Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: develop and research a topic of global significance; recognize authors‰ŰŞ arguments and the political, social and economic motivations behind their work; demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret and cite the relevant and appropriate information resources on a topic; and, demonstrate an understanding of the information research process.Login: guest_oclPassword: ocl

Innovation may bring a lot of good to society, but innovation is not a good in itself. History provides many examples of new technologies that have had serious negative consequences or that simply just failed to address significant societal challenges.

This course discusses the concept of responsible innovation, its meaning and its significance by addressing the societal implications of new technologies and showing how we might incorporate ethical considerations into technical innovations.

In this course, we will:
discuss the concept of responsible innovation, the individual and collective responsibility and the ethical issues regarding innovation
discuss tools and approaches to responsible innovation, like Value Sensitive Design (VSD)
investigate the economic aspects of responsible innovation
introduce constructive technology assessment
elucidate the relation between risk and responsible innovation
We will do so on the basis of technological case studies. Cases that will be discussed are, among others, nanotechnology, offshore wind parks, Google car, nuclear power, cloud computing, smart meters for electricity, robots in the care sector (carebots), low budget meteorological weather stations in Africa and CO2 capture and storage.

During the course you may team-up with your fellow students to discuss the case studies in an international context. Moreover, students are encouraged to bring their own cases in dedicated discussion fora.

This course is for all those interested in the relationship between technological innovations, ethics and society. It is especially relevant for industry, public, and academic professionals working on developing innovative technologies and students following a traditional technical curriculum who are interested in key value questions attached to their studies.

Responsible business practices are widely recognized as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In this course we aim to extend these practices to the Research and Development (R&D) and innovation processes of companies. This is called Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).

RRI enables companies to anticipate social and ethical issues and integrate them into the innovation and design processes and business strategy right from the start.

This course demonstrates how RRI, as a key element of CSR, can help firms to be innovative, more profitable and at the same time have positive societal and environmental impact.

In this course we analyze the relevance of RRI, including drivers and barriers, for firms of different sizes and in different sectors, and the implications for corporate governance. We show the results and lessons learned from eight pilot studies in innovative businesses across Europe working in different areas (such as nanotechnology, data and automotive) when they integrated RRI in their innovation process and business strategy.

You’ll learn about today’s urban challenges focusing on developing countries, referred to as the global south. We will debate the benefits of three pathways, going beyond traditional urban strategies and policies:

1. Spatial justice

Spatial justice is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of urban contexts in emerging economies.

2. Housing Provision and Management

Increasing demand in the global south calls for alternative approaches in housing provision and management.

3. Urban Resilience

Understanding resilience not as a mere struggle for survival, but as an opportunity to build better urban environments.

We will discuss question such as:

Is the just city framework applicable in cities with extreme socio-economic inequality?
Can community-led housing initiatives provide effective solutions for households in need?
How can resilience support development instead of perpetuating a disadvantaged condition?

This unit is designed for advanced programming classes. It leads students through a study of human vision and computer programming simulation. Students apply their previous knowledge of arrays and looping structures to implement a new concept of linked lists and RGB decomposition in order to solve the unit's Grand Challenge: writing a program to simulate peripheral vision by merging two images. This unit connects computer science to engineering by incorporating several science topics (eye anatomy, physics of light and color, mathematics, and science of computers) and guides students through the design process in order to create final simulations.

Through five lessons, students are introduced to all facets of the rock cycle. Topics include rock and mineral types, material stresses and weathering, geologic time and fossil formation, the Earth's crust and tectonic plates, and soil formation and composition. Lessons are presented in the context of the related impact on humans in the form of roadway and tunnel design and construction, natural disasters, environmental site assessment for building structures, and measurement instrumentation and tools. Hands-on activities include experiencing tensional, compressional and shear material stress by using only hand force to break bars of soap; preparing Jeopardy-type trivia questions/answers for a class game that reinforces students' understanding of rocks and the rock cycle; creating "fossils" using melted chocolate; working within design constraints to design and build a model tunnel through a clay mountain; and soil sampling by creating tools, obtaining soil cores, documenting a soil profile log, and analyzing the findings to make engineering predictions.

