Classes run gamut from Tibetan 101 to Human-Computer Interaction
Every fall there are several new classes offered at BYU for the first time. Some are extensions of existing programs and majors, while others are completely new and offered for students across campus. According to our unofficial count, more than 100 new courses will be offered this fall, from new language courses to new classes on human-computer interaction.
While we couldn’t include every one of them, what follows is a list of new courses that caught our eye and could be worth considering if you still have a gap in your schedule. Who knows — trying one of these new classes could change the whole trajectory of your BYU education!
MSB 490R Sec 21: Improving Helping Behavior and Practices
In this class, open to all majors and both undergrads and graduate students, students will do projects to help them meaningfully improve their own helping behaviors. The class will also go through a set of principles, practices and dangers that “helpers” need to be aware of. BYU students are constantly finding themselves in positions to provide service and uplift those around them, so the hope is that this class will help them to see ways that they can become better helpers in all aspects of their lives.
AZER 102: First-year Azerbaijani; second semester
Last winter, the Azerbaijan Ambassador to the United States recognized BYU as the first university in the United States to offer an Azerbaijani 101 course. Now BYU is offering up the next course in the sequence to go along with the 101 course. As Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim said, “BYU’s programs are at the top of the list because of their depth. BYU teaches not only about the language, but about the culture too. The cultural nuance of a people is integral in understanding their language.”
CS 256: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction
This course will educate students on how to design user experiences with technology that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Students will also learn methods to establish user needs, derive designs, assess tradeoffs and report results, while learning to develop and iterate prototypes with feedback from representative users. There is also a new, more advanced course on this subject matter (CS 356), which combines designing the user experience with implementing the technology.
GEOL 606: Paleoclimatology
A graduate-level course on the evolution of the Earth’s climate system through time, and the proxy- and model-based tools scientists use to reconstruct ancient climate conditions. The course will offer quaternary geochronology and stable isotope fundamentals — in other words, it focuses on the causes and effects of major climate transitions over the past 700 million years. Upper-level undergraduates may register with instructor permission.
HTLH 403R Sec 002: Population Mental Health
This new course from the Department of Public Health promotes wellness and mental health and will be taught by guest instructor Dr. Shelli Yearsley, a licensed social worker and licensed addiction counselor. Part of the goal of this course is to help discover ways to end mental health stigma.
TIBET 101: First-year Tibetan
For the first time ever, BYU is offering a Tibetan language course. The objective of the course, taught by native speaker Tenzin Rabjam, is to help students speak the Tibetan language well enough to satisfy immediate needs related to basic social situations, simple transactions, basic food and lodging, and routine travel. Students will be able to understand written and spoken target language relating to familiar topics. Tibetan is spoken in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and parts of northern India.
ECEn 224: Intro to Computer Systems
Are you interested in how computers work? In this class, you will take a hands-on journey into how a computer functions, from bits and bytes to a smart doorbell, including a camera and display, that you build from scratch. The class will help you master the C programming language, develop complex systems with a Raspberry Pi computer, investigate computer security, network computers through the Internet and more. The 4.0 credit class has a lecture and a lab component.
DANCE 272R: Culture-Specific Dance: Balinese Dance
For fall semester 2023 only, there will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for both men and women to take a Balinese dance class from one of Indonesia’s greatest dancers, I Gusti Agung Ayu Warsiki. She will be here with her husband, famed Indonesian composer I Nyoman Windha, who will be teaching MUS 336R, Balinese Gamelan. They will be doing a joint residency in music and dance fall semester.
HIST 288R: Women in a Changing World
This is an umbrella course for various approaches to studying the history of women and will have two sections: Growing up Female in America and Women in Modern China. The course will examine women in particular historical settings, how women's lives changed over time, and how women actively shaped their own lives as well as the societies in which they lived.
STAT 281: Data Visualization
This new statistics course, taught by professor Natalie Blades, will cover fundamental principles of data visualization, including chart types and when to use them; design of clear and meaningful visualizations from complex data; reproducible creation of static and interactive visualizations; development of a portfolio of charts and graphs; use of appropriate visualization tools; and communication of insights, observations and results.
