The idea of connected courses
The topic of numerical methods is fundamental in graduate science and engineering, and you'll find a similar course in any good graduate program. The contents are often similar: techniques for devising algorithms to solve differential equations and the analysis of these techniques in regards to their approximation qualities. In this case, we are connecting—via this MOOC—three such courses:
- Prof. Lorena A. Barba teaches MAE 6286 Numerical Techniques in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the George Washington University in the United States.
- Prof. Carlos Jerez, at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, teaches IMT2100 Aplicaciones de Análisis Funcional y Ecuaciones Diferenciales Parciales en Ingeniería.
- Dr. Ian Hawke is co-Director of the Southampton Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling. He will teach the core numerical methods course of the program's first-year, NGCM6002.
The idea of connecting these courses is a unique initiative. We are collaborating in the preparation of this MOOC, discussing and agreeing on content and organization, and at the same time connecting our student groups as a community. Our goal is to create a high-quality course and a motivating learning experience.
Prof. David Ketcheson was going to teach AMCS252 Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations, at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, and be a part of this MOOC. But we just learned, on Sunday, Aug. 17 (one day before the start of the online course) that the KAUST course was cancelled due to lack of enrollment.
David was part of many early conversations to design the overall concept of this MOOC. But unfortunately, he will not be able to continue collaborating with us during the semester.