4 Online Computer Science courses by Harvard University

Most of the top companies are in the tech business and the fundamental thing you’d need to compete or to become a part of this tech revolution is to have knowledge about computers’ hardware and software. Taking Computer science courses is the best way to gain that knowledge. Apart from gaining knowledge, you also get better opportunities. Computer science includes both hardware and software. The major portion is software and one should have very good problem-solving skills to excel in the subject. Some of the buzzwords from the computer science field provided by Harvard University are AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning), Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, etc.

There’s a lot of learning material available on the internet as well as at your institution to learn computer science. One of the world famous universities, Harvard University offers both free and paid online computer science courses which can benefit you a lot. Some of the unique and interesting courses offered are:-

CS50 for Lawyers

It is a variant of the traditional computer science course offered at Harvard but designed with layers and law students in mind. This course focuses on high-level concepts related to law, implications of technology related decisions, and design decisions made by clients for the same.

The case studies along with technical discussions help students to understand technological lingo while assisting in a law conversation.

You’ll get to learn topics like:-

•       -Algorithms
•       -Cloud computing
•       -Databases
•       -Networking
•       -Privacy
•       -Programming
•       -Security

This is helpful for students in the law field dealing with technical clients.

The course lasts for 10 weeks and you’ll have to invest 3-6 hours per week to be able to take full advantage of the course.

You can also get a verified certificate for 200 USD that can add to your profile.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python

AI is impacting the way we live and transforming our lives. It has a wide range of implications like self-driving cars medical diagnosis, a better recommendation based on users’ behaviour and search engine optimization. You can grab many future opportunities due to its rapid growth.

During the course, you’ll get to work on real world projects and get the experience of solving practical problems along with learning the theoretical concepts and algorithms of modern AI systems. You can also take a deep dive into technologies like handwriting recognition, game-playing engines, and machine translation.

As for the course structure details, it lasts for about 7 weeks but you’ll have to put in 10-30 hours of your time every week. This is designed to deliver more knowledge in less time.

TinyML

Harvard offers three online courses on TinyML namely:-

•       -Fundamentals of TinyML
•       -The Future of ML is Tiny and Bright
•       -Applications of TinyML

Just like AI, TinyML or Tiny Machine learning is growing rapidly in areas of Deep learning. The fundamentals of the TinyML course will help you to gain the foundational knowledge of this industry.

TinyML not only includes software expertise as we see in traditional machine learning but also hardware expertise. This makes TinyML more intensive and vertically integrated.

The course focuses on dealing with small modern hardware like our smartphones or gadgets.

You just need to give 2-4 hours per week for 5 weeks to complete this course and can have a verified certification for 200$.

•       In case you like the Fundamental of ML course you can go for the intermediate course in the same field. The course is “The Future of ML is Tiny and Bright” and it will take a deep dive into concepts like embedded devices, gathering of data, machine learning models, and more importantly, hands-on practical experience. You’ll be given a TinyML program kit as well which will contain a number of hardware like Arduino, camera, sensors, etc for learning better.

The course takes 16 weeks to complete with a small investment of 2-4 hours per week. Also, you can get a professional certification certificate for 537.3$.

•       The third course “Applications of TinyML” focuses on practical and hands-on approaches. After you’ve learnt the foundation and have some practical experience, this course will be beneficial for you. This course is mostly application based and involves real world case studies. This will help you to polish your TinyML skills into developing working real life projects.

There is no fee for taking the course and the duration is 5 weeks with 2-4 hours per week. Also, you can get a verified certificate at 199$.

Introduction to Blockchain and Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are bringing a revolution in the economics of trading money.

Many start-ups have emerged due to this technology. This covers economic, mathematical and technicals of blockchain which will help you to understand the decentralization system of Cryptocurrency.

The course goes on for about 6-7 weeks and at last gives you degree credit from Harvard due to which you’d have to pay a premium of $2900+.

These Harvard courses are provided by the educational platform edx. To enroll for the courses, you can register through the edx app or website. While the ‘Introduction to Blockchain and Bitcoin’ course is available at the Harvard Extension School platform, the rest of the courses are available at the edx platform. 

These were some courses by Harvard University.