Short-Term Engineering Courses & Certificates

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Short Courses: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence is the art of designing semi-autonomous computer systems, while machine learning is the art of designing systems that can reach their conclusions, and, in some cases, extrapolate without further input.

MIT’s Sloan School of Management and GetSmarter

MIT Sloan’s Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy online program is the result of a collaboration between MIT’s Sloan School of Management and GetSmarter. Designed and taught by faculty and experts from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the course is designed to help business leaders assess and capitalize upon the value of automation through the development of transformation roadmaps and personalized organizational strategies.

The course is divided into six parts: an introduction to artificial intelligence; machine learning in business; natural language processing in business; robotics in business; artificial intelligence in business and society; and the future of artificial intelligence. The six-week course costs $3,200 and requires six to eight hours of study each week.

  • Duration: Six weeks excluding orientation (six to eight hours per week)
  • Cost: $3,200

Udacity

Udacity offers a nano degree in machine learning engineering that teaches students how to build machine learning models and apply them to data sets in areas such as education, finance, and healthcare. Case examples and supervised projects explore how machine learning can tackle real-world issues, such as predicting housing prices in Boston, finding donors for a charity, or training a quadcopter on how to fly.

Students propose and complete a capstone project of their own by the term’s end. Students need intermediate Python programming skills, intermediate statistical knowledge, and intermediate calculus and linear algebra mastery. The program takes five months to complete. Graduates of this nanodegree program are prepared for Udacity’s advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence courses.

  • Duration: Five months (five to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $399 per month

Short Courses: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency & FinTech

Blockchain is a distributed ledger system that utilizes cryptography to securely store and transfer data, with major applications in cryptocurrency, financial technology (fintech), and healthcare.

University of Oxford’s Saïd School of Business and Esme Learning

The Blockchain Strategy Programme is a six-week short course offered through a collaboration between the University of Oxford’s Saïd School of Business and Esme Learning. Participants gain a fundamental understanding of blockchain and its implications and applications. On successful completion, students will walk away with a solid understanding of how blockchain works, its impact on financial structures and economies, how tokens and cryptocurrencies are created, and where blockchain can be employed to maximize value creation. They will also be able to integrate blockchain applications into their business.

Primarily designed for executives and business leaders, the curriculum focuses on short and long-term strategies related to blockchain innovation and design, but can also provide an onramp for engineers looking to branch out, transition, or gain future-fit skills. The program costs £2,350 (approximately $2,890) and culminates in a certificate from the university’s business school.

  • Duration: Six weeks
  • Cost: £2,350

Harvard’s VPAL and GetSmarter

The Harvard VPAL FinTech online short course, hosted by Harvard’s VPAL and GetSmarter, gives students a strategic framework to critically address the future of the financial services industry, and the skills to address challenges and propose solutions within it.

The course is convened by expert Harvard faculty, and divided into modules that cover reshaping the banking and payments industry; raising money with fintech; harnessing data with artificial intelligence and machine learning; demystifying blockchain; demystifying cryptocurrencies and CBDCs; and forging the future of fintech.

An optional final conference allows students to share capstone project presentations. The six-week course costs $2,800 and requires eight to ten hours of study per week.

  • Duration: Six weeks excluding orientation (eight to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $3,190 USD

University of Oxford’s Saïd School of Business and Esme Learning

The Oxford Fintech Programme, a collaboration between the University of Oxford’s Saïd School of Business and Esme Learning, is a six-week short course designed to equip students with the capability to recognize opportunities for disruption in financial services, as well as launch their fintech ventures.

The course is convened and instructed by Oxford faculty and industry experts, and divided into six modules: an introduction to disruptive change and opportunities in fintech and financial innovation; views from policymakers and regulators; views from incumbents; views from entrepreneurs garnering insights into startup successes and their challenges; exploration of fintech from an entrepreneur’s view; and views from investors and academia.

The program costs £2,200 (approximately $2,706) and culminates in a certificate from the university’s business school.

  • Duration: Six weeks (seven to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: £2,200

Short Courses: Business Systems Analysis

Related to project engineering, business systems analysis focuses on automating business processes, optimizing tools, people, and culture to fulfill a larger corporate strategy.

