At Penn LPS Online, we often describe our students as lifelong learners. Our students are curious readers, creative problem-solvers, and ambitious doers; You are ready and eager to learn new skills in order to realize your dreams.
If that describes you, then sink your teeth into the tempting online courses available this fall. You could learn practical skills to use in the real world—for work or for another project that excites you. You could get an in-depth scholarly look at some of the sensitive issues that ignite conversations in the world today, or immerse yourself in global cultures to learn more about what makes us human. Whether you are applying courses toward a degree or certificate program, or simply exploring your interests as a general course-taker, there is a course that will whet your appetite for knowledge.
Fall 1 courses begin on August 27. Current Penn LPS Online students can register for courses via Path@Penn. If you are new to our non-degree programs, you can enroll as a certificate or general course-taking student through August 15. Enrollment is easy—just complete and submit the enrollment form and nonrefundable fee ($25) through our online application system. If your ambition is to complete a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) at Penn, don’t worry—the courses listed below offer just a taste of what’s available through Penn LPS Online.
Polish up your professional portfolio
PROW 2030: Writing for Public Audiences: The Op-Eds and White Paper
Professionals in any field may find themselves needing to address a public audience. Consider the academic researchers who must communicate complex information to people and policymakers who don’t share their expertise, digital entrepreneurs who use white papers to help investors understand the vital services provided by new technology, and thought leaders whose op-ed pieces can reach a wide audience of readers. Writing for the public is its own genre, and even professionals who are considered good writers in their own field may not have the experience to make an opinion piece or informational brief shine.
This brand new course adds two pieces of writing to your professional portfolio: an op-ed, which allows you to reach a wide public with a short, well-constructed argument, and a white paper, which provides a platform to help a nonspecialist audience understand and make decisions about your specialization—whether that is to provide vital information to policymakers, pitch a product to investors, or establish a platform for thought leadership. In the process, you’ll learn how to identify and write for your target audience, how to construct your professional identity in writing, and how to assess the ongoing life of a publication once it enters the nebulous and unpredictable public.
- Instructor: Valerie Ross, Faculty Director, Penn LPS Online Certificate in Professional Writing
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Professional Writing
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentration in Individualized Studies
APOP 2000: Positive Psychology at Work
We spend about half of our waking hours at work—but we don’t stop needing meaningful and positive engagement when we start the time clock. Drawing from evidence-based research in the field of positive psychology, this course looks at case studies and strategies to promote well-being in a wide range of professional fields, including business, education, health care, and nonprofit organizations. Whether you are a leader looking to foster an environment of flourishing, positioning yourself to pivot to a more satisfying career, or simply in search of ways to exercise your strengths and make good connections at work as well as at home, you can expect to dive deep into the variables that contribute to your ability to flourish and find purpose in the workplace.
You may have a more robust experience in this course if you have previously taken APOP 1000: Introduction to Positive Psychology in fall 1, but that is not required.
- Instructor: Meredith Myers, Senior Fellow, The Wharton School's Center for Leadership & Change Management
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Data Analytics and Psychological Sciences, Individualized Studies, Leadership and Communication, and Organizational Culture and Collaboration
DIGC 2000: Coding Foundations for Digital Strategies
Coding is a skill with obvious applications in the digital age, yet the barrier to entering this field can seem insurmountable to those unfamiliar. This introductory course will provide novices with a basic understanding of programming languages and repositories with the eventual goal of using code for a tool or project that serves your own needs and interests. You will also gain a qualitative as well as a quantitative perspective on programming, with an emphasis on thinking critically and creatively about how coding tools are shared, taught, and applied in different digital landscapes. Whether you work with staff who code or plan to incorporate coding into your own professional skill set, this is the foundation you need.
When you enroll in DIGC 2000: Coding Foundations for Digital Strategies, you must first complete a pre-course module that equips your computer with the programming languages and environments you’ll need for coursework.
