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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Computer Simulations by University of California, Davis

4.5
stars
79 ratings

About the Course

Big data and artificial intelligence get most of the press about computational social science, but maybe the most complex aspect of it refers to using computational tools to explore and develop social science theory. This course shows how computer simulations are being used to explore the realm of what is theoretically possible. Computer simulations allow us to study why societies are the way they are, and to dream about the world we would like to live in. This can be as intuitive as playing a video game. Much like the well-known video game SimCity is used to build and manage an artificial city, we use agent-based models to grow and study artificial societies. Without hurting anyone in the real world, computer simulations allow us explore how to make the world a better place. We play hands-on with several practical computer simulation models and explore how we can combine hypothetical models with real world data. Finally, you will program a simple artificial society yourself, bottom-up. This will allow you to feel the complexity that arises when designing social systems, while at the same time experiencing the ease with which our new computational tools allow us to pursue such daunting endeavors....

Top reviews

QB

Oct 18, 2020

Very useful course for learning basics of ABM and NetLogo programming. We went over many variations of Sugarscape model and got some good insights on what ABM is.

TL

Apr 23, 2020

Very good course with great explanations. The wordings on questions of the quizzes could have been clearer.

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1 - 18 of 18 Reviews for Computer Simulations

By Ernesto E

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Oct 20, 2020

I learned a lot from this course. This is the very foundation of AI and NLP and the most important course to really understand its relationship to the empirical, analytical, and theoretical areas of research.

By Quji B

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Oct 19, 2020

Very useful course for learning basics of ABM and NetLogo programming. We went over many variations of Sugarscape model and got some good insights on what ABM is.

By Teshan L

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Apr 24, 2020

Very good course with great explanations. The wordings on questions of the quizzes could have been clearer.

By Dwayne R

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Jan 12, 2022

This is my favorite, aside from the Capstone. This was the exposure to computer science, coding, and data analytics I needed to propel me forward. I recently complete a B.S in Applied Mathematics. Due my duties as a Marine, I haven't really been able to get exposure to the things like data software and computer simulations. Highly recommended. The UC team is amazing and did a fantastic job putting this together!

By Miguel C

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Sep 17, 2020

What a magnificent way to (almost) wrap up this specialization! While the first courses were a tad bit more theoretical, this is the one I've enjoyed the most. It was not only highly theoretical, but also highly functional in showing ways of modeling (in pretty accurate ways) social events and even societies. This will indeed prove to be a useful tool for my current and future jobs.

By Elham

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Dec 9, 2021

Lovely explanatory course on Computer Simulations, including the benefits and drawbacks of such simulations when trying to come up with theories in Social Science. Quite lengthy yet not at all uninteresting, it strikes a balance between giving you just enough to understand what is going on and teasing you into wanting to know more about the subject.

By Alexander P V

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Sep 28, 2020

Ha sido un excelente curso. Se complementa muy bien con los demás y permite la adquisición de conocimientos fundamentales y el comienzo de un entrenamiento necesario para los científicos sociales con una herramienta muy interesantes como lo es NetLogo.

By Patricio V

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May 7, 2021

Just To learn to program in Netlogo, worth all the invest of time and effort.

By Peter C B

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Jul 16, 2023

That was a great class. I really enjoyed the hand-on NetLogo work.

By Mina S

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Nov 4, 2020

I really enjoyed this course. It was very interesting!

By Venkat b

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Jul 30, 2023

Enjoyed Netlogo and the introduction to ABM courses

By Diego A P P

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Aug 15, 2020

Excellent course. A complex topic explained simply.

By Swarn

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Feb 26, 2020

Great class! I learned so much in this course!

By Paul J M V

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Jun 18, 2021

very informative and beginner friendly

By Efraim J R B O

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Oct 9, 2020

Great Course!

By Zack K

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Sep 21, 2020

The content and the insight from this course is amazing. I would strongly recommend this course for anyone working as a Data Scientist or working in theory in the social sciences. However, there are a couple videos and content that need to be edited and re-published, which makes some of the content hard to follow.

By Iqra S

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Dec 15, 2021

good

By Ashley

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Nov 9, 2021

The course is good if you're trying to learn about computational social science research methods. It doesn't really cover computer simulations in depth.