Coursera – University of Minnesota

Coursera, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, offers a 100% online five-week course in analysis for business systems, part of its larger information systems specialization.

Students learn about the standard systems development models, particularly how to create specific deliverables that business systems analysts prepare during the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC). It’s recommended that students have some IT and project management background before beginning the course.

The curriculum includes an introduction to business systems, analysis phase documentation, analysis phase diagrams, a design phase overview, and a course project.

After a seven-day free trial, the program requires a subscription fee of $39 per month.

  • Duration: Five weeks
  • Cost: Free

Short Courses: Cloud Computing

Cloud computing uses an internet-hosted network of remote servers to store and process data, rather than housing that data on a personal device.

edX – The University of Maryland University College

In cooperation with the University of Maryland University College, edX has a course where students can learn how to design, configure, and manage cloud computing infrastructure. The eight-week class focuses on components of the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud service model and its most popular deployment architectures. Two final projects involve successfully migrating a website to an IaaS environment on Amazon Web Services.

The class is part of a four-course MicroMasters© program, covering cloud computing for enterprises, cloud computing management, and cloud computing security. Successful completion of the program allows for transferring 12 credits towards a master’s degree in cloud computing architecture at UMUC.

  • Duration: Eight weeks (eight to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: Free; a verified certificate can be added for $299

Short Courses: Cybersecurity & Managing Risk

Cybersecurity protects data from theft, damage, or espionage, and it’s increasingly being included as a consideration in risk management calculations.

Harvard’s VPAL and GetSmarter

The Harvard VPAL’s cybersecurity: managing risk in the information age online short course, hosted through a collaboration between Harvard’s VPAL and GetSmarter, is designed for business leaders and security analysts who want to sharpen their understanding of cybersecurity risk management.

The eight-week program is divided into eight sections: cybersecurity risk is a business risk; identifying threats to an organization; identifying important business systems and assets; the crucial role of leadership in managing cyber risk; understanding your technology; cyber risk and the law; incident response and accountability; and designing and implementing a mitigation strategy.

The course convener, Eric Rosenbach, is the Co-Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School. The program costs $2,900 and requires eight to 11 hours of study per week.

  • Duration: 8 weeks, excluding 1-week orientation (eight to eleven hours per week)
  • Cost: $2,900 USD

edX – Rochester Institute of Technology

In collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology, edX has an eight-week course on the subject of cybersecurity risk management, part of their MicroMasters program in cybersecurity. Each week covers a different topic: the evolution of information security; the risk management process, framework, and life cycle; quantitative versus qualitative risk assessments; defining information security metrics; analysis techniques; automating metrics calculations and tools; and industry case studies (two weeks).

The course is free but can be upgraded (i.e., adding graded assignments, unlimited access, and a certificate upon completion) for $249. Students must have already completed RIT and edX’s cybersecurity fundamentals course, which teaches network and system administration fundamentals, information assurance fundamentals, and basic cryptography concepts.

  • Duration: Eight weeks (ten to twelve hours per week)
  • Cost: Free; a verified certificate can be added for $249

Short Courses: Digital Marketing, Big Data & Social Analytics

Digital marketing uses big data and social analytics to create marketing narratives with measurable results.

MIT Sloan School of Management and GetSmarter

MIT Sloan School of Management’s Digital Marketing Analytics online short course, offered through a collaboration between MIT and GetSmarter, provides students with an overview of the best practices and approaches in digital marketing analysis and measurements and offers an understanding of how these tools can be integrated for informing strategic direction.

The course is divided into six modules: understanding the digital marketing channel mix; implementing integrated digital marketing; understanding predictive analytics and predictive marketing; interpreting data for predictive modeling; optimizing return on investment (ROI); and the future of integrated digital marketing: video, mobile, and AI. The six-week course costs $2,800 and requires six to eight hours of study per week.

  • Duration: Six weeks excluding orientation (six to eight hours per week)
  • Cost: $2,800

edX – Wharton School

The top-ranked Wharton School, in collaboration with edX, is offering a six-week course in marketing analytics: data tools, and techniques. Students learn regression analysis, conjoint analysis, social media analytics, and new techniques in market research.

Students in this program will learn about assessing critical managerial problems, developing relevant hypotheses, analyzing data, and drawing inferences for creating convincing narratives that yield actionable results.

