Want to study for an MBA but unsure of the basic data analysis still required? This online course prepares you for studying in an MBA program and in business generally.

Data analysis appears throughout any rigorous MBA program and in today’s business environment understanding the fundamentals of collecting, presenting, describing and making inferences from data sets is essential for success.

The goal of this course is to teach you fundamental data analysis skills so you are prepared for your MBA study and able to focus your efforts on core MBA curriculum, rather than continually playing catch-up with the underlying statistical knowledge needed.

We also hope that learning these data analysis skills will equip you with the ability to understand, to a greater degree, the data you encounter in your working lives and in the world around you – an essential life-skill in today’s data driven environment

This course assumes no prior knowledge of data analysis. Concepts are explained as clearly as possible and regular activities give you the opportunity to practice your skills and improve your confidence.

In this business and management course, you will develop a strong understanding of how firms compete by learning about important analytical approaches that underlie business strategy.

This course will show you how a business views itself in its “totality” and in the context of its environment. The course will be taught from the perspective of a manager or chief executive officer (CEO).

This course aims to equip you with a good understanding of:

• What managing a firm strategically implies?
  • How one analyzes the industry in which a firm competes?
  • How does a firm create competitive advantage?
  • How does a firm sustain its competitive advantage?

Do you aspire to be an ideal people manager? The journey from being an individual contributor to a people manager requires significant personal development and growth. If you are a first time manager, you may have asked yourself:

• Where did I go wrong in managing this particular employee?
• How should I give feedback to my subordinates?
• How do I handle potential assessments?
• How should I motivate people who report to me?

The objective of this business and management course is to smoothen the transition for newly appointed people managers, motivate and guide people who are aspiring to become one and to think back and reflect for seasoned managers.

The course will provide learners with an enhanced understanding of the role of people management in organizational context.

Although there are some robots you might never get to meet (or might hope you never meet), such as those sent to space, war or rescue situations, many other robots and bots are being developed to populate people’s homes, the online spaces they frequent, their workplaces, and the social spaces they visit.

This course explores how people communicate with robots and bots in everyday life, both now and into the future.

Module 1 discusses the difficulties of defining what a robot is, as well as briefly introducing bots.

Module 2 focuses on bots, chatbots and socialbots in detail, to consider how people communicate with these programs in online spaces, as well as some ethical questions these interactions raise.

Robots in the home are the subject of Module 3, with a discussion of robots designed to act as personal assistants leading into some examples of assistive and care robots, as well as telepresence robots that allow people to interact with one another at a distance through a robot.

Module 4 considers robots at work, from the potential of telepresence robots to enable remote operations, to robots designed to share people’s workspaces, and potentially even take their jobs. One example of a public space where robots might alter people’s working and social lives greatly is on the roads with the development of self-driving vehicles, robots that need to be able to communicate with their passengers as well as with other road users.

In Disability and Digital Media , we will explore the relationship between digital technologies and disability in the Internet age.We will consider:

• the evolving impact of social media on representations of disability;
• the politics of experiencing, embodying, and discussing disability online;
• the presence of disability in memes, viral content, and online culture; and
• the role of accessibility in the digital world.

Social media and online communication dominate our daily lives in an unprecedented manner. Wireless connectivity, mobile devices and wearable technologies mean that social media is always on, always part of everyday life for billions of people across the world.

While the term ‘social media’ is barely a decade old, the story of how people started using the internet in a social manner is a much longer and more interesting one. This course will increase learners’ understanding of social media by looking at the ways networked connectivity let users become ‘social’, how this was amplified with the emergence of the web, and how social media became the default mode of the mobile web we use today.

Food access: Learn about food supply and food security

Have you ever considered that you’re not the only one who decides what food ends up on your plate? In this environmental studies course, you’ll explore how key actors at household, local, national and international levels negotiate and make choices on access to food. You will understand why the choices you make have been predestined. And you will learn what it takes to provide access to a safe and nutritious food supply every day.

In this course you will learn that food access:

• And food manufacturing has changed during the past century
• Depends on social and economic dynamics at the household level for everyone
• Is shaped at a local level by the interactions between traders, retailers, producers and buyers in the markets
• Is influenced on a national scale by politics and policies by negotiating and aligning goals, instruments, and modes of governance ¥ is impacted by debates and negotiations creating conditions in food trade by international organizations

Wageningen University is specialized

The University of Wageningen offers an excellent combination of conducting research worldwide and educating in the area of ‘healthy food and living environment’. The institute ranks among the top Dutch universities and has scored the third place in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Ranking 2017 for research performance. Learn from professors who have gained decades of experience from both teaching at a specialized university and real life projects about access to food worldwide.

This is why you should sign up

If you want to understand the basics of access to food and food decision-making from a multilevel perspective, you can sign up as a:

• student
• food and nutrition policy maker
• development practitioner and trainer at international, national, household and individual level

A verified edX certificate provides proof for an employer, school, or other institution that you have successfully completed this online course.

Systems thinking and environmental sustainability: solve the Rubik ‘s cube

Have you ever considered how many aspects of food production affect the natural environment? Every aspect needs to be considered in attaining the future goal to produce enough food for the growing population while at the same time preserving our planet. It’s as difficult as solving a Rubik’s cube; changing one aspect may affect the environment in a major way.

Systems theory, or systems thinking, is a way of understanding and working with the complexity of sustainable food production systems, which requires training in different disciplines and an approach that can address this complexity. This environmental studies course enables participants to apply the principles of a systems approach to food production with a focus on environmental sustainability.

The professors at Wageningen University

The University of Wageningen offers an excellent combination of conducting research worldwide and educating in the area of ‘healthy food and living environment’. For each course, professors from specific fields of expertise are eager to teach and share the University’s mission: “Explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”.

This is why you should sign up

Sign up as a student if you want to acquire knowledge about environmental sustainability and the way systems thinking helps in decision-making in the complexity of food production. After successful completion of both practice and graded assignments related to this course, you will:

• Understand the complexity and diversity of food production systems
• Understand the principles of system analysis and apply it to environmental issues in food production
• Understand evaluation methods for the environmental impact of food production systems in different contexts and levels (e.g. farm, regional and global) Be able to evaluate strong and weak points of different food production systems regarding environmental sustainability
• Be able to contribute to a discussion about environmental sustainability and food production and ask relevant questions