This course will guide you through the basic elements of professional journalism and the news values and ethics of covering real-world issues and events. The overview and examples of the types of news coverage helps introduce the different types of journalism, such as social media, multimedia, print, visual and broadcast, and how professional journalists effectively use each format.

An introduction to the main themes of the American Constitution—popular sovereignty, separation of powers, federalism, and rights.

Do you remember when you first created your Facebook account? Do you know what happens to the data and stories you share on Facebook? Are you aware of the Facebook – Cambridge Analytica crisis and its ramifications? In this course, you will take a deep dive into reputation management by tackling a case study on the crisis, the effects of which are still unravelling for Facebook, the tech industry, and society at large. You will explore the concept of corporate reputation, and touch upon topics such as data privacy implications for the big tech or the importance of leadership and culture, and how Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership might have affected Facebook in particular. In the final project, you will be asked to link theory and practice to provide an analysis of events and make recommendations for Facebook, going forward. This 6-module course has a study time of about 20 hours. It is recommended for anyone studying communication or management, practitioners interested in crisis and reputation management, or anyone with an interest in case learning that explores real-life business challenges. Each week, you will be introduced to engaging content, such as videos, quizzes, discussion forum, and academic readings, and be encouraged to apply learned knowledge to the case. The final module – the capstone project – is assessed by peer review. Broaden your knowledge of reputation and crisis management, and hone your critical decision-making skills. Are you ready to look beyond Facebook, and draw lessons from it that can be applied in many other situations? Register now! WHAT YOU WILL LEARN • Analyse the challenges of reputation management in the digital age • Examine the role of leadership and corporate culture in reputation management • Understand the role and relevance of counter-institutional mechanisms, such as whistleblowing, to check corporate power and influence • Examine the interaction and nexus of politics and business and their ethical and societal consequences • Understand the wider scope of corporate responsibilities in business organisations • Analyse how large tech companies manage or reconcile the paradox between commercial and societal interests

The “New Approaches to Countering Terror: Countering Violent Extremism” course offered by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), is a multi-week interactive course designed to help students explore both pragmatic and philosophical challenges that continue to shape the evolution of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), a global security paradigm. START, a Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence and research, training, and education center housed at the University of Maryland within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS), serves as a leading voice in the national and international dialogue regarding CVE. START’s Director and the course instructor, Bill Braniff, will introduce the concept of CVE and explore the promise of CVE as a more comprehensive and proactive approach to the complex phenomenon of violent extremism. This 3.5 hour course will take an in-depth look at CVE as a relatively new area of policy and practice. As such, this MOOC can serve as an awareness-raising course, targeting anyone interested in terrorism, community resilience, security, policy and/or civil rights issues. The course is broadly interdisciplinary and has no prerequisites. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Differentiate between two ways of addressing violent extremism: counterterrorism (CT) and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE); 2. Explain the CVE spectrum of non-violent approaches to countering terror, including prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation/reintegration programs; 3. Make sound analytical judgments about CVE programs and their potential. START also offers a range of other online educational programs, including: 1. Summer/Winter Courses: https://www.start.umd.edu/education/summerwinter-courses 2. Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degree in Security and Terrorism Studies: https://www.start.umd.edu/education/master-professional-studies-online 3. Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis: https://www.start.umd.edu/education/graduate-certificate-online

