Online Social Science Courses & Certifications

The early modern period saw many new inventions, but the development of printing was probably the most exciting of them all. The course on The History of the Book in the Early Modern Period: 1450 to 1800 will teach candidates about the impact of this printing revolution on contemporary politics, religion, medicine and science. 

Candidates will learn how books were made, illustrated and bound together. They will learn how these books were sold, circulated and read by the people of the early modern period. Such insightful details about the history of the book in the early modern period are bound to be an enriching experience for the candidates.

The History of the Book in the Early Modern Period: 1450 to 1800 by FutureLearn gives candidates a unique opportunity to study early modern book production using sample books from the Edward Worth Library, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. Candidates can look through early editions of Aesop’s Fables or study the engravings of Anthony Van Dyck.

The Book of Kells is a 9th-century old manuscript that is kept at the Trinity College, Dublin, contains the four gospels of the new testament, and fascinates almost 1 million people every year. With this The Book of Kells: Exploring an Irish Medieval Masterpiece certification nurtured by Trinity College Dublin, and FutureLearn is a tool through which candidates can discover the History of Ireland in its medieval state.

The Book of Kells: Exploring an Irish Medieval Masterpiece certification syllabus is split into 1 month and teaches how to explore the history, landscape, faith, politics, and theology of Ireland in its medieval era. This weekly course also enables us to understand the importance of The Book of Kells

The Book of Kells: Exploring an Irish Medieval Masterpiece training course enlightens the students on how the manuscript was made which preserves Irelands’ history. Candidates will also come to know about the extended biology of this book, and what effects it has had on the contemporary world.

The World Bank states that Africa’s working-age population is likely to increase by almost 70% by 2035. However, to achieve sustainable development, industrialisation is crucial to create jobs. While rapid manufacturing has been beneficial for east Asian countries, will it be useful for Africa? Industrial Policy in the 21st Century: The Challenge for Africa online course explores this and many other questions related to Africa’s industrialisation policy requirements. 

The Industrial Policy in the 21st Century: The Challenge for Africa course surveys various ways to promote economic growth in Africa. The prime focus will be on ‘industries without smokestacks’, an industrial policy that encourages industry growth and economic development in Africa, foregoing the manufacturing policies. 

Industrial Policy in the 21st Century: The Challenge for Africa is a four-week online course. However, you can learn at your own speed. With a weekly effort of two to four hours, you will be able to complete the course on time. The educator for this course is John Page, a representative of the SDG Academy.  The self-paced course is free to join and access it for a limited duration. To get the certificate and unlimited access to the programme, they learners will need to pay the prescribed fee. 

The Certification course on Invitation to The Tale of Genji: The Foundational Elements of Japanese Culture will provide an insight into the age-old story of “The Tale of Genji”. During the course, many video lectures and references will be provided to elaborate and explain the customs, manners, and sensibilities of the Kyoto city and the society of the Japanese aristocrats. The students will gain a comprehensive and presided view of the then-Japanese society. The Tale of Genji will provide a foundation base for Japanese literature. It will allow the students to learn more about history from a different perspective and will help to understand the spirituality related to Japanese society in ancient times.

Considered to be the world's first prose fiction and novel the “Tale of Genji” is considered to be a central piece of literature. Hence, the Invitation to The Tale of Genji: The Foundational Elements of Japanese Culture program provides students an opportunity to learn more about royal life. Among the 2 paths, if the candidates choose the Audit mode they will be getting only limited-time access to the course whereas the access becomes unlimited if the Verfiied track is selected by the candidates.

Modern Sculpture: An Introduction to Art History certification by the University of York, and FutureLearn helps the candidates jump onto learning the art history while exploring public sculpture. Learning modern sculpture becomes quite easy as candidates will be developing their visual capabilities.

With the Modern Sculpture: An Introduction to Art History certification syllabus, candidates can explore the conceptual, material, and theoretical questions that have risen around 20th-century sculptures like parks, galleries squares, museums and city centres that one finds everywhere. Being a creative art, and Media course, this programme is able to help candidates to start off a conversion regarding purchasing artworks by initiating arts-related conversation.

Modern Sculpture: An Introduction to Art History is run over a period of 4 weeks that is responsible for making the candidates aware of the contemporary sculpture’s epicentre like Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and Henry Moore Institute so that these sculptures can be explored visually.  

Amid the rise of fake, misleading, and polarising news, and the deplorable state of mainstream media, the need of the hour is to produce trustworthy journalism. And that is just what the Journalism for Social Change certification course aims to do. You will learn about solution-based journalism, which is the practice of giving equal weightage to a problem and its solution.

By the end of the Journalism for Social Change training by edX, you will learn how to use journalism and the media as a tool to implement positive social change. You will also become an effective change agent yourself. You will study outstanding examples of solution-based journalism, focusing mostly on vulnerable children, and other issues that affect all other vulnerable and marginalised peoples.  

Your research and report during the Journalism for Social Change online course will be published over the semester, and will, in turn, have an immediate and direct impact. It can be anything - women’s rights, immigration, child exploitation, criminal justice, or poverty. This four-week programme is brought to you by the University of California, Berkeley.

