Coursera

Sustainable Building: Design and Specification (Coursera)

Offered by Parsons School of Design, The New School,

This course is an examination of the role designers play in protecting health through specification of materials and choices made in the building design phase. You learn about strategies and principles employed in the execution of healthier design projects. Finally, you look at how the use of healthier materials can lead to a healthier world. Participants in the course should have leadership-level career experience in design, architecture, contracting, or a similar field.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

This course will enable you to:
• Shift from traditional design to a healthier materials design approach
• Evaluate tools and resources for protecting human health
• Apply strategies for choosing healthier materials
This course is part of the Healthier Materials and Sustainable Building Specialization.

Syllabus

The Path to Becoming a Material Influencer
Module 1
Welcome to the Path to Becoming a Material Influencer. This week, we'll learn how to design with a healthier world in mind. We will explore strategies and principles of healthier material projects. By the end of this week, you will gain material health inspiration and understand that there's no one-stop-shop for material health. Let's get started!

Establishing the Material Evaluation Process
Module 2
Welcome to Establishing the Material Evaluation Process. This week, we'll learn how to review disclosures and make healthier material decisions based on performance, quality, and affordability. We will think about where to start when compiling material options and how to reach out to manufacturers. By the end of this week, you will know how to utilize research and approaches for reviewing product health. Let's get started!

Beyond Design Aesthetics: Healthier Materials for a Healthier World
Module 3
Welcome to Beyond Design Aesthetics: Healthier Materials for a Healthier World. This week, we'll learn how to compare options and make decisions for a healthier design approach. We will examine healthier alternatives that provide inspiration for the future. By the end of this week, you will know that no product is perfect but that progress comes as designers overcome obstacles and transform the marketplace. Let's get started!

Go to Class

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

Related Courses

Coursera

Johns Hopkins University

Infectious Disease Transmission Models for Decision-Makers (Coursera)

Health & Society

During the COVID-19 pandemic, both the promise and perils of using infectious disease transmission models to make public health policy decisions became clearer than ever. Optimal use of modeled output requires that public health policy makers be informed consumers of models, that they understand the strengths and limitations of possible approaches, and they know the right questions to ask about the vulnerabilities of the model results. **Free enrollment available until July 30, 2025. Valid for one enrollment per person.**

Sep 28th 2026

1 Week

Health Epidemiology Public Health

Coursera

Johns Hopkins University

Responsible Reporting on Suicide for Journalists (Coursera)

Health & Society

Responsible Reporting on Suicide for Journalists is designed to give working journalists and students who are interested in the field an understanding of how news media can impact suicide trends and how that power can be used to improve public health. An extensive body of research shows that certain methods of reporting on suicide deaths can increase the number of subsequent suicides among the public. Conversely, responsible methods of reporting on suicide can increase the likelihood of people seeking help.

Sep 28th 2026

1 Week

Public Health Suicide Journalism

Coursera

Xi'an Jiaotong University

Lecture Series for Preventing and Controlling COVID-19 (Coursera)

Health & Society

In December 2019, a cluster of patients with pneumonia of unknown cause appeared in Wuhan, Hubei. Governments at all levels and Department of Health Administration highly valued and rapidly organized the centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), medical institutions, and scientific research academies to conduct a survey, rescue, and collaborative research. This new antigen was quickly identified as a novel coronavirus, named as 2019-nCoV by World Health Organization (WHO).

Sep 28th 2026

3 Weeks

Health Public Health Infectious Diseases

Coursera

Yale University

Essentials of Global Health (Coursera)

Health & Society Medicine & Pharmacology

Essentials of Global Health is a comprehensive introduction to global health. It is meant to introduce you to this topic in well-structured, clear and easy to understand ways. Much of the course will focus on five questions: What do people get sick, disabled and die from; Why do they suffer from these conditions? Which people are most affected? Why should we care about such concerns? What can be done to address key health issues, hopefully at least cost, as fast as possible, and in sustainable ways?