Artificial Intelligence: Ethics & Societal Challenges is a four-week course that explores ethical and societal aspects of the increasing use of artificial intelligent technologies (AI). The aim of the course is to raise awareness of ethical and societal aspects of AI and to stimulate reflection and discussion upon implications of the use of AI in society. The course consists of four modules where each module represents about one week of part-time studies. A module includes a number of lectures and readings. Each lesson finishes with a mandatory assignment in which you write a short sum-up of the most important new knowledge/insight you gained from this lesson, and review a lesson sum-up written by another student/participant. The assessments are intended to encourage learning and to stimulate reflection on ethical and societal issues of the use of AI in society. Participating in forum discussions is voluntary but strongly encouraged. In the first module, we will discuss algorithmic bias and surveillance. Is it really true that algorithms are purely logical and free from human biases or are they maybe just as biased as we are, and if they are, why is that and what can we do about it? AI in many ways makes surveillance more effective, but what does it mean to us if we are increasingly being watched in more and more sophisticated ways? Next, we will talk about the impact of AI on democracy. We discuss why democracy is important, and how AI could hamper public democratic discussion, but also how it can help improve democracy. We will for instance talk about how social media could play in the hands of authoritarian regimes and present some ideas on how to make use of AI tools to develop the functioning of democracy. A further ethical question concerns whether our treatment of AI could matter for the AIs themselves. Can artefacts be conscious? What do we even mean by “conscious”? What is the relationship between consciousness and intelligence? This is the topic of the third week of the course. In the last module we will talk about responsibility and control. If an autonomous car hits an autonomous robot, who is responsible? And who is responsible to make sure AI is developed in a safe and democratic way? The last question of the course, and maybe also the ultimate question for our species, is how to control machines that are more intelligent than we are. Our intelligence has given us a lot of power over the world we live in. Shall we really give that power away to machines and if we do, how do we stay in charge? At the end of the course, you will have · a basic understanding of the AI bias phenomenon and the role of AI in surveillance, · a basic understanding of the importance of democracy in relation to AI and acquaintance with common issues with democracy in relation to AI, · an understanding of the complexity of the concepts ‘intelligence’ and ‘consciousness’ and acquaintance with common approaches to creating artificial consciousness, · a basic understanding of the concepts of ‘forward-looking’ and ‘backward-looking responsibility’ and an acquaintance with problems connected to applying these concepts on AI, · a basic understanding of the control problem in AI and acquaintance with commonly discussed solutions to this problem, · and an ability to discuss and reflect upon the ethical and societal aspects of these issues.

The Center for Humanitarian Emergencies is a partnership between CDC's Emergency Response and Recovery Branch and the Rollins School of Public Health that drives global collaboration, research and evidence based training to improve the lives and well-being of populations impacted by humanitarian emergencies. - Center for Humanitarian Emergencies: http://www.che.emory.edu/ - CDC's Emergency Response and Recovery Branch: http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/healthprotection/errb/index.html This course covers the technical and management principles that are the basis of planning, implementing, and evaluating health programs for acutely displaced populations in developing countries. The emphasis is on refugees in camp situations. The course includes modules on assessment, nutrition, epidemiology of major health problems, surveillance, and program management in the context of an international relief operation. Course Objectives Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to: 1. Describe a complex humanitarian crisis in terms of magnitude, person, time and place. 2. Calculate basic epidemiology measures. 3. Evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiological data within the context of CHE. 4. Develop public health programs and strategies responsive to the diverse cultural values and traditions of the community being served. 5. Identify internal and external problems that may affect the delivery of essential public health services in a CHE. 6. Identify the different technical areas in a public health response in CHEs.

An overview of the tools, techniques, and practices that can be enacted by policy makers, countries, and organizations to monitor, manage, and react to pandemics and mitigate and govern their impacts. An introductory, multidisciplinary course covering data science, social science, healthcare, and management, paving the way to various courses on specific matters. This course is part of the research project 'Pan-European Response to the Impacts of the COVID-19 and future Pandemics and Epidemics' (PERISCOPE, https://www.periscopeproject.eu/). Funded by the European Commission Research Funding programme Horizon 2020 under the Grant Agreement number 101016233, PERISCOPE investigates the broad socio-economic and behavioural impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, to make Europe more resilient and prepared for future large-scale risks.