- Instructor: Robert Scheyder, lecturer in computer programming
- 8-week course offered in fall 1 (August 27 – October 21, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Digital Strategies
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Individualized Studies and Literature, Culture, and Tradition
Understand more about the world today
GLBS 2200: Global Human Rights
At the end of World War II, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights outlining the fundamental freedoms applicable to all human beings. While that document would become a milestone in international law, the world today is seeing human rights challenges that were not on the global stage in 1948, such as digital security, multinational corporations, sexual orientation and gender identity, climate change, and more. This brand new course looks at key themes and debates in the field, as well as ways that the concept of human rights has changed and expanded over time, from the historical foundations to today’s most pressing issues.
- Instructor: Eileen Doherty-Sil, PhD, senior lecturer in political science and faculty director of the core and Africa general program at Penn’s Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Global and Regional Studies and Certificate in Social Difference, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Data Analytics and Social Sciences, Individualized Studies, Organizational Culture and Collaboration
SDEI 2100: Cultural and Social Identity
We are constantly hearing about “identity politics” and how it supposedly shapes the political and social landscape in which we live. But what are we talking about when we talk about identity? This course, a brand new offering in the Certificate in Social Difference, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, examines the foundational concepts and theories of identity, from the roots of different cultural and social identities to the ways they can help us collaborate and connect with one another. Using methods and concepts from sociology, communication, and psychology, students can expect to reflect on how they identify themselves within their specific social context, challenge assumptions they may have about their own or others’ identities, and cultivate skills for addressing systemic inequality.
You may have a more robust experience in this course if you have previously taken SDEI 1100: Introduction to Social Difference in American Society, but that is not required.
- Instructor: Danielle N. Gadson, PhD, MPA, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration at Villanova University
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Social Difference, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Data Analytics and Social Sciences and Individualized Studies
Start learning a new skill
LEAD 1010: Leadership Theory, Practice, and Purpose
Good leaders are not born, but made. In this intensive introductory course, you can begin the journey toward becoming an effective leader by exploring approaches to problem-solving, self-assessment, crisis communications, and more. Through class discussion and reflective writing, you and your peers not only compare notes on the trajectories of real-life public leaders, you also identify the unique skills and strengths that you can bring to the workplace—in your current role as well your future career goals.
Taking LEAD 1010 in the fall 1 term is a smart move: you could then go on specialize your leadership skills in fall 2. Hone your workplace communication skills in LEAD 1040: Professional Communication and Personal Development, explore public management theory and practice in LEAD 3100: Leadership and Public Administration, or take a deep dive into for-profit organizational leadership in LEAD 3200: Leadership and Business Organization.
- Instructor: Rebecca Padot, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Government, Misericordia University, and Senior Fellow, Penn Partnership for Religion and Urban Civil Society
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Professional Writing
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentration in Individualized Studies
NEUR 1000: Introduction to Neuroscience
If you’ve ever wanted to understand how the brain functions—how physical sensations are converted into neural signals, how hormones influence behavior, how antidepressants work, and so forth—then this introductory course is for you. Expect an intensive 8 weeks: before you take the course, you’ll need to complete a learning assessment module that will help familiarize you with baseline biological and chemical science, and the course material requires repetition and rigorous attention to master.
But once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of neuroscience, the rest of the Certificate in Neuroscience courses are accessible to you. You can gear up for future studies in behavioral neuroscience to understand human and animal activities, or branch out into pharmacology if you have a professional or personal interest in pharmaceuticals. You can even dive right into NEUR 1600: The Neuroscience of Music in the fall 2 term, and explore the mysteries of why we enjoy and create music.