The course is part of a four-course professional certificate program in digital marketing. Other classes in the program include fundamentals of digital marketing, social media, and e-commerce; managing the value of customer relationships; and selling ideas. Each course costs $585 and is taught by the Wharton faculty.

  • Duration: Six weeks (three to four hours per week)
  • Cost: $585

Short Courses: Engineering Management

Engineering management applies skills in business leadership, organizational strategy, project management, and staff administration to engineering.

GetSmarter – MIT’s Sloan School of Management

MIT’s Sloan School of Management offers a course called Business Process Design for Strategic Management, hosted by GetSmarter. Ideal for managers and leaders who aim towards innovation and improvement, the program introduces students to ‘Dynamic Work Design,’ a process improvement framework for developing an effective strategy that solves organizational issues.

The course is divided into six modules: an introduction to dynamic work design; the four principles of dynamic work design; the problem statement; structured problem solving; designing work for people; and visual management.

The MIT Sloan faculty designed the curriculum: Nelson Repenning (distinguished professor of system dynamics and organization studies) and Donald Kieffer (senior lecturer in operations management). The six-week program costs $2,800 and takes approximately five to seven hours of study per week.

  • Duration: Six weeks excluding orientation (five to seven hours per week)
  • Cost: $2,800

GetSmarter – Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies

In collaboration with Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, GetSmarter offers an eight-week course in strategic project management. Geared towards project management professionals who look to expand and validate their strategic expertise, this course goes beyond the traditional project management principles and equips students with the strategic skills, tools, and techniques for successfully achieving project-related and organizational goals.

The course is divided into eight modules: the 21st-century project manager; strategic thinking for project managers; mining your project for value; maximizing value for organizational impact; strategic project leadership; organizational structures and challenges; project change and risk in an organizational context; and the way forward.

Upon completion of the course, students receive a certificate approved by the Project Management Institute. The program costs $1,900 and requires seven to ten hours of study per week.

  • Duration: Eight weeks excluding orientation (seven to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $1,900

Coursera – Rice University

Hosted by Coursera, Rice University offers three short courses that make up a specialization in engineering project management. Each course covers a different stage of engineering management: initiating and planning; scope, time, and cost management; and risk, quality, teams, and procurement.

The first course on initiating and planning is divided into five parts: a project management overview; project organizations; project communications and stakeholder management; project integration management; and case studies and deliverables.

Rice University is a registered education provider through the Project Management Institute, and these online short courses can count for professional development units with the PMI. Each course takes five weeks to complete and requires approximately 16 to 20 hours of study.

  • Duration: Four months (four hours per week)
  • Cost: Free

Short Courses: Industrial Biotechnology, Bioengineering, and Biomanufacturing

Bioengineering weaves together biological processes and engineering principles, whether it be for genetic manipulation, pharmaceutical development, or agriculture.

Coursera – University of Manchester

The University of Manchester has an online short course in industrial biotechnology, hosted by Coursera. Students learn about the diversity of regulatory and governance issues in synthetic biological applications, the role of bioprocessing in biochemical engineering and industrial biotechnology, and the applications of industrial biotechnology products and processes in healthcare, agriculture, energy, and the environment.

Each week covers a different topic: enzyme discovery and engineering; methods in systems and synthetic biology; biochemical and bioprocess engineering; pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals; case studies: bioenergy and biomaterials; and case studies: glycoscience and biotherapeutics. The course is six weeks long and available for free.

  • Duration: Six weeks
  • Cost: Free

GetSmarter – Harvard’s Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning

GetSmarter, in collaboration with Harvard’s Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning, has an eight-week short course in gene-editing applications. The main focus of the class is CRISPR Cas9 technology and its applications in biotechnology.

The curriculum is split into eight modules: basic principles of molecular biology; CRISPR and genetic engineering; treating genetic diseases; promoting resistance to infectious diseases; combating cancer through research and treatment; optimizing and fighting microorganisms in the food, health, and energy industries; improving agriculture by optimizing crops; and the ethics of using CRISPR. The program costs $2,400 and requires seven to ten hours of study per week.

