From the Quran to Shakespeare: 10 Summer Online Courses
Alexandra Savina
In the summer you want to spend as much time as possible outside the home. But it will not hurt to spend time with benefit and learn new things: we talk about a variety of online courses that can be held even at the cottage, even at the beach of the hotel - there would be internet access.
Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics
University of Birmingham, with June 13
The course of the University of Birmingham "Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics" offers to learn more about the most amazing system of our body - the human brain. From materials you can learn basic information about what parts our brain consists of, how it functions and affects our lives. The course is aimed at non-specialists, but in order to complete it, you still have to refresh the basic knowledge of the school biology course. The Good Brain, Bad Brain series consists of three courses, so after studying the basics, you can take on more complex topics - Parkinson's disease and how medications work.
Behind the Scenes at the 21st Century Museum
University of Leicester, from June 6
If you fail to visit museums in another country this summer, a joint course of the University of Leicester and the National Museums of Liverpool will compensate for this loss. The course answers questions about what a museum is in the 21st century and how it should be: how to attract more visitors to a museum or gallery, what emotions museum spaces and expositions should evoke in us and how museums affect society. The authors of the course also promise to talk about the social responsibility of museum staff and human rights.
Effective altruism
Princeton University, Free schedule
It’s customary to start a new life on Monday or the first day - why not try it in the summer? The course "Effective Altruism" is about how to live in accordance with ethical principles and how to direct your life to helping others. The authors of the course propose to study the philosophical background of this idea and listen to discussions with people who have managed to build their lives in accordance with ethical principles, for example, Raymond Offenheiser, president of the American division of the international organization Oxfam, fighting poverty, hunger and social injustice.
The Science of the Solar System
California Institute of Technology, with June 6
For those who are not enough in the summer just to look at the stars, this course on the Solar System is intended. It covers a wide range of topics - from water on Mars to life forms in the solar system - and uses the approaches of physics, chemistry, biology and geology. To understand the course, you need to understand mathematics and physics, but, according to its creators, most of the lectures are accessible to non-experts as well. The authors of the course promise that it will be difficult, but definitely worth it to work hard. It is really necessary to work: in order to fulfill the final tasks, just remembering the facts is not enough - you also need to critically interpret what has been done.
Popular Culture and Narrative: The Fairy Tale
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, free schedule
On the website of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the public domain you can find materials of many university courses. We propose to dwell on one of them, dedicated to fairy tales known to all of us since childhood. The authors of the course propose to study fairy tales from the very sides: to learn more about the history of their appearance and how their tradition was influenced by transmitting stories from word of mouth, and even analyze their meaning from the standpoint of Jung and Freud. From the course you can also learn how fairy tales were put at the service of ideology, for example, in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and how Walt Disney interpreted them in his famous cartoons. In general, a truly comprehensive course.
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Graduate Management University Macquarie, with May 30
We all understand that the ability to resolve conflicts peacefully and negotiate is important not only in business, but also in relations with relatives. Macquarie University faculty insist that this skill can and should be learned. Their course lasts a little less than a month - it is assumed that during this time you will not only learn the theory of negotiation and conflict resolution, but also learn how to apply this knowledge in practice. The course topics should help in this: negotiation stages, communication skills necessary for an individual, and various negotiation strategies.
The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact On Pop Culture
Smithsonian Institution, C May 17
Comics have long ceased to be considered "low" and "childish" genre. The online course of the Smithsonian Institution (by the way, one of the most popular courses of the edX platform) offers to look at the history of the United States with their help and find out how superheroes influenced world culture. The authors of the course promise to tell how superheroes arose and why they became so popular, about how events in the USA in the twentieth century were reflected in comics and how superheroes influenced pop culture and our daily lives. If this did not convince you to enroll in a course, we’ll add that among his teachers is Stan Lee, one of the creators of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and many other superheroes.
Islam Through Its Scriptures
Harvard University, with June 1st
Harvard University has a series of online courses on world religions and their sacred texts; one of them, dedicated to Islam, starts in just a couple of weeks. From it it will be possible to learn about the role and place of the Quran in Muslim culture and the main themes of the Quran; The authors of the course also promise to teach students skills that will help to better understand the Quran. The matter will not be limited to one story: in talking about the modern interpretation of the sacred text of Muslims, for example, such important topics as gender identity and sexual orientation, art, violence and power will be touched upon.
Forensic psychology
Open University, free schedule
Perhaps the most unusual course in the collection: it is devoted to the psychology of witnesses and how it can influence the course of the investigation. The authors of the course say that the police should carefully analyze the testimony due to the human factor: our brain is capable of making mistakes and the cost of the error can be very high. During the course, you will also have to follow the investigation of two fictional crimes and evaluate the veracity of the testimony. The best part is that in order to master the course, no special knowledge is needed in forensic science or psychology.
Whole shakespeare
"Arzamas" and the British Council, Free schedule
Those who are ready to tackle more serious and large-scale topics in the summer, we suggest paying attention to the latest course of Arzamas dedicated to Shakespeare. It seems that everything has been said about the great playwright for a long time, but Arzamas suggests looking at well-known works and themes in a new way. The lectures given by dramatist and art critic Alexey Bartoshevich describe the features of theatrical productions in the Shakespeare era, what makes Shakespeare's comedies so unique, and why Hamlet is so important for the Russian audience. The bonus course material is an attempt to summarize the main hypotheses stating that Shakespeare is not in fact the author of works published under his name.
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