Digital Accessibility Foundations

W3C

The course covers principles from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and much more:

What is Web Accessibility (2 sections) — challenges the way you may approach accessibility.

People and Digital Technology (5 sections) — gives you the “why” behind the what you need to do for accessibility.

Business Case and Benefits (2 sections) — explains how accessibility can expand market reach, demonstrate social responsibility, drive innovation, and minimize legal risk.

Principles, Standards, and Checks (5 sections) — guides you through understanding accessibility requirements and checking for accessibility barriers (also called evaluating or testing for errors or bugs) — with non-technical and technical guidance; provides optional material for learning more about coding accessibly.

Getting Started with Accessibility (2 sections) — explains approaches for integrating accessibility into your design and development processes; provides tips for getting started with accessibility right away.

Intro to Urban Design and Development

MIT OpenCourseWare

“This is a class about how cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas change. It is an introductory subject for undergraduates that examines both the evolving structure of the American metropolis and the ways that it can be designed and developed. We will survey the ideas of a wide range of people who have addressed urban problems and acted to alter cities, suburbs, and regions through urban design and development. We will analyze the values implicit in each of their proposals, stressing the connections between ideas and design. We will look at designs for new towns and examine the ways that existing cities have spread and been redeveloped. Attempts to control growth and suburban sprawl will also be covered. Topics range from grand ideas proposed by single individuals to smaller more incremental processes carried out through collaboration by a variety of contending parties. You will see how cities and suburbs have been changed in the past and how you and others may help change them in the future.”

Differential Calculus

Khan Academy

In preparation for more modeling and systems thinking at ASU.

Linear Algebra

Khan Academy

In preparation for more modeling and systems thinking at ASU, I am learning about Linear Algebra.

Model Thinking

Coursera: taught by Scott E. Page

“We live in a complex world with diverse people, firms, and governments whose behaviors aggregate to produce novel, unexpected phenomena. We see political uprisings, market crashes, and a never ending array of social trends. How do we make sense of it? Models. Evidence shows that people who think with models consistently outperform those who don't. And, moreover people who think with lots of models outperform people who use only one. Why do models make us better thinkers? Models help us to better organize information - to make sense of that fire hose or hairball of data (choose your metaphor) available on the Internet. Models improve our abilities to make accurate forecasts. They help us make better decisions and adopt more effective strategies. They even can improve our ability to design institutions and procedures. In this class, I present a starter kit of models: I start with models of tipping points. I move on to cover models explain the wisdom of crowds, models that show why some countries are rich and some are poor, and models that help unpack the strategic decisions of firm and politicians.

The models covered in this class provide a foundation for future social science classes, whether they be in economics, political science, business, or sociology. Mastering this material will give you a huge leg up in advanced courses. They also help you in life. Here's how the course will work. For each model, I present a short, easily digestible overview lecture. Then, I'll dig deeper. I'll go into the technical details of the model. Those technical lectures won't require calculus but be prepared for some algebra. For all the lectures, I'll offer some questions and we'll have quizzes and even a final exam. If you decide to do the deep dive, and take all the quizzes and the exam, you'll receive a Course Certificate. If you just decide to follow along for the introductory lectures to gain some exposure that's fine too. It's all free. And it's all here to help make you a better thinker!”