This course is no longer taught at the U-M School of Information. These materials are from an older iteration of the course.

This course introduces students to the ideas and practices surrounding teaching, learning and research at a world class research university like the University of Michigan, and the emerging role in these practices of Open Educational Resources, including open content such as opencourseware, open access initiatives, open publishing of research and learning materials as found in open journals, databases and e-prints, open textbooks, related open software efforts such as open learning systems, and emerging open teaching experiments. The course will ground the students in how teaching, learning and research is done at the university level, and then survey relevant OER efforts, looking at their history, development, potential futures, and the underlying motivations for their progressive adoption by various members of the community of scholars. more...

This course uses an open textbook Open Educational Resources at the University of Michigan. The articles in the open textbook (wikibook) were written by the School of Information Graduate students in the class.

This is an introductory course that gives students an overview of the major social media sites and provides examples as to how individuals are using social media. Social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogging, podcasting, etc.) are relatively accessible technologies that enable individuals, almost instantaneously, to create, publish, edit, and/or access messages intended for audiences; students will learn how to explore the possibilities and limitations of various social media.
Social media has profoundly impacted the world of communications both among consumers as well as with businesses. Despite the rapid shift in marketing and communications, many organizations are still learning to adjust to this new paradigm. The purpose of this course is to provide the practical knowledge and insights required to establish objectives and strategies, properly select the social media platforms to engage consumers, and measure these results in a manner that is meaningful for businesses.

The class will break down broad concepts about social media into meaningful segments that could be applied to serve strategic priorities for businesses. This includes an overview of the necessary tools, the impact on traditional marketing, quantifying success, and reputation management. These concepts will help provide important insights into sales and marketing, public relations, customer service, and other areas of the organization.

Course Outcomes:
1. Build a Professional or Personal Brand and Voice.
2. Define Social Media Communities.
3. Create and manage Social Media accounts and tools.
4. Create Social Media Metric strategies.

This course will assist students in developing effective and successful social media marketing campaigns. Students will examine how the choice of social network and social media tools affects the distribution of the message and the audience that is reached. Students will have the opportunity to formulate a social media marketing plan with an appropriate target market using relevant social media channels.

Course Outcomes:
1. Recognize social networks and their properties.
2. Explain why people participate in different types of social networks or social media.
3. Describe the history and development of various social networks.
4. Understand how personal account setting anonymous accounts, false identities, and multiple identities affect the community formation.

This course provides students with a foundation that enables them to identify and analyze ethical issues in relation to social media. Students will explore the legal responsibilities associated with social media.

Course Outcomes:
1. Define Intellectual Property.
2. Discuss the liability issues associated with privacy and social media boundaries.
3. Define Social Media professional networking.

This course will assist students in developing effective and successful social media marketing campaigns. Students will have the opportunity to formulate a social media marketing plan with an appropriate target market using relevant social media channels and metric analysis and maintenance.

Course Outcomes:
1. Describe video utilization in Social Media.
2. List methods for search engine optimization.
3. Discuss emerging Social Media technologies.

Programming continues to be a an important skill in the modern world. Childhood is a great time start learning programming and to develop computational thinking creativity, and problem- solving skills!

This course teaches programming in Scratch through fun videos which explains programming in an inspiring and clear way. These are accompanied with assignments which let kids to practice programming and create programs they will like to use themselves!

On a weekly basis, we will be creating a game: a maze, an aquarium, a Flappy Bird Game and a Super Mario look-a-like. Every week, new programming blocks are taught and together we’re working on ways to improve your written code.

This course is an English version of a course that was used in primary schools in The Netherlands with great success. The material follows the educational curriculum for programming in primary education of The Netherlands.

Do you want to participate with more children? Create a personal account for every child or pupil in order for them to work at their own pace. Once they have fulfilled the entire course and were upgraded to the ID Verified track, a Scratch diploma with their names will be handed out.

