Courses

Discover Handel’s Messiah in this installment of First Nights, which will explore five masterpieces of western music.

Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today.

Learn about Beethoven’s monumental 9th Symphony and forms of orchestral music.

Learn to forecast the weather just by looking out your window.

Study Baroque and Classical opera through Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Learn about Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, an iconic Romantic symphony that ushered in an era of narrative “program music.”

An in-depth look at the 1854 London cholera epidemic in Soho and its importance for the field of epidemiology.

Learn about the rich diversity of Hindu sacred texts – hymns, narratives, philosophical thought – and their interpretations.

Combine literary research with data science to find answers in unexpected ways. Learn basic coding tools to help save time and draw insights from thousands of digital documents at once.

Learn about the Quran, the central sacred text of Islam, through an exploration of the rich diversity of roles and interpretations in Muslim societies.

Learn about the rich and diverse beliefs and practices of Buddhists across time and place. Experience Buddhism through its scriptures, both relationally as well as academically.

Learn about Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, one of the first operas ever written.

Explore the reunification of China under the Tang with a focus on aristocratic culture — from poetry to calligraphy to literature.

Learn about the Qin and Han dynasties, and how Buddhism and ideas of self-realization influenced the medieval period.

Develop skills in digital research and visualization techniques across subjects and fields within the humanities.

Learn about the Earth, life, and how we can search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Increase your quantitative reasoning skills through a deeper understanding of probability and statistics, with the engaging “Fat Chance” approach that’s made this course a favorite among learners worldwide.

The culmination of the MicroBachelors® program.

Gain critical communication skills in writing and public speaking with this introduction to American political rhetoric.

Explore the impact of the conquest dynasties and the world of the Ming.

Explore China’s imperial period, with a focus on the Song dynasty and the role of the exam system in government.

Learn about the key beliefs and practices of Judaism through an examination of its sacred texts and their interpretation.

Gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artifacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life.