  • Duration: Eight weeks excluding orientation (seven to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $2,400

Coursera – University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego, offers a short drug discovery course hosted by Coursera. Taught by the faculty of UCSD’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, each week explores a new process that pharmaceutical and biotech companies go through when discovering a new drug. The three-week course covers five main areas: the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry landscape; drug discovery (proteomics and genomics); compound selection and preclinical studies; challenges in fragment-based drug discovery for protein kinases; and key concepts in drug delivery.

This course is the first in a three-course program that later explores drug development and drug commercialization. If taken in sequential order, gives graduates a complete view of the path from drug discovery to clinical trial to product launch.

  • Duration: Three weeks
  • Cost: Free

Short Courses: Nanotechnology and Nanoengineering

Nanoengineering applies engineering principles to units of measurement on the nanoscale: one-billionth of a meter, including manipulating individual atoms and molecules.

Coursera – Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have partnered together with Coursera to offer Nanotechnology: A Maker’s Course. In this course, a combination of instruction and lab demonstration teaches students about nanotechnology tools and how to use them for fabrication and characterization.

The curriculum for this course was developed by experts in nanofabrication, electron beam microscopy, and nano-characterization, in conjunction with the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (RTNN). The RTNN offers training and tools, like those demonstrated in the course, to schools, industry, and the public through the United States National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure program.

The syllabus includes topics such as introduction to nanotechnology; nano measurement and characterization tools: scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy; nano measurement and characterization tools: transmission electron microscopy; nano measurement and characterization tools: x-ray and optical characterization; nanofabrication: vacuum pumps and thin film vacuum deposition; nanofabrication: vapor deposition; nanofabrication: patterning and self-assembly; and nanofabrication: etching.

  • Duration: Eight weeks
  • Cost: Free

edX – Purdue University

Purdue University, in partnership with edX, offers a course in the fundamentals of nano transistors. Designed for recent graduates and practicing engineers, the course aims to provide an understanding of the essential physics, practical technical considerations, and inherent limits of nano transistors.

Students should have a basic understanding of semiconductor physics and electronic circuits before taking the course. The main areas of study are transistor fundamentals, IV characteristics, and device metrics; MOS electrostatic in one and two dimensions; the Landauer Approach to electron transport; and the transmission theory of MOSFET and its relation to traditional and Vital Source transistor models. The program is four weeks long, requiring six hours of study per week, and costs $50 to earn a certificate of completion.

  • Duration: Four weeks
  • Cost: Free; a verified certificate can be added for $50

Coursera – Technion Israel Institute of Technology

The Technion Israel Institute of Technology offers a two-part short course in nanotechnology and nanosensors, hosted by Coursera. Each part takes five weeks to complete, and the chief learning outcome is having students understand the fabrication, characterization, manipulation, and application of nanomaterials and nanosensors.

Part one covers an introduction to nanotechnology, an introduction to sensors’ science and technology, metal nanoparticle-based sensors, and quantum dots sensors. Part two covers nanowire-based sensors, carbon nanotube-based sensors, sensors based on nanostructures of metal oxide, sensors based on polymeric nanostructures, and electric skin based on nanotechnology.

  • Duration: Five weeks
  • Cost: Free

Short Courses: Python Programming

Python is a general-purpose and high-level programming language, primarily used by software engineers for websites and web applications.

Coursera – The University of Michigan

The University of Michigan offers a specialization in Python 3 Programming, hosted by Coursera. The program consists of five short courses and takes approximately five months to complete. By the end of the specialization, students can write programs that query APIs for data and extract meaningful information from them.

The short courses cover Python basics; Python functions, files, and dictionaries; data collection and processing with Python; Python classes and inheritance; and a Python project (pillow, tesseract, and OpenCV).

While some working understanding of Python is preferred, it’s not a prerequisite to taking this specialization, especially if a student already has familiarity with a different programming language. Upon completion of all the short courses, students can move on to further specializations in areas like applied data science with Python.

  • Duration: Five months
  • Cost: Free

Coursera – The University of Michigan

The University of Michigan’s advanced specialization in applied data science with Python, also hosted by Coursera, is intended for students who have a basic Python background and want to add a skills-based specialization. The program consists of five short courses and takes approximately five months to complete.

