The internet brings a world of information to your fingertips, but not all information is equal. Whether you're seeking news, product reviews, health data, or any other kind of information, it's important to use trustworthy sources. In this short course, Andrew Seaman, former Ethics Chair for the Society of Professional Journalists, shows how to quickly determine the accuracy and reliability of information you find online. Andrew explains how information sharing has changed, in both positive and negative ways, with the advent of the internet. He offers helpful tips for becoming a savvier media consumer of various kinds of online information: news, product reviews, health content, and more. To conclude, Andrew shares free online tools you can use to create healthy information habits.

In this course, instructor Kathy Flint shows how Spring Integration fits into the overall Spring framework. Kathy covers realistic use cases that warrant the use of Spring Integration, such as APIs, reactive websites, and database-integrated systems. Kathy demonstrates the full capabilities of Spring Integration by building a demonstration application; she starts with an empty Spring Boot application and adds Spring Integration components in increasing complexity, ending with a substantive demonstration application. She covers key features like message channels, message transformation, routing, and aggregation. Kathy finishes the course by identifying practical challenges and choices that an architect or engineer may encounter during the design and implementation of a Spring Integration system.

Want to test—and develop—your SQL data-engineering skills? Do you fancy yourself pretty skilled at SQL and want to see just how sharp you are? Then check out this installment of the Code Challenges series, as instructor Harshit Tyagi presents a number of challenges requiring you to write SQL queries to solve problems and answer questions. The challenges start at a relatively low level of difficulty—column selection, filtering rows from data, sorting and grouping query results—and get progressively tougher, testing you on topics like handling missing and invalid data, calculating moving window average, and data transformations. The challenges are all a few minutes long, and use a single database, so you can jump around from challenge to challenge or watch the entire course. So, if you want to see if you’re equal to the tasks, try out these SQL challenges.

Squarespace websites offer a variety of content types that you can leverage to make your sites more interactive and engaging. In this course, explore the different types of pages and content that you can add and tailor for your website. Learn how to set up a blog on your Squarespace website, including how to customize the design and include media files. Find out how to post new blog content featuring images. See how to create a new website that can display your upcoming events, complete with a sign-up page so visitors can receive newsletters and notifications. Put these new site-building skills together as you follow along with the final example project where you get to see a microsite built for a restaurant.

The Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) certification is an excellent entry point to a career in IT security. To help you prepare for the SSCP exam, instructor Mike Chapple has designed a series of courses covering each domain. In this installment, Mike covers the objectives of the first domain, Security Operations and Administration, which comprises 16% of the questions on the exam. Topics include the security triad, data security, security controls, and compliance training. Learn about core concepts and the security code of ethics, and find out how to document controls, start asset and change management programs, conduct security awareness and training, implement physical controls, and assess the compliance of your organization.

The (ISC)2 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) certification is an excellent entry point to a career in IT security. To help you prepare for the SSCP exam, instructor Mike Chapple has designed a series of courses covering each domain. In this installment, Mike covers the objectives of Access Controls, the second domain, which comprises 15% of the questions on the exam. Topics include identification, authorization, and authentication, including multifactor and mobile device authentication. Learn about the identity management lifecycle, and find out how to implement authentication mechanisms and access controls.

To join one of Mike's free study groups for access to bonus tips and practice questions, visit certmike.com.

Jump start your career in IT by earning the (ISC)2 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) certification. In this installment of the SSCP Cert Prep series, instructor Mike Chapple covers the objectives of Risk Identification, Monitoring, and Analysis, the third domain of the SSCP exam. Topics include quantitative risk assessment, risk visibility and reporting, vulnerability assessment tools, and security assessment techniques. In addition, learn about security information and event management (SIEM) systems, visualization and reporting, software testing, and more.

Not sure if you need statistics? Think again! Statistics help with making decisions, new discoveries, investments, and predictions. For subjects ranging from political races to healthcare advancements, statistics can improve your understanding of your favorite topic. In this course, Professor Eddie Davila teaches common terms, formulas, and techniques related to probability, the area of statistics where this course focuses.

Eddie explains that probability is used to make decisions about future outcomes and to understand past outcomes. He covers permutations, combinations, and percentiles, and goes into how to describe and calculate them. Eddie introduces multiple event probabilities and discusses when to add and subtract probabilities. He describes probability trees, Bayes’ Theorem, binomials, and so much more. You can learn to understand your data, prove theories, and save valuable resources—all by understanding the numbers.

Statistics is not just the realm of data scientists. All types of jobs use statistics. Statistics are important for making decisions, new discoveries, investments, and predictions. Whether the subject is political races, sports rankings, shopping trends, or healthcare advancements, statistics is an instrument for understanding your favorite topic at a deeper level. In this course, Professor Eddie Davila offers beginner-level lessons, so you too can master the terms, formulas, and techniques needed to perform the most common types of statistics.

