What will be covered in this course?

What do I need?

A computer and an Internet connection are all you need. View lecture videos, access reading lists and other course handouts, and communicate with other course students, all at your convenience.

What does the registration fee cover?

Your registration fee gives you access to all the educational materials described below. You may choose to approach the course in a way that best meets your needs.

• Some students choose to watch the lectures, perhaps take some feedback quizzes or simply enjoy the learning experience.
• Others may wish to experience a Purdue University level course and earn a digitally signed Proof of Completion and digital badge from nanoHUB-U. To qualify, a student must earn a 70% or better overall average.

What educational materials are included?

• Video lectures distilling the essential concepts of thermoelectricity into a concise, five-week module that you can work through at your own pace.
• Homework exercises with solutions, simulation tools, and homework tutorials.
• Online quizzes to quickly test for understanding of each week of material.
• An online forum, hosted by nanoHUB. Students enrolled in the course will be able to interact with one another and submit questions.

How is the course graded?

• Grades will be solely based on the answers you provide for Exam exercises.
• Exam exercises are “open book”. Lecture videos and notes can be referred to at any time.
• The exam is multiple choice.
• You may retake the exam once to improve you grade.

Will you provide a certificate for completing the course?

No, the free, self-paced courses offered by nanoHUB-U do not provide certificates of completion or digital badges. Students interested in achieving certificates of completion can explore the various instructor-led courses offered each spring and fall on the nanoHUB-U Homepage.

My internet is too slow to stream videos. Can I download them?

Videos will be available for download to view offline at your convenience. Download the mp4 version of each lecture.

What are the minimum computer requirements?

Windows XP or greater. Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3.5, Chrome 1.0, and Safari 4 or greater. Please have flash, javascript, and java installed. A pdf reader is required for viewing lecture notes. Windows media player, Quicktime, or VLC player for viewing lecture videos offline.

Do I earn Purdue University credit for completing this course?

nanoHUB courses cannot be taken for credit and do not include access to Purdue-restricted computers, libraries, or services. A nanoHUB-U course may not include all the material used in an equivalent course offered on-campus. The nanoHUB-U course material is copyrighted and cannot be used for commercial purposes.

A complaint about ANY on-line course is that the expected requirements are reasonably easy to meet, but after the course is completed, you really didn’t learn anything. How is this course different?

This is a legitimate concern. We believe that what you learn in any course is usually determined by the amount of effort YOU expend. Learning is not everything, but making the effort to learn is. Hard work is the price you must be willing to pay for success.

How many hours should I plan to devote to each course ?

Each course lasts five weeks and the number of hours per week you devote is somewhat flexible, depending on the level of results you wish to achieve. The minimum we recommend is approximately 3 hours per week of coursework consisting of:

• 2 hours to watch the six instruction videos,
• 1 hour to take the quizzes and revisit lectures if necessary.

This minimum time investment should give you an appreciation of the concepts.

What language is being used to teach the course ?

The course lectures videos and notes are in English.

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