Evidence shows that 1 life is saved for every 10-20 Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) issued. ERPOs are legally issued civil orders that allow people on the front lines to ask a court to prevent a person at imminent risk of harm to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing firearms during a critical period of risk. As of October 2020, ERPO laws have been enacted by nineteen states and the District of Columbia and while some aspects differ by state, the general process for applying and issuing ERPOs are quite similar. In this Teach-Out, a team of public health, policy, and medical experts will each provide a unique perspective to: 1. Define what ERPO laws are and how they work; 2. Share scientific evidence supporting ERPO laws as a public health approach to preventing gun violence and suicide; 3. Describe specific considerations for those eligible to petition for (aka those who ask the court to issue) ERPOs on behalf of an individual—including law enforcement, health professionals, and personal family members; 4. Discuss the legal process for passing, implementing, and enforcing ERPO laws; 5. Recommend specific call to action activities for learners designed to encourage policy makers to implement ERPO laws in states without them and strengthen existing ERPO laws in states that already have them; and 6. Provide opportunities for learners to engage in civil discourse and collective action to increase awareness about ERPOs and empower learners to advocate for ERPO laws to reduce and prevent gun violence in our communities.

Regardless of where you live, the European Union not only affects your life, but may also transform it. By learning how Europe works, a new world will open up to you and discover new jobs you never heard of. The European Union has a large, yet often unnoticed, impact on many aspects of everybody’s life. We will analyze what the EU is doing for YOU regardless of where you live. We will also look at what YOU can do for and in Europe. Whether you are traveling, eating, working, doing business, shopping, surfing the Internet or breathing, all these activities are largely shaped by the EU. As a result no global citizen, business leader, lawmaker, lobbyist or student can effectively operate in Europe or in the world without a solid understanding of this unique laboratory of integration. While the EU is often depicted as a monstrous bureaucratic creature, condemned to irrelevance by the emerging economies, in 50 years it accomplished what other countries took centuries to realize. The EU remains the most accomplished experiment of economic, social and political integration in human history. Given its inherent complexities, this Course aims at empowering you on what Europe can offer and will enable you to discover jobs and opportunities you were not aware of. Indeed, throughout the whole course, participants will be confronted with real-life examples of EU action. EU affairs professionals will share their personal EU experiences and tell us about their EU jobs. You will also be able to interact with the instructor and other participants, share your opinions, question the instructor’s assumptions and hence shape the course’s content.

In this course, featuring many researchers from the University of Zurich and international institutions, we will introduce you to some of the most vibrant cultural trends addressing landscape appreciation, degradation, protection, and rehabilitation that currently circulate in the Asian hemisphere. You will learn about concepts of landscape in Asian religions, philosophy, social sciences, history and the arts and their reverberation in selected environmental projects in China, India and Japan. Furthermore, we will discuss how they are critically reflected upon in the context of the environmental humanities, and observe how an interdisciplinary approach towards regional ecosystems past and present reaches out beyond pragmatic technological solutions to mitigate environmental damage. Following us on our different paths and trajectories through the five modules of the course, you will encounter many of the reasons why environmental humanities study projects which strive to change people’s prevalent attitudes, values and behavioural patterns in order to redeem the rapidly globalizing crisis, and how they go about it. Having acquainted yourself with the stories Asia’s landscapes – and landscape representations – tell about actual and possible human-nature relationships, you can compare and evaluate their potential to bring about the desired change and define your own range of actions as an informed stakeholder for creating a sustainable future. What is arguably no less intriguing: you will learn how to appreciate a broad range of eco-aesthetic forms that re-enchant our lives by creatively interacting with the more-than-human world. You can follow the five modules of the course consecutively or just study the modules that interest you the most. If you want to earn a certificate, you need to complete all of the modules including the quizzes at the end of each module. THESE ARE THE TOPICS OF THE 5 MODULES OF THIS COURSE: Module 1: Concepts of landscape past and present and their cosmological underpinnings. Module 2: Entangled landscapes comprising cultural flows of concepts and forms, contemporary gardens on the move, nostalgic elegies of demolished sites and rural reconstruction projects. Module 3: Discussion of two religious communities in India (the Parsi-Zoroastrians and the Auroville community) and their relationship with the environment. Module 4: Environmental debates tackling religious concepts and social practices and the problem of waste disposal in India. Module 5: Environmental movements and the impact of Fukushima on attitudes towards nuclear energy in Japan, creative activism including arts projects and documentaries to protest against pollution and landscape degradation and raise environmental awareness in the Sinosphere, and emergent concepts for sustainable community life on the planet.