This introductory course will provide you with a multidisciplinary approach to managing waste in low- and middle-income countries, with strategies that diminish greenhouse gas emissions and provide enterprise opportunities for marginalized populations. You will focus on understanding some of the multiple dimensions of waste generation and management. Topics are presented in real contexts through case studies, field visits, civic engagement and research, and include consumer culture, waste streams, waste management, entrepreneurship and innovation on waste, technology evaluation, downcycling / upcycling, Life Cycle Analysis and waste assessment. Labs include building low-cost, small scale technology, field trips to waste-related institutions and businesses, art workshops and e-waste scrapping taught by practitioners, artists and waste enthusiasts.

This course focuses on disseminating Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) or water/environment innovations in developing countries and underserved communities worldwide. It emphasizes core WASH and water/environment principles, culture-specific solutions, tools for start-ups, appropriate and sustainable technologies, behavior change, social marketing, building partnerships, and the theory and practice of innovation diffusion.

This course focuses on disseminating Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) or water/environment innovations in developing countries and underserved communities worldwide. It emphasizes core WASH and water/environment principles, culture-specific solutions, tools for start-ups, appropriate and sustainable technologies, behavior change, social marketing, building partnerships, and the theory and practice of innovation diffusion.

This course is an introductory exploration of documentary film theory and production, focusing on documentaries about science, engineering, and related fields. Students engage in digital video production as well as social and media analysis of science documentaries. Readings are drawn from social studies of science as well as from documentary film theory. The courses uses documentary video making as a tool to explore the worlds of science and engineering, as well as a tool for thinking analytically about media itself and the social worlds in which science is embedded. The course includes a hands-on lab component devoted to digital video production, in addition to classroom lectures and in-class film screenings.

Short Description:
Innocent trends may foreshadow a grimmer future. You may wonder why the title refers to pleasures. If you have read Huxley's Brave New World, you may understand how pleasures can be motors of control and manipulation, which makes them dangerous.

Long Description:
Canceling” and calling out appear as the struggle against the opposite world views. I invite you to look at this cultural phenomenon from an economic perspective that outlines the social stakes of its practice. This book will encourage you to consider the unintended consequences of cancel culture and question its reliability as a tool of activism.

Word Count: 24104

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This course introduces methods for harnessing data to answer questions of cultural, social, economic, and policy interest. We will start with essential notions of probability and statistics. We will proceed to cover techniques in modern data analysis: regression and econometrics, design of experiments, randomized control trials (and A/B testing), machine learning, and data visualization.
We will illustrate these concepts with applications drawn from real-world examples and frontier research. Finally, we will provide instruction on the use of the statistical package R, and opportunities for students to perform self-directed empirical analyses.
MITx Online
This course draws materials from 14.310x Data Analysis for Social Scientists, which is part of the MicroMasters Program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy offered by MITx Online. The MITx Online course is entirely free to audit, though learners have the option to pay a fee, which is based on the learner’s ability to pay, to take the proctored exam and earn a course certificate. To access that course, create an MITx Online account and enroll in the course 14.310x Data Analysis for Social Scientists.

This open resources textbook contains 10 Units that describe and explain the main concepts in statistical analysis of psychological data (managing data, measures of central tendency, measures of spread, correlations, simple linear regression). In addition to conceptual descriptions and explanations of the basic analyses for descriptive statistics, this textbook also explains how to conduct those analyses with common statistical software (Excel) and open-source free software (R). This book is directed to undergraduates studying basic statistics, especially basic statistics in psychological research.

Data Science and AI in Psychology is an interactive eTextbook that provides an introduction to data science, big data, and machine learning in psychology. It covers current trends in data science and big data in the field of psychology (Chapter 1), applications of AI in the field of psychology (Chapter 2), the psychology of data visualization (Chapter 3), data ethics (Chapter 4), an introduction to how machines learn (Chapter 5), a hands-on guide for reading and critiquing machine learning research articles that are relevant to psychological topics (Chapters 6 and 7), and an introduction to coding in Python (Chapter 8). This eTextbook also includes an introduction to ChatGPT and tips for using ChatGPT to assist with writing and coding without plagiarizing (Chapters 6 and 8). This is an interactive resource that provides students with opportunities to engage with their peers and develop critical thinking skills through problem-based, active learning.

This course explores visualization methodologies to conceive and represent systems and data, e.g., financial, media, economic, political, etc., with a particular focus on climate change data in this version of the course. Topics include basic methods for research, cleaning, and analysis of datasets, and creative methods of data presentation and storytelling. The course considers the emotional, aesthetic, ethical, and practical effects of different presentation methods as well as how to develop metrics for assessing impact. Coursework includes readings, visualization exercises, and a final project.