Each short course covers a different area of focus: data science in Python; applied plotting, charting, and data representation in Python; applied machine learning in Python; applied text mining in Python; and applied social network analysis in Python. By the end of the specialization, students can analyze the connectivity of a social network, discern whether data visualization is good or bad, conduct and inferential statistical analysis, and enhance data analysis with machine learning.

  • Duration: Five months
  • Cost: Free

Short Courses: Renewable Energy, Green Building, Sustainable Engineering

Renewable energy experts engineer and install products that harness safe and efficient forms of energy. Green builders apply environmentally-friendly principles to structural design and project processes.

Coursera – Duke University

Renewable Energy and Green Building Entrepreneurship, a course offered by Duke University through Coursera, is an online short course that focuses on real-world applications and eschews theory to make room for more case studies.

The three-week class is divided into three main sections: the power of three (entrepreneurship, green building, and renewable energy); a dive into business (opportunities and challenges); and moving from ideas to business implementation. The certificate-level class costs $49 and takes approximately six hours per week of study.

Upon completion, students will be able to define business opportunities, potential solutions, and challenges in the green building and renewable energy sectors, analyze successful businesses in green building or renewable energy and take real-world initial steps toward launching a corporate initiative or a new business.

  • Duration: Three weeks
  • Cost: Free

Coursera – Ecole Polytechnique

Ecole Polytechnique offers a course in wind resources for renewable energies, hosted by Coursera. The main goal of the course is for students to develop enough knowledge in atmospheric and fluid dynamics to be able to quantify the potential wind resources present in a specific area. The course is divided into modules on energy, meteorology, atmospheric and marine boundary layers, wind or marine turbines, and wind resources.

In a final data analysis project, students perform a full wind resource assessment, taking into account the variability of vertical wind shear, probability distributions of wind velocity, and wind turbine power production. The certificate-level course costs $49 and requires approximately 17 hours of study to complete.

  • Duration: Four weeks
  • Cost: Free

edX – The Delft University of Technology

The Delft University of Technology has partnered with edX to offer a MicroMasters program in solar energy engineering. The program consists of five graduate-level courses, each of which takes between eight and 12 weeks to complete.

Students learn to: model all aspects of a working solar cell; design fabrication processes for photovoltaic technologies; evaluate photovoltaic systems; and consider economics, ecology, and the microgrid when using photovoltaic applications. The five courses cover photovoltaic energy conversion, photovoltaic technologies, photovoltaic systems, the integration of photovoltaic systems into the microgrid, and solar energy engineering: comprehensive exams.

Each course may be taken individually for free, or for $250 if wishing to earn a certificate. If taken together as a MicroMasters program, the bundle of courses costs $1,125 in its entirety, and the credits earned may be counted towards a master of science degree in sustainable engineering technology (SET) or electrical power engineering at Delft.

  • Duration: 13 months (nine to ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $1,125

Short Courses: Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and Self-Driving Vehicles

Where AI and machine learning create autonomous processes, robotics automates larger, physical devices.

Udacity

Udacity offers a nano degree for self-driving car engineering, in partnership with industry heavyweights like Waymo and Mercedes-Benz.

The curriculum covers computer vision, deep learning, sensor fusion, localization, path planning, control, and system integration. In the capstone course, students work together to design code that they’ll run on Udacity’s self-driving car.

The learning in this course is advanced, diving into deep neural networks, TensorFlow, convolutional neural networks, Kalman filters, and Markov localization.

The program is split into two terms and costs $1,695 for five months of access. Students need to meet prerequisites in Python, C++, and advanced mathematics before joining the program. Udacity also offers an introductory course on the topic of self-driving cars.

  • Duration: Five months (ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $1,695 for five months of access

Short Courses: Software Engineering and Mobile Application Development

Software engineers develop software through various programming languages (Java, Python, Ruby, C++) determined by the software’s destination platform (front-end web, back-end web, desktop). Mobile application development focuses on delivering software to mobile platforms with different operating systems and technical constraints.

Udacity

In a partnership with Google, Udacity offers a nano degree in Android Kotlin development. The curriculum is designed to enable developers to be more productive and concise. They learn to build professional apps for the world’s most popular mobile platforms using Kotlin and Android Studio. Students will be prepared to become professional Android developers allowing them to create a diverse portfolio of projects.

The curriculum covers topics such as developing android apps and advanced android apps with kotlin. Upon completion, graduates will be able to use Android Studio, Android development platform best practices, Kotlin, and Android Jetpack for building their apps. The program can be completed in four months long and requires approximately ten hours of study per week. The price is $1,356 for four months of access.

  • Duration: Four months (ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $1,356 for four months of access

Short Courses: Urban Design, Smart Cities, and Resource Management

The Modern urban design consists of the planning of cities and their resources using integration with 21st-century technologies.

GetSmarter – The MIT Media Lab

The MIT Media Lab hosts an online short course on GetSmarter called Beyond Smart Cities: Emerging Design and Technology. MIT faculty lead discussions on how disruptive technologies can be incorporated into urban planning to develop smarter, more sustainable, and more responsive cities.

The six-week course is divided into six modules: design and technology for people-centric cities; the mobility revolution and urban robotics; the live-work transformation (robotics, prefabrication, and IoT technology); a network of neighborhoods (AI, real-time simulation, and emerging systems); sustainable communities (local production and lower consumption); and governance (token economies and algorithmic zoning for prosocial behaviors). The course costs $2,900 and requires seven to nine hours of study per week.

  • Duration: Six weeks excluding orientation (seven to nine hours per week)
  • Cost: $2,900

Coursera – Lund University

Lund University offers a short course called Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities, hosted by Coursera. This five-week course explores the concept of urban design through the lens of green transformation, connecting key trends of urbanization, decarbonization, and sustainability.

The course is divided into five parts: sustainable urban transformation; infrastructure and planning; urban living labs; urban lifestyles; and urban visions. This course provides key examples of activities for promoting sustainable cities in Europe, Scandinavia, and around the world.

  • Duration: Five weeks
  • Cost: Free

Coursera – EPFL

A five-week online course in smart cities – management of smart urban infrastructures is offered by Coursera, in collaboration with EPFL, one of Europe’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan science and technology institutions. Smart urban technologies’ introduction into legacy infrastructures has resulted in numerous opportunities and challenges for contemporary cities. This course helps students in understanding how to use these smart technologies in their cities’ legacy infrastructures.

The syllabus of this five-week course explores topics such as introduction to smart urban infrastructures and smart cities; smart urban energy systems; smart urban transportation systems; and smart cities.

Upon completion, students develop a solid understanding of the nature of disruptive innovations in urban infrastructure systems, learn about strategies to effectively manage the transition from legacy infrastructures to smart urban systems, and also learn about the management of the transition phase.

  • Duration: Five weeks
  • Cost: Free

Short Courses: User Experience (UX) & Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

User experience designers are responsible for the customer-facing side of technological products. Human-computer interaction specialists research traditional and nontraditional methods of interfacing with technology.

GetSmarter – MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

GetSmarter has teamed up with MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) to offer a six-week course in human-computer interaction for user experience design.

Eight of MIT’s CSAIL experts go over the fundamentals of UX design and also dive into the frontier areas of their UX and HCI research. The course curriculum has six modules: the essence of interaction design; Natural interaction; collaborative computer interaction; intelligent user interfaces and prototyping; multimedia, speech, and vision in computer interaction; and the future directions of user interaction. The program costs $2,500 and requires between eight and ten hours of study each week.

  • Duration: Six weeks excluding orientation (eight and ten hours per week)
  • Cost: $2,500

Short Courses: Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Virtual reality specialists design and test simulated realities with user interfaces. Augmented reality specialists use wearable tech to layer simulated realities over top of daily life.

edX – The University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego, and edX have a professional certificate program in VR app development. Over three courses, students will study computer graphics, the fundamentals of VR, and the creation of VR applications.

Individual topics within these courses include 3D tracking and input devices, VR app design, VR and game engines, and 3D user interaction, among others. Working with Unity 3D and OpenGL, graduates leave the program with working VR apps of their own. The program costs a total of $267.30, but each course may be taken individually, either for free or for a certificate. The latter option costs $99 per course.

Students learn about designing VR applications with Unity 3D, transforming coordinate systems for 3D interactions, making a VR application successful, and creating their own VR app.

  • Duration: Five months (five to nine hours per week)
  • Cost: $267.30

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