Oct 5th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Health Disease Health Systems

Coursera

University of Colorado Boulder

Health, Society, and Wellness in COVID-19 Times (Coursera)

Education Health & Society

You may be encountering a world unlike any other generation. The public health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a context of pervasive uncertainty, heightened anxiety, and social isolation that overlaps with a critical time of your own learning and development. The COVID-19 pandemic also has exacerbated long-standing inequalities and disparities, and recent events in the United States have laid bare historical and current realities of racism and systemic oppression.

Sep 28th 2026

4 Weeks

Health Public Health Mental Health

Coursera

Yale University

Health Behavior Change: From Evidence to Action (Coursera)

Health & Society

Humans often fail to make rational decisions that affect their health. This course seeks to heighten understanding of the social and behavioral factors that contribute to health decisions and behaviors, with an ultimate goal of learning how to utilize these factors in improving public health efforts.

Sep 28th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Health Healthcare Behavioral Psychology

Coursera

University of Copenhagen

Sustainable Tourism – promoting environmental public health (Coursera)

Health & Society Science

The MOOC introduces learners to key environmental health and natural resources management challenges associated with the rapid growth in international tourist arrivals into low-income countries. Since infrastructural and regulatory capacities in such countries are often limited they are more exposed to the negative implications of such development. The MOOC will present experiences and potential avenues to develop a more sustainable form of tourism.

Sep 28th 2026

3 Weeks

Sustainability Wastewater Public Health

Coursera

Johns Hopkins University

Community Change in Public Health (Coursera)

Health & Society Medicine & Pharmacology

In bringing about behavior change in public health, we often focus on the individual mother, student, or farmer. We should not forget the community structure and norms constrain for encouraging individual health behaviors. This course examines the community context of the changes needed to promote the public’s health. We begin by examining the various definitions of ‘community’ and the processes by which we ‘diagnose’ or seek to understand the structure and characteristics of different types of communities.

Sep 21st 2026

5-12 Weeks

Health Community Public Health

Coursera

Wesleyan University

Suicide Prevention (Coursera)

Personal and Professional Development

This course will explore the science of suicide research, prevention, and intervention. The field of suicide research is young and knowledge is rapidly changing. Topics will include terminology, epidemiology, historical and contemporary theories of suicide, modern approaches to suicide research, empirically supported approaches to prevention and intervention, the lived experiences of those with suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Oct 5th 2026

4 Weeks

Public Health Suicide Suicide Prevention

Coursera

Johns Hopkins University

Systems Thinking In Public Health (Coursera)

Health & Society Social Sciences

This course provides an introduction to systems thinking and systems models in public health. Problems in public health and health policy tend to be complex with many actors, institutions and risk factors involved. If an outcome depends on many interacting and adaptive parts and actors the outcome cannot be analyzed or predicted with traditional statistical methods. Systems thinking is a core skill in public health and helps health policymakers build programs and policies that are aware of and prepared for unintended consequences.

Oct 5th 2026

4 Weeks

Public Health Policy Making Systems Thinking

Coursera

Johns Hopkins University

Application of Health Equity Research Methods for Practice and Policy (Coursera)

Health & Society

Intended for students who have completed the introduction to health equity research course and/or have previous experience working in this area. This course will cover innovative methods, practical tools, and skills required to conduct rigorous health equity research and translate evidence-based strategies into practice and policy.

Sep 28th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Health Public Health Health Policy

Coursera

Columbia University

HI-FIVE: Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment (Clinical Perspective) (Coursera)

Health & Society Medicine & Pharmacology

HI-FIVE (Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment) Training is a 12-hour online course designed by Columbia University in 2016, with sponsorship from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The training is role-based and uses case scenarios. Also, it has additional, optional modules on other topics of interest or relevance. Although we suggest to complete the course within a month's timeframe, the course is self-paced and so you can start and finish the course at anytime during a month's time period. No additional hardware or software are required for this course.

Sep 28th 2026

4 Weeks

Health Management Healthcare