Eddie covers several examples of data and charts. He explains how to find the middle of your data set, as well as the mean and median. He introduces range, then goes into standard deviation and what to do with outliers. These techniques help you understand your data, prove theories, and save time, money, and other valuable resources—all by understanding the numbers.

Even the most optimistic of us can get weighed down when seemingly unrelenting negativity swirls around us at work and in life. It impacts our perspective, presence, and performance. Self-leadership expert Scott Mautz teaches a specific plan for fostering sustainable positivity, especially in the face of tiresome negativity. You’ll be able to stay positive over the long haul by applying fundamentals of positivity—like staying grounded and practicing a special type of gratitude—and by drawing optimism from increased mental strength. Learn to build specialized positivity skills—such as handling criticism and difficult people—and build daily habits of positivity too. Plus, hear real-world examples and craft a personal MAP (micro action plan) for being realistic but staying upbeat when it feels like the world is conspiring to keep you down.

Nearly everyone has a webcam, but many people don’t put the effort into enhancing their webcam video presence. But with just a few relatively easy and inexpensive tweaks, you can capture well-composed, well-lit shots with great audio using the humble webcam. In this course, senior staff instructor Ashley Kennedy shows you how to represent your best self in meetings, as well as presentations, trainings, vlogs, interviews, demos, Q&As, and other types of web videos. Learn basic strategies for optimizing your system and your webcam, staging and lighting your shot, capturing high-quality audio, scripting and rehearsing for big-stakes webcam presentations, and more.

Andre Haddad grew up in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. His love of reading led to his first job at a bookstore. After a mortar shell hit his family’s apartment in 1989, he left Beirut to study in France. In this course, adapted from the podcast al empire, Hebah Fisher and Andre Haddad discuss Andre’s journey to entrepreneurial success. Andre’s arrival in France forced him to start over, and with the fresh start came fresh observations. Andre noticed the need for auction sites like eBay outside of the US, which led to the launch of his first big success, iBazaar. Andre describes his move from iBazaar to Turo, the world’s largest peer-to-peer car sharing service, and how a passion for sustainability has enabled the growth of the company. The interview concludes as Andre contemplates what his efforts have truly gained both for himself and the world.

Note: This course was created by al empire. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

There’s almost nothing more frustrating than feeling unable to move your ideas, decisions, or projects out into the world. But as you grow in your career and tackle more challenging problems, you’ll inevitably get stuck in the pursuit of your biggest creative goals. The good news is that, despite how it feels, there are clear actions you can take to get yourself unstuck (and keep yourself that way). Join instructor Jeff Fajans, a creative performance and executive coach, as he shares strategies and tips designed to help you tackle this common problem. Throughout the course, Jeff walks through specific strategies you can use to prioritize, eliminate distractions, boost your confidence, and optimize your time and energy. Getting stuck might feel permanent, but after taking this course, you’ll have the tools you need to stay out of that mind frame for good.

This course was created by Madecraft. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Self-awareness is the secret sauce you can use in achieving success in your career and relationships. It ties into your ability to be confident, exhibit emotional intelligence, and demonstrate understanding, and it is a skill that you can practice and develop. In this course, executive coach Dr. Joel Pérez explains what self-awareness is, what obstacles may challenge you in building self-awareness, and how to overcome those obstacles. He concludes with a detailed discussion of several ways that self-awareness can benefit your life, including personal improvement, communication, stress management, and more.

This course was created by Madecraft. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Frameworks such as Apache Flink can help you build fast, scalable stream processing applications, but big data engineers still need to design smart use cases to achieve maximum efficiency. In this course, instructor Kumaran Ponnambalam demonstrates how to use Apache Flink and associated technologies to build stream-processing use cases leveraging popular patterns. Kumaran begins by highlighting the opportunities and challenges that stream processing brings to big data. He then goes over four popular patterns for stream processing: streaming analytics, alerts and thresholds, leaderboards, and real-time predictions. Along the way, he reviews example use cases and explains how to leverage Flink, as well as key technologies like MariaDB and Redis, to implement key examples.

Substance Designer is a powerful, procedurally based tool for creating textures for 3D art and games. This course was designed to give texture artists a complete overview of the Substance Designer 2020 application. If you're new to the field, this course can help you quickly start creating your own textures. If you're an experienced artist looking to add a new application to your toolbox, this course provides plenty of in-depth material with which to work. Instructor Joel Bradley begins with an overview of the application, discussing key concepts such as how to set preferences, use the Materials menu wisely, and make lighting changes. He then covers essential concepts such as how to import meshes and leverage the array of essential "atomic" nodes in Substance Designer, including the Blend, Curve, Blur, and Gradient nodes. Joel closes out the course by explaining how to get the most out of published substances, including how to export and import packages from Designer.

Mit Substance Designer von Allegorithmic lassen sich realistische Materialien für Computerspiele und Filme erzeugen. Robert Hