About this course: The impact of technology and networks on our lives, culture, and society continues to increase. The very fact that you can take this course from anywhere in the world requires a technological infrastructure that was designed, engineered, and built over the past sixty years. To function in an information-centric world, we need to understand the workings of network technology. This course will open up the Internet and show you how it was created, who created it and how it works. Along the way we will meet many of the innovators who developed the Internet and Web technologies that we use today. What You Will Learn: After this course you will not take the Internet and Web for granted. You will be better informed about important technological issues currently facing society. You will realize that the Internet and Web are spaces for innovation and you will get a better understanding of how you might fit into that innovation. If you get excited about the material in this course, it is a great lead-in to taking a course in Web design, Web development, programming, or even network administration. At a minimum, you will be a much wiser network citizen.

Created by: University of Michigan

Taught by: Charles Severance, Associate Professor
School of Information

Commitment	12 hours of videos and quizzes
Language	English, Subtitles: Italian
How To Pass	Pass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings	4.7 stars Average User Rating 4.7See what learners said

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Getting Started

Welcome to the class. We will first look at the history of the Internet and Web, followed by a look at how the network works and then examine how we secure information on the Internet and Web.

3 videos, 1 reading

History: Dawn of Electronic Computing

World War II emphasized the strategic importance of computation, communication, and information. There was unprecedented investment in the development of new technologies during the war. We start with Alan Turing and others at Bletchley Park.

7 videos

Graded: History: Dawn of Electronic Computing

WEEK 2

History: The First Internet - NSFNet

In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a great deal of research done to build the first wide-area packet switched networks for the US Department of Defense. In the 1980s, the first “Internet” was formed to allow academic researchers to access supercomputer resourc...

8 videos

Graded: History: The First Internet - NSFNet

WEEK 3

History: The Web Makes it Easy to Use

The World-Wide-Web was invented in 1990 but it was not an overnight success. But by 1994 - “the year of the web” - the web was being widely used and Internet usage was growing by leaps and bounds.

8 videos

Graded: History: The Web Makes it Easy to Use

WEEK 4

History: Commercialization and Growth

The late 1990’s saw the web and Internet used increasingly to revolutionize how business was done. Companies like Amazon were founded and grew very rapidly.

8 videos

Graded: History: Commercialization and Growth

WEEK 5

Technology: Internets and Packets

The Internet is designed based on a four-layer model. Each layer builds on the layers below it. The Link and Internetwork layers are the lowest layers of that model.

5 videos

Graded: Technology: Internets and Packets

WEEK 6

Technology: Transport Control Protocol (TCP)

The Transport layer is built on the Internetwork layer and is what makes our network connections reliable.

5 videos

Graded: Technology: Transport Control Protocol (TCP)

WEEK 7

Technology: Application Protocols

With reliable “pipes” available from the Transport layer, we can build applications like web browsers, file transfer applications, or email clients and servers.

3 videos

Graded: Technology: Application Protocols

WEEK 8

Security: Encrypting and Signing

Using simple examples, we examing how to shield data from prying eyes and make sure that the data was not altered while in transit.

4 videos

Graded: Security : Encrypting and Signing

WEEK 9

Security: Web Security

We apply the basic ideas of encryption and signing to who we actually secure the connections that we use on today’s Web and Internet.

4 videos

Graded: Security: Web Security

WEEK 10

Final Exam

1 video

Graded: Final Exam - IHTS

FAQs

How It Works

Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

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Creators

University of Michigan

The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.

Ratings and Reviews

Rated 4.7 out of 5 of 1,196 ratings

Really great course! Dr Chuck's explanations are clear and makes the material very approachable. Another great thing about the course is that there are several interviews with the inventors and innovators in the Internet world. I highly recommend taking this course, even if it just for the sake of curiosity!

Excellent course! I love the interviews. Also, I think it's a great structure of going through the internet layer multiple times, first with a historic perspective, then with a more technical perspective.

Very interesting and a useful and comprehensive background in the nature of technology for non-techie people.

Great teacher, great course, first ever completed online.

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Internet History, Technology, and Security

Internet History, Technology, and Security

Internet History, Technology, and Security