Making a Difference

Tel Aviv University via edX Professional Certificate

Overview

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In the last two centuries, humanity's average wealth has increased tenfold, while at the same time, child mortality has fallen tenfold. Yet, hundreds of millions of people still earn less than $2 a day, animal cruelty is worse than ever, and risks from climate change, pandemics, and artificial intelligence appear to be on the rise. Many of us care about these issues, but can we do anything about them?

This interdisciplinary program will provide you with a collection of practical tools from economics, public health, behavioral science, ethics, exact sciences, technology, the life sciences, and more to help you achieve a positive and significant impact. From the small decisions we make every day, through the initiatives we choose to support, to our most significant life choices, such as what career to pursue, relying on evidence and analytical methodologies can help you drive a change you believe in.

Our program is divided into two courses: The first, Making a Difference Ⅰ: Evidence-based Impact, focuses on the foundations of cost-effectiveness, measurement, evaluation, and key questions around who to extend our compassion and concern towards. We’ll also explore some of the causes and opportunities with the strongest evidence for impact.

The second course, Making a Difference Ⅱ: High Stakes, explores tools for prioritization and assessment when there’s limited information and the stakes are extremely high - including risks to the survival and prosperity of human civilization.

Syllabus

Courses under this program:
Course 1: Making a Difference Ⅰ: Evidence-based Impact

Learn how you can make a difference at a global scale using reliable evidence, careful evaluation, and your unique skillset.

Course 2: Making a Difference Ⅱ: High Stakes

Learn how you can make a difference at a global scale by focusing relentlessly on the largest risks and harms, prioritizing ambitiously, and leveraging your unique set of skills.

Courses

1 review
4 weeks, 2-4 hours a week, 2-4 hours a week
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Millions of children die each year due to easily preventable diseases. Hundreds of millions of people earn less than $2 a day. Billions of animals spend most of their life in pain. Many of us want to help but don’t know how. Can one person make a difference that’s not just a drop in the bucket?

This interdisciplinary course will provide you with a collection of practical tools from economics, public health, behavioral science, ethics, exact sciences, and more to help you achieve a positive and significant impact. From the small decisions we make every day, through the initiatives we choose to support, to our most significant life choices, such as what career to pursue, relying on existing evidence and well established tools in decision making can help you drive a change you believe in.

In this course, the first of two parts of the Making a Difference program, you will learn some of the most foundational ideas and tools for achieving a positive impact. In parallel, each lesson will introduce you to a new cause area with plenty of concrete and actionable opportunities for making a difference.

This course focuses on the foundations of cost-effectiveness, measurement, and evaluation, key questions around who to extend our compassion and concern towards, and the opportunities with the strongest evidence for impact.

The second course in this program, Making a Difference Ⅱ: High Stakes, builds on the ideas presented in this course and explores tools for prioritization and assessment when there’s limited information and the stakes are extremely high - including risks to the survival and prosperity of human civilization.
1 review
5 weeks, 2-4 hours a week, 2-4 hours a week
View details

Climate Change, Nuclear War, Man-made Pandemics, The rise of AI – Humanity has never been more capable, and yet it has never been more at risk.

This course, which is the second part of the Making a Difference program, provides a collection of practical tools from economics, technology, climate science, the life sciences, and more to help you achieve a positive impact on the world. From the small decisions we make every day, through the initiatives we choose to support, to our most significant life choices, such as what career to pursue, relying on reliable sources and well-established tools in decision-making can help you drive a change you believe in.

We will learn some of the most important frameworks and tools to prioritize impactful opportunities – even in the most challenging circumstances, such as preparing for unprecedented risks or comparing completely different cause areas. Each lesson will also introduce you to a new cause area with plenty of concrete and actionable opportunities for making a difference, including some of humanity’s largest modern risks.

This course is a follow-up to Making a Difference Ⅰ: Evidence-based Impact, where we learned some foundational tools and ideas for assessing and driving impact and explored opportunities backed by strong evidence.

In this course, we pivot away from the evidence-rich environments of the previous course and explore what we can do about risks so great that we can’t wait until we have all the evidence.