UC Irvine Extension Launches Five New Online Specializations Through Coursera

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- University of California, Irvine Extension, the continuing education unit of UC Irvine and an innovator in online and open education, today announced that five new Specializations will be available through Coursera, the world's largest open online education provider. The five Specializations consist of online training and a sequence of development sessions specific to in demand interest fields such as 'The Internet of Things,' 'Academic English for non-English speakers,' 'Optobotics,' 'iOS Programming,' and 'Conflict Management.'

"For more than 50 years, UCI Extension has been providing quality, specialized education to new graduates and working  professionals who want to expand their skill set that will improve their marketability in the workforce,"  said Gary W. Matkin, Ph.D., dean of Continuing Education, Distance Learning and Summer Session. "We are proud to partner with Coursera to bring the instructional expertise of UCI Extension through these new Specializations that focus on high demand emerging technologies."

With the five added Specializations, UC Irvine Extension now offers 8 Specializations via Coursera that provide on demand, career-focused training that prepare professionals for today's competitive job market. The five new Specializations are:

• Internet of Things – Learn how the explosive growth of the "Internet of Things" is changing the world. In this Specialization, you will understand the importance of IoT in society, the current components of typical IoT devices and trends for the future. The topic of embedded systems is the basis for this Specialization.
• Optobotics: Giving Your Robot Eyes - Robots and drones are finding a permanent place in business and systems developers must gain training in robotics to keep pace. This Specialization teaches students to create an optical system for a particular application using current tools, components and software. Included in this Specialization is an overview of geometric and physical optics, lens and optical systems design and advanced optical sensor technologies for robotic and drone applications.
• iOS Programming - The demand for skilled iOS developers is high as the applications market continues to grow. This Specialization will provide students with the ability to create an iOS application for an iPhone or iPad using current tools, languages and services.  Included in this Specialization is an overview of the Objective-C and the XCode environment and the Swift programming language will be introduced as alternative future language option. Students will become familiar with networking, security, audio, video, location and sensor frameworks and will learn UIKit, WatchKit, and SpriteKit user interface concepts. 
• Academic English: Writing – Created for students planning to apply to an American university and would like to develop writing skills, this Specialization will teach how to write different types of academic essays, such as argument essays, compare/contrast essays, and even a research paper and impart knowledge on tools to improve writing, such as sentence variety and parallel structure.  
• Conflict Management – An essential skillset for managers, conflict resolution helps to strengthen personal and professional relationships between individuals and within organizations. In this Specialization, students will build skills for managing intercultural conflicts and how competing interests and goals, power imbalances, and other factors influence the nature of conflict and management strategies.

"UCI has been a highly innovative partner for Coursera as we've developed the model for Specializations over the past year and a half," said Daphne Koller, President and Co-founder of Coursera. "We are thrilled to offer a broad array of new Specializations from UCI providing instruction in job-relevant skills to Coursera's global audience of nearly 15 million registered learners."

To view UCI courses available on Coursera, visit www.coursera.org/uci.

About Coursera: Coursera partners with over 120 top universities and educational institutions to offer hundreds of online courses and Specializations in topics from computer science to social psychology and beyond. Earn certificates from prestigious learning institutions for courses and projects developed in collaboration with top employers to teach the skills you need to succeed. Whether you want to advance your career or pursue a passion, Coursera provides open online education for everyone. For more information, visit www.coursera.org.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 28,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. Located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities, it's Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $4.8 billion annually to the local economy.

About UC Irvine Extension: University of California, Irvine Extension is the continuing education arm of UC Irvine, serving adult students online, at the UC Irvine campus and at employer sites nationally and worldwide. Since 1962, UC Irvine Extension has offered open enrollment learning opportunities to the Orange County community, providing open access to the resources of the university, through Certificate and Specialized Studies programs (http://extension.uci.edu) and free, open educational resources (http://ocw.uci.edu).

CONTACT: Vivian Slater, 714.573.0899 x235,
[email protected]

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SOURCE UC Irvine Extension

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