The Why Religion Matters: Religious Literacy, Culture and Diversity online course helps you to explore the history of religion and why it has played an essential part in the lives of people for centuries. Most importantly, it gives you a deep dive into how religion affects political and personal decisions. In today’s world, understanding this is potent to comprehend global challenges we face involving religion. 

Furthermore, the FutureLearn Why Religion Matters: Religious Literacy, Culture and Diversity programme involves learning about religious diversity and religious literacy within societies and their traditions. The programme starts with learning why religion is essential to make sense of international conflicts and domestic policy decisions.  

Besides, the Why Religion Matters: Religious Literacy, Culture and Diversity programme by Futurelearn provides case studies to discover and explore Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and many other indigenous religions. The curriculum not only teaches contemporary context but also brings forth the modern perspective.

With the Conscious Capitalism certification course offered by the best-in-class institute of Babson, the candidates will be learning about practical implications as well as the theoretical underpinnings of conscious capitalism as an approach to business activities. They will learn to rethink the reason for the existence of their own organization, and about the role that it performs as a part of the independent global marketplace. 

Candidates will be brought face to face with the impact that conscious capitalism has on the well-being of stakeholders, be it tangible or intangible. They will also learn about the key concepts of conscious capitalism including higher purpose, conscious culture, stakeholder leadership, and stakeholder orientation.    

Candidates can complete the Conscious Capitalism certification course in a period of 4 weeks. They need to put in at least 4 to 6 hours per week to excel in the course. It is available free of cost and is self-paced for the ease of learners. The candidates can take the course either by paying the fee or free of cost. In the free track, they can audit the programme for a limited duration. 

The Global Prosperity Beyond GDP certification is responsible for creating a better world by shifting its focus on health, and prosperity rather than wealth. Within just one month, and 2 hours of sessions the candidates will approach what are the other determinants of the success of a society. This course has been designed both by University College London, and pretend on the FutureLearn platform.

No longer more success means economic growth, and by 2050, the population in the world will be 10 billion and there may be an environmental crisis. To survive such a situation, from today itself people will have to use new tools to tackle the problems of today so that the world can have a prosperous future ahead. This is exactly what the Global Prosperity Beyond GDP certification syllabus is responsible for teaching.

Global Prosperity Beyond GDP training will shift its focus from prosperity to how the world got to the economies that it is today in. In these 4 weekly modules, the students will progress from the current to the future well-being of our world.

The Global ethics: an introductory course developed by the open university and offered by the platform of future learn is a course created under the guidance of four philosophers to help learners frame their opinions about the global challenges.

Through this course, the learners will become familiar with the key ethical theories surrounding global challenges and the implementation of philosophy for addressing them. This will make learners think about major global problems and help them develop their views about them. 

They would be able to analyze the problems like migration, climate change, widespread poverty, and global inequality and the course will help them present their unbiased thought and views on them. Frequent tests, quizzes, and assignments make learning more effective and efficient. At the end, of the course, a certification is awarded to the learners after qualifying a test, to help them demonstrate their dedication towards continuous learning and unending personal growth. 

Many Faces: Understanding the Complexities of Chinese Culture certification is a one-month course that is provided by the University of Exeter in alliance with FutureLearn. In all these years, the culture of the Chinese people still remains unexplored when compared to the history of China, and its political aspect. This course brings out the richness of the Chinese culture so modern China can be understood better.

Many Faces: Understanding the Complexities of Chinese Culture certification syllabus has 3 aspects that are important to Chinese culture. This course will provide an idea of what the concept of ‘noble hero’ is, and how it is showcased on political, and cultural platforms. Other than this, the course also helps find out the cause of tension that is brought upon both by the modern, and traditional values in the art, literature of China that is created by the immigrant marginalised group.

Many Faces: Understanding the Complexities of Chinese Culture training is divided into steps, activities over a period of 4 weeks so the candidates can easily learn the course without any hassle.

The Great Experiments in Psychology certification course is a 4 weeks course. This postgraduate programme is available online through Swayam’s provider platform. Human Psychology is such a subject that excites people to know about what humans actually do think of their race as a whole. Hence this course was based on the above-stated ideology. 

The Great Experiments in Psychology training is offered for everyone who wants to establish themselves through various experiments in psychology as a science that are usually unknown for many people. This programme usually gives an attempt in sharing certain important experiments prevalent in the history of Psychology that has helped towards shaping up its identity as a science. Ultimately this course will help in designing experiments using human subjects trying to understand the scientific approach of psychology.

The ‘Managing Intellectual Property in Universities’ online certification course is focused on delivering insights on the features involved and the importance of establishing an intellectual property center in universities and colleges to increase the ranking and enhance the innovation ecosystem in educational institutions. This free training program is provided by Swayam online portal in collaboration with the National Program for Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL).

The participants of this course are guided by the program instructor, Dr. Feroz Ali who teaches Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The classes are conducted online through videos, lectures, online resources, and other evaluation techniques. The students of this course will gain both theoretical and practical experience with the hands-on training during the program which enables students to get practical experience with forming and managing an IP center.

The ‘Managing Intellectual Property in Universities’ certification course helps students to receive the course certificate and credit points after completing the course which is done within four weeks in this elective program.