Introduction to Complexity (Complexity Explorer)

Offered by Santa Fe Institute,
Introduction to Complexity (Complexity Explorer)

In this re-offering of our popular introductory course, you'll learn about the tools used by scientists to understand complex systems.

The topics you'll learn about include dynamics, chaos, fractals, information theory, self-organization, agent-based modeling, and networks. You’ll also get a sense of how these topics fit together to help explain how complexity arises and evolves in nature, society, and technology. There are no prerequisites. You don't need a science or math background to take this introductory course; it simply requires an interest in the field and the willingness to participate in a hands-on approach to the subject.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Introduction to Data Networks and the Internet - Bachelor's (Coursera) Coursera
Illinois Tech

Introduction to Data Networks and the Internet - Bachelor's (Coursera)

This course covers current and evolving data network technologies, protocols, network components, and the networks that use them, focusing on communication to and from the Internet and Local area networks. Course content includes Internet architecture, organization, and protocols including Ethernet, 802.11, routing, switching, OSI and TCP models, DNS, SNMP, DHCP, and more.

Aug 17th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Social Network Analysis (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Davis

Social Network Analysis (Coursera)

This course is designed to quite literally ‘make a science’ out of something at the heart of society: social networks. Humans are natural network scientists, as we compute new network configurations all the time, almost unaware, when thinking about friends and family (which are particular forms of social networks), about colleagues and organizational relations (other, overlapping network structures), and about how to navigate delicate or opportunistic network configurations to save guard or advance in our social standing (with society being one big social network itself).

Aug 3rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Cybersecurity Fundamentals (edX) EdX
Rochester Institute of Technology,RITx

Cybersecurity Fundamentals (edX)

Learn cybersecurity fundamentals, including how to detect threats, protect systems and networks, and anticipate potential cyber attacks. In this introduction to the field of computing security, you will be given an extensive overview of the various branches of computing security. You will learn cybersecurity concepts, issues, and tools that are critical in solving problems in the computing security domain.

Aug 17th 2026
5-12 Weeks
IoT Communications and Networks (Coursera) Coursera
Institut Mines-Telecom

IoT Communications and Networks (Coursera)

By presenting the building blocks of the IoT network architecture, this MOOC will help learners adapt to the fast changing communications and networking environment of IoT. The IoT world represents billions of sophisticated objects, such as sensors, actuators and meters, that are deployed nearly everywhere, in homes, hospitals, factories, cities, and are connected to the Internet. However, they come with limited capacity in terms of memory storage, computational power and energy; how can these objects then ensure network reliability and timely transmission?

Aug 17th 2026
4 Weeks
Solving Algorithms for Discrete Optimization (Coursera) Coursera
University of Melbourne,The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Solving Algorithms for Discrete Optimization (Coursera)

Discrete Optimization aims to make good decisions when we have many possibilities to choose from. Its applications are ubiquitous throughout our society. Its applications range from solving Sudoku puzzles to arranging seating in a wedding banquet. The same technology can schedule planes and their crews, coordinate the production of steel, and organize the transportation of iron ore from the mines to the ports.

Aug 10th 2026
4 Weeks
Analytic Combinatorics (Coursera) Coursera
Princeton University

Analytic Combinatorics (Coursera)

Analytic Combinatorics teaches a calculus that enables precise quantitative predictions of large combinatorial structures. This course introduces the symbolic method to derive functional relations among ordinary, exponential, and multivariate generating functions, and methods in complex analysis for deriving accurate asymptotics from the GF equations. All the features of this course are available for free. It does not offer a certificate upon completion.

Aug 10th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Big Data Analysis with Scala and Spark (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Big Data Analysis with Scala and Spark (Coursera)

Manipulating big data distributed over a cluster using functional concepts is rampant in industry, and is arguably one of the first widespread industrial uses of functional ideas. This is evidenced by the popularity of MapReduce and Hadoop, and most recently Apache Spark, a fast, in-memory distributed collections framework written in Scala. In this course, we'll see how the data parallel paradigm can be extended to the distributed case, using Spark throughout.

Aug 17th 2026
4 Weeks
Introduction to Data Networks and the Internet - Master's (Coursera) Coursera
Illinois Tech

Introduction to Data Networks and the Internet - Master's (Coursera)

This course covers current and evolving data network technologies, protocols, network components, and the networks that use them, focusing on communication to and from the Internet and Local area networks. Course content includes Internet architecture, organization, and protocols including Ethernet, 802.11, routing, switching, OSI and TCP models, DNS, SNMP, DHCP, and more.

Aug 17th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Understanding Modern Physics III: Simplicity and Complexity (Coursera) Coursera
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - HKUST

Understanding Modern Physics III: Simplicity and Complexity (Coursera)

The 20th century was known as the century of physics. In the past 120 years, concepts such as space, time, energy, entropy and particles were understood to much deeper levels. New paradigms of thinking such as relativity and quantum mechanics emerged. This course is the third course in the Understanding Modern Physics series, which covers an introduction to action principle, fundamental particle physics, entropy & information and complexity.

Aug 10th 2026
4 Weeks
Digital Signal Processing 1: Basic Concepts and Algorithms (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Digital Signal Processing 1: Basic Concepts and Algorithms (Coursera)

Digital Signal Processing is the branch of engineering that, in the space of just a few decades, has enabled unprecedented levels of interpersonal communication and of on-demand entertainment. By reworking the principles of electronics, telecommunication and computer science into a unifying paradigm, DSP is a the heart of the digital revolution that brought us CDs, DVDs, MP3 players, mobile phones and countless other devices.

Aug 17th 2026
4 Weeks