- Instructor: Mike Kane, PhD, Faculty, Penn LPS Online Certificate in Neuroscience
- 8-week course offered in fall 1 (August 27 – October 21, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Neuroscience
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Individualized Studies and Physical and Life Sciences
- Fulfills the BAAS degree requirement in Scientific Process
PHYL 1200: Foundations of Life Sciences
Let’s say that you took that NEUR 1000 learning assessment module, and realized just how long it’s been since you took high school biology and chemistry. (We may be speaking from experience!) Or perhaps your interest in the sciences is more general, or you’d like to get some experience in reading and understanding scientific research to assist in your professional or academic journey. By the end of PHYL 1200: Foundations of Life Sciences, you’ll grasp the fundamental mechanics of life at a cellular and molecular level, and put the scientific method into practice through problem sets and activities. You’ll likely find the course material applicable to your own life: among other things, you’ll learn about how viruses and bacteria reproduce, how mutations occur, and why some microorganisms become disease resistant; you’ll also learn about the causes and complications of human ailments like cancer and diabetes. In addition, this course lays the groundwork for future scientific studies: it is one of the requirements for a Certificate in Science Foundations, but can also prepare you for a Certificate in Neuroscience or Certificate Climate Change.
- Instructor: M. Ruth Elliott, MS, Senior Lecturer
- 8-week course offered in fall 1 (August 27 – October 21, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Science Foundations
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Individualized Studies and Physical and Life Sciences
- May be applied toward the Gateway category Scientific Process
- Fulfills the BAAS degree requirement in Scientific Process
Get a taste of global culture
CLSC 2500: Ancient Cities
When we think of cities today, we may envision landmarks of modernity: busy roads, tall skyscrapers, electric lights. Yet a city is composed of social institutions, systems, and customs as well as its physical foundations and population density. This classical studies course explores urban environments of the ancient Greek and Roman world, studying the social fabric of these long-ago cities through the frameworks of architecture, history, and social sciences such as religious and political studies. Whether you are a classics connoisseur, a history buff, or a contemporary urbanist, these fascinating case studies demonstrate how cities and their populations shape and are shaped by one another.
- Instructor: Mantha Zarmakoupi, Morris Russell and Josephine Chidsey Williams Assistant Professor in Roman Architecture at Penn
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Individualized Studies and Literature, Culture, and Tradition
MUSI 2000: Contemporary African Music
Audiophiles might enroll in this course for a taste of contemporary culture—and with eight playlists to explore music in different continental and diasporic regions of Africa, there is plenty of food for the music-lover’s soul in the course. But music studies go beyond the harmonic and instrumental techniques you hear: contemporary African music offers insights into how people, culture, and ideas move around the globe today, and connections to the ways African resources have been produced, consumed, traded, or exploited throughout history. The global perspective on culture makes this course a particularly good fit for the Certificate in Global and Regional Studies as well as the BAAS degree concentration in Literature, Culture, and Tradition.
- Instructor: Carol Muller, Professor of Music
- 8-week course offered in fall 2 (October 23 – December 18, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the Certificate in Global and Regional Studies
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Individualized Studies and Literature, Culture, and Tradition
RELC 2000: Gods, Ghosts, and Monsters
One thing every culture and religion around the world has in common: myths, stories, and beliefs about what lies beyond the known world. This interdisciplinary course travels through literature, artwork, and anthropological research about spiritual and supernatural phenomena in a wide range of sources including Buddhist, Shinto, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Zoroastrian, Egyptian, Central Asian, Native American, and Afro-Caribbean cultures. Aside from the obvious appeal—who doesn’t have their own beliefs about gods, ghosts, and monsters? And who wouldn’t want to read all about others in the months leading up to Halloween?—the breadth and depth of study guides you toward a complex, intercultural understanding of religion and rituals across the globe.
- Instructor: Justin McDaniel, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Professor of the Humanities
- 8-week course offered in fall 1 (August 27 – October 21, 2024)
- May be taken as an individual course
- May be applied toward the BAAS concentrations in Individualized Studies and Literature, Culture, and Tradition
Hungry for more? This is just a preview of the exciting online courses available this fall—there are many other subjects to choose from! View our course guide to see the full range of what’s available in the upcoming terms
