Improve problem-solving skills in business and innovation. Learn how to analyze, evaluate, and solve complex problems from all academic perspectives.
Suggested by: Coursera (What is Coursera?)
No prior knowledge required
No unnecessary risks
A four-part course series on solving complex problems will teach you new and groundbreaking problem-solving skills. Featuring lectures from over 50 experts from across Macquarie University’s faculties, we explore how to solve complex problems in a way that has never been done before.
This specialization uses the framework of Big History, which synthesizes knowledge across the sciences and humanities, providing a strong foundation for thinking and researching in new ways. Big History has been adopted as an important global framework by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The 2015 WEF Annual Meeting in Davos featured four sessions dedicated to big history, including three interdisciplinary panels under the theme “Big History, Big Future” on collaboration, innovation, and global growth and stability. These panels served as inspiration for mastering complex problem solving.
To solve complex problems, whether it’s the challenge of developing a new product or Einstein’s mission to explain how gravity works—and everything in between—it’s not enough to take the problem and apply skills you already have. The skill that has always led to significant breakthroughs in any field or industry is the ability to see things in a new way.
This is the most important skill you will learn in this Coursera internship. From the beginning of the internship, your assignments will focus on answering a complex problem that you choose to tackle during your career. Each step of the course leads to writing a summary paper that analyzes, evaluates, and attempts to solve a very complex problem.
Internships advance your knowledge in your field by teaching you to look at it in new ways and encouraging your own groundbreaking innovations.
The first course in the “Complexity Analysis” specialization will teach you what unifying patterns lie at the heart of all complex problems. It will deepen your knowledge of your field by teaching you to look at it in new ways. “Complexity Analysis” is structured as follows:
The second course in the “Problem Assessment” specialization will show you how people think and how to utilize different disciplinary approaches to address problems more effectively. It will deepen your knowledge of your field by teaching you to look at it in new ways. “Problem Assessment” is structured as follows:
The third course in the “Creating Innovation” specialization will teach you what is at the heart of all innovations that solve complex problems and how to advance methods to enable significant breakthroughs. It will deepen your knowledge of your field by teaching you to look at it in new ways. “Creating Innovation” is structured as follows:
From the beginning of the internship, your assignments will be geared towards tackling a complex problem of your choice, a problem you encounter in your career path, industry or field. Each stage of the course builds towards a concluding paper that analyzes, evaluates and attempts to solve a very complex problem. This course not only teaches you a set of skills, but also advances you towards a better understanding of the problems in your field. It will deepen your knowledge of your field by teaching you to look at it in new ways. This is the “final course” where the foundations of our problem-solving skills and innovation will yield results in a series of preparatory tasks to make your paper as effective as possible.
