of the design doesn't always match with how a user thinks about it.

Designers know the power of making improvements based on feedback. As you have seen already, this leads to much stronger designs in the end, but it also helps control costs, as it is far easier (and faster) to make necessary changes to sketches or storyboards than full-featured versions. Eventually, however, your design reaches the point where it needs to be a fully fleshed-out interface with which your users can interact. This is where prototypes come in, to further develop the user interface, examine design decisions and interaction flows, and gather feedback. There are several different considerations and decisions to make when creating prototypes based on what you want to get feedback on, how much you need to develop the interface, and the resources available to you. In this course, you will create three different interactive prototypes for your design concept: a paper prototype, a medium-fidelity software prototype, and a high-fidelity software prototype. You will also make iterative improvements to your prototypes using rapid evaluation methods, relying on different design principles and heuristics. Throughout this course, you will gain valuable experience working with two prototyping software applications (Balsamiq and Figma), and you will continue to iterate with each prototyping technique toward a more developed user interface design.

After interviewing users, gathering requirements, creating a design concept, and creating and iterating interactive prototypes, it is time for the final stage of the human-centered design process: conducting an evaluation of the usability of your design. At this stage, we examine the interaction between the user and the interactive prototype to find out what improvements are needed in order for the design to achieve its goals. We do so by observing users as they interact with the prototype to complete tasks. While we often use a high-fidelity prototype at this stage, we must resist the tendency to consider the design as close to "done," as this stage of the process is still iterative. In order to get useful feedback and make the product better, we must carefully plan and conduct a usability test session, listen to the users, and make changes in response to design flaws that we find. In this course, you will create a usability test plan, including defining its goals and any metrics you will want to use for your usability tests. Based on that, you will create a usability test protocol by choosing tasks and composing task instructions for your users to follow. You will then recruit a participant to run a usability test session with your high-fidelity prototype and form a plan for what changes you will make to improve your design.

When you think about what data analysts and data scientists do on a day-to-day basis, you might have a general understanding of types of conclusions they make, but how do they arrive at those conclusions? The statistical programming language R is widely used in data science; understanding the basics of how it works can help you manipulate and visualize data in a quick, flexible manner, and it may improve your communication with data scientists on your team.In this course, you will explore the basics of statistical programming and develop R skills. As you hone your ability to use commands in R, you will combine those basic skills to complete more complex tasks, such as data manipulation and visualization. Finally, you will examine how to repeat tasks in R, which makes it easier to manipulate large data sets. This course involves many hands-on coding exercises to help you gain confidence in your newfound programming skills.System requirements: This course contains a virtual programming environment that does not support the use of Safari, Edge, tablets, or mobile devices. Please use Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer on a computer for this course.

The real world is extremely complex, and revealing the patterns that underlie these complexities can be challenging. However, unlocking the power of a data set can provide you with remarkable insights and help guide decision-making. This course will prepare you to use summarization and visualization techniques to reveal patterns in real-world data, using examples from a variety of disciplines, including business and medicine.In this course, Professor Basu will guide you as you begin to understand key data collection principles and how to make conclusions from data. Choosing which analyses to use depends on your question, so you will use a framework to help you choose which methods to use with your data. Then, you will use R to perform exploratory data analyses, which will allow you to identify key patterns and trends in a ready-to-analyze data set. You will also learn the importance of quantifying the uncertainty associated with your results, and how to measure variability in your data. This course involves many hands-on coding exercises in R to help you gain confidence in your programming skills.System requirements: This course contains a virtual programming environment that does not support the use of Safari, Edge, tablets, or mobile devices. Please use Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer on a computer for this course.The following course is required to be completed before taking this course:Exploring Data Sets With R

In this course, you will explore the steps associated with testing a hypothesis and use a variety of simulation methods to test hypotheses in R; these different methods will allow you to test hypotheses for various possible scenarios. As you perform hypothesis tests, you will discover how to assess the uncertainty associated with your data set and the test. You will also analyze the relationship between two or more variables using linear regression analysis and determine how to assess these relationships with simple diagnostic tools.Throughout this course, you will perform hands-on coding exercises to practice simulations in R, which will help you gain confidence in both your programming and statistical skills. After completing this course, you will be able to test hypotheses that involve two or more variables in a ready-to-analyze data set using simulations in the programming language R. You will also understand the uncertainty associated with your hypothesis tests and how it impacts your conclusions.System requirements: This course contains a virtual programming environment that does not support the use of Safari, Edge, tablets, or mobile devices. Please use Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer on a computer for this course.The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course:Exploring Data Sets With R Summarizing and Visualizing Data

Data scientists use data collected from the real world to answer questions and solve problems that would otherwise be intractable. But since the world is complex, data collected to describe the world can also be complex, which makes it messy and difficult to work with. To successfully analyze data, data scientists need to spend time cleaning or organizing and manipulating their data to put it into a form that is easier to work with and understand.In this course, you will delve into the world of data cleaning by presenting and manipulating your data with the Tidyverse in R. You will organize data by selecting only the variables you're interested in, creating new groups of data, and summarizing data in a way that makes sense for the questions you're trying to ask. You will also create high-quality plots to quickly summarize complex data. You will become familiar with the concept of tidy data and organize data sets in a way that allows for the most efficient analysis. Finally, you will work with data types of more complexity so that you can answer increasingly difficult questions as you take your new skills into your workplace. You will practice all these skills by working with four real-world, complex data sets. This course involves many hands-on coding exercises that will help you take your programming skills to the next level.System requirements: This course contains a virtual programming environment that does not support the use of Safari, Edge, tablets, or mobile devices. Please use Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer on a computer for this course.The following courses are required to be completed before taking this course:Exploring Data Sets With R Summarizing and Visualizing Data