- well-being
- social science
- health
- care
Caring for Others Specialization
Understand Care & the Human Condition. Master strategies to understand care and the human condition in your personal and/or professional lives.
Offered By
Caring for Others SpecializationUniversity of Colorado BoulderWhat you will learn
Develop language to describe the experience of being a care worker, the recipient of care, and/or certain concepts to talk about care
Identify caring professions, describe the motivations for entering caring professions, and identify pathways into caring professions.
Understand the individual experience of suffering and care in a larger social context
Develop a deeper appreciation of the centrality of care in human society
Skills you will gain
About this Specialization
Caring for Others examines how society cares for its at-risk members and the experiences of its caregivers. This specialization addresses questions such as: How much suffering is in the world today? Does digital media sensitize/desensitize us to the anguish of distant others? What are the different types of paid care work? How do care workers manage their emotions? And much more. This specialization is relevant to individuals interested in becoming a helping professional as well as anyone hoping to improve and better understand the human condition.
This specialization may be completed for nursing continuing professional development contact hours. The University of Colorado College of Nursing is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the Colorado Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. This offering for a maximum of 37.5 contact hours is provided by the University of Colorado College of Nursing Office of Continuing Education. Each course provides 12.5 contact hours.
If you are an educator, you are eligible to receive 2 teacher education university credits from the University of Colorado Boulder.
A portion of the proceeds from this specialization will be used to create paid internships for CU Boulder students pursuing careers in the helping professions.
Applied Learning Project
Learners will complete 3 short reflection papers throughout this specialization that are tailored to their own interests and/or professional goals. Learners are invited to explore several controversies within care work and the helping professions, including how digital media may desensitize suffering, issues surrounding humanitarian aid, re-humanizing care work, and other topics.
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online courses
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible Schedule
Set and maintain flexible deadlines.
Beginner Level
No previous background knowledge is required.
Approximately 4 months to complete
Suggested pace of 2 hours/week
English
Subtitles: English
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online courses
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible Schedule
Set and maintain flexible deadlines.
Beginner Level
No previous background knowledge is required.
Approximately 4 months to complete
Suggested pace of 2 hours/week
English
Subtitles: English
How the Specialization Works
Take Courses
A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.
Hands-on Project
Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.
Earn a Certificate
When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.
There are 3 Courses in this Specialization
Suffering and the Human Condition
Suffering is an inevitable yet poorly understood feature of human existence. This course examines how societies respond to the puzzling reality of human anguish. Among the questions it addresses are the following: What is suffering? Which types of human affliction are unique to the modern world? Have the meaning and portrayal of suffering changed over time? Do digital media sensitize or desensitize us to the anguish of distant others? In addition to introducing students to academic literature and debates on these topics, Suffering and the Human Condition will give them the opportunity to learn a method for studying human affliction that identifies the actors that perpetuate it.
Thinking About Care
Although all humans require care to develop and thrive, it is rarely the focus of academic studies. This course enriches learner’s understanding of this critical yet underappreciated facet of their lives by addressing such questions as: What is care? Who has traditionally provided it? How valued is care work? Does money take the care out of care work? In addition to advancing learner’s knowledge of the place of care in modern society and controversies surrounding it, Thinking About Care will give learners the opportunity to learn a strategy that surveys existing approaches to care.
The Challenges of Modern Caregiving
Care workers are occasionally lauded as “heroes” of society, but the special challenges they face are not fully understood. This course examines how the organization of care has changed in modern times and the dilemmas those developments pose to helping professionals. Among the questions it engages are: How does the meaning of care change when it is performed outside the family? Do bureaucratic systems discourage individuals from taking responsibility for others’ suffering? How do care professionals manage their emotions and those of their clients? Can and should care work be rehumanized? In addition to helping learners develop informed responses to these pressing issues, The Challenges of Modern Caregiving will give students the chance to learn a method that identifies gaps in existing care systems.
Offered by
University of Colorado Boulder
CU-Boulder is a dynamic community of scholars and learners on one of the most spectacular college campuses in the country. As one of 34 U.S. public institutions in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), we have a proud tradition of academic excellence, with five Nobel laureates and more than 50 members of prestigious academic academies.
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