More courses added
Since the last update on new courses added to the website, we have added a course in the Marine Technology section called Physical Oceanography based on a book by Prof. Bob Stewart of Texas A&M University, two basic Physics courses (one from Berkeley and another from Yale) and the course The Modern Freedom Struggle in the History section taught by Prof. Clayborne Carson in Stanford.Physical Oceanography is meant to provide a technical understanding of the ocean environment within which marine structures such as boats, ships and offshore oil-rigs operate. This course is based on the book Introduction to Physical Oceanography by Dr. Bob Stewart who is Professor of Oceanography at Texas A&M University. This book is available online for free access. There are no video lectures accompanying this course. Instead, each of the "lecture" will link to the appropriate section of the online book. For those who prefer to read the whole book, a pdf version can be downloaded.
Introduction to Physics is based on the course Descriptive Introduction to Physics taught in Berkeley by Prof. Richard Muller. A wide range of topics are covered qualitatively without the use of high-level mathematics. This course is suitable for those who do not intend to be a science student but it is also a good supplementary course and for those intending to study Physics as a major. In fact, the alternative title of this course in Berkeley is "Physics for Future Presidents" and Prof. Muller has written a book with the same name.
The course Fundamental Physics taught in Yale by Prof. Ramamurti Shankar is a more serious introduction to the principles and methods of physics and is meant for students who already have a good preparation in physics and mathematics.
The Modern Freedom Struggle includes a series of interesting lectures conducted by Prof. Clayborne Carson in Stanford which introduces students to African-American history. The emphasis is on the political thought and protest movements of the period after 1930 focussing on selected individuals such as Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Barack Obama. The last lecture entitled, "Barak Obama’s American Dream" should be of particular interest.
Apart from the above courses, we have also added two reference books for the course Microeconomic Analysis. Flat World Knowledge has published these two high-quality economics textbooks and has made them available for online access free of charge. The first book is Principles of Microeconomics written by Timothy Tregarthen (University of Colorado) and Libby Rittenberg (Colorado College). This is a new version of Tim Tregarthen’s highly-acclaimed book first published in 1996 and used widely in colleges. This version is revised together with co-author Libby Rittenberg. The second book is Introduction to Economic Analysis authored by R. Preston McAfee (CalTech) and Tracy R. Lewis (Duke University).
(15 Apr 2009)