Programming is becoming a more and more important skill to have. Childhood is a great time to start learning programming and to develop computational thinking, creativity, and problem- solving skills. In this course you will learn the basics of programming and how to teach it yourself as a primary or secondary school teacher.

This MOOC teaches programming in Scratch through fun videos which explain programming in an inspiring and clear way.

Every week you build a different Scratch project yourself: a flappy bird game, a virtual pet or a Mondriaan like artwork. Also weekly, new programming blocks are taught and together we’re working on ways to improve your written code. In addition, you will learn how you can integrate the same programming lessons in your class for both primary and secondary education.

Many programming principles covered in Scratch also apply to other programming languages such as JavaScript and Python. An introduction to Python as well as hardware such as robotics and a micro:bit are a part of this online course should you want to broaden your scope.

The content of this course is based on a course that was used in primary schools in The Netherlands with great success. The material follows the educational curriculum for programming in primary education of The Netherlands.

This unit describes a general approach to guiding students to complete service-based engineering design projects, with specific examples provided in detail as associated activities. With your class, brainstorm ideas for engineering designs that benefit your community or a specific person in your community. Then, guided by the steps of the engineering design process, have students research to understand background science and math, meet their client to understand the problem, and create, test and improve prototype devices. Note that service-based projects often take more time to prepare, especially if you arrange for a real client. However, the authors notice that students of both genders and all ethnicities tend to respond with more enthusiasm and interest to altruistic projects.

This course is designed to familiarize you with the major theory and research surrounding the study of small group communication and provide an opportunity to analyze and develop solutions to a community problem while working in a small group.

The smart grid of the future is a complex electrical power system. Its study, design, and management requires the integration of knowledge from various disciplines including sustainability, technology and mathematics.

Smart grids show a level of complexity and heterogeneity that often cannot be covered by analytical methods. Therefore, modeling and simulation are of great importance.

In this course, you will apply modeling tools to study and analyze the performance of your self-designed intelligent electrical power grid. By modeling smart grids, you will explore the integration of renewable energy sources into a grid, its dynamics, control and cyber security.

The smart grid of the future is a complex electrical power system. Its study, design, and management requires the integration of knowledge from various disciplines including sustainability, technology and mathematics.

In this course, you will be introduced to the definition of a smart grid, its heterogeneity, dynamics, control, security and assessment strategies. The challenge of modeling such a system is also discussed. A group of researchers will offer their expertise on these topics and will introduce the modeling method which will be used in the second course of this program.

Every society faces problems that are more than just individual troubles. In this course we will use a sociological perspective to critically examine the bases of social inequality and the resultant problems in society. We will explore concerns related to families, education, the workplace, the media, poverty, crime, drug abuse, health issues, war and terrorism, the environment and global concerns. We will also look at social action and possible solutions to these problems through both individual and community efforts.

Advanced semiconductor devices are a new source of energy for the 21st century, delivering electricity directly from sunlight. Suitable semiconductor materials, device physics, and fabrication technologies for solar cells are presented in this course. The guidelines for design of a complete solar cell system for household application are explained. Cost aspects, market development, and the application areas of solar cells are presented.

The course Solar Energy will teach you to design a complete photovoltaic system. The course will introduce you to the technology that converts solar energy into electricity, heat and solar fuels with a main focus on electricity generation. Photovoltaic (PV) devices are presented as advanced semiconductor devices that deliver electricity directly from sunlight. The emphasis is on understanding the working principle of a solar cell, fabrication of solar cells, PV module construction and the design of a PV system. You will understand the principles of the photovoltaic conversion (the conversion of light into electricity). You will learn about the advantages, limitations and challenges of different solar cell technologies, such as crystalline silicon solar cell technology, thin film solar cell technologies and the latest novel solar cell concepts as studied on lab-scale. The course will treat the specifications of solar modules and show you how to design a complete solar system for any particular application. The suitable semiconductor materials, device physics, and fabrication technologies for solar cells are presented. The guidelines for design of a complete solar cell system for household application are explained. Alternative storage approaches through solar fuels or conversion of solar energy in to heat will be discussed. The cost aspects, market development, and the application areas of solar cells are presented.