Cleaning, reshaping, and transforming data for analysis and visualization, with R and the Tidyverse

Word Count: 3515

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This course is an introduction to the theory and application of large-scale dynamic programming. Topics include Markov decision processes, dynamic programming algorithms, simulation-based algorithms, theory and algorithms for value function approximation, and policy search methods. The course examines games and applications in areas such as dynamic resource allocation, finance and queueing networks.

Foundations and philosophical applications of Bayesian decision theory, game theory and theory of collective choice. Why should degrees of belief be probabilities? Is it always rational to maximize expected utility? If so, why and what is its utility? What is a solution to a game? What does a game-theoretic solution concept such as Nash equilibrium say about how rational players will, or should, act in a game? How are the values and the actions of groups, institutions and societies related to the values and actions of the individuals that constitute them?

Digital Suppression and Cryptographic Defense of Social Movements

Short Description:
Defend Dissent is an introduction to cryptography paired with the social impacts of surveillance and the protective potential of encryption, with a focus on US social movements. Each chapter ends with a story that brings social context to the material—from surveillance used against contemporary US protests to the African National Congress’s use of partially manual encryption in fighting apartheid in South Africa in the 80s. This book can be read linearly, or you can pick and choose what you would like to learn about. Each chapter is prefaced with what you should read first (for background) and concludes with what you might want to read next. También disponible en Español Data dashboard

Word Count: 67802

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

Democracy in Brief touches on topics such as rights and responsibilities of citizens, free and fair elections, the rule of law, the role of a written constitution, separation of powers, a free media, the role of parties and interest groups, military-civilian relations and democratic culture.

Democracy in difference: Debating key terms of gender, sexuality, race and identity focuses on concepts and analytical frames we use when discussing how marginalised identities navigate their place in an assumed common culture.

This ebook offers a path for exploring how we might build a shared vocabulary when working through the muddle of public debates like identity politics, political correctness, pronouns and what constitutes racism. Democracy in Difference is an unconventional interdisciplinary guide to key concepts, which borrows from decolonial methodologies, Marxism, feminism, queer theory and deconstruction.

Key terms are illustrated through written text, La Trobe Art Institute artworks (centering Indigenous artists), poetry, comedy and song, and customised animations which make difficult terms accessible.

This text is published by the La Trobe eBureau.

The OER "Developing Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and Managing Emotions" is designed for children aged 4-12 to help them recognize, understand, and manage their emotions while fostering empathy and strong social skills. This resource provides engaging activities such as drawing feelings faces, creating calm down jars, and practicing empathy through charades. Additionally, it includes storytelling sessions with books like "When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry" and interactive activities like keeping a feelings journal. Complemented by songs and videos, this OER equips children with essential emotional skills for positive interactions and personal well-being.

Short Description:
This e-resource is aimed at guiding and supporting human services students through their placements.

Word Count: 10113

Included H5P activities: 30

ISBN: 978-0-6453261-2-3

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

Short Description:
This book presents novel research results in the dynamics of values, rationality, and power in organizations. Through this understanding, readers will gain insights and frameworks to understand others' actions within their environment. Armed with the knowledge of how values, rationality, and power influence people's actions, readers will gain tools they can use to navigate the complexity of organizations to foster wise action.

Long Description:
Can we develop organizational and managerial wisdom? Can we even put words like “organization” and “manager” in the same sentence as wisdom?

You bet we can.

This book presents novel research results in the dynamics of values, rationality, and power in organizations. Through this understanding, readers will gain insights and frameworks to understand others’ actions within their environment. Armed with the knowledge of how values, rationality, and power influence people’s actions, readers will gain tools they can use to navigate the complexity of organizations to foster wise action.

Word Count: 61795

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This course provides rigorous introduction to core microeconomic issues in economic development, focusing on both key theoretical contributions and empirical applications to understand both why some countries are poor and on how markets function differently in poor economies. Topics include human capital (education and health); labor markets; credit markets; land markets; firms; and the role of the public sector.

Why are some countries rich and others poor? This fundamental question has been on the mind of economists since Adam Smith wrote "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. This is a full course that covers all the major issues and developments in the field of development economics. Unlike typical college courses, we will take you to the frontier of the discipline, covering recent research as well as more established material. This course is non-technical and is accessible to a beginner. If you pass the final exam, you will earn our "Development Economics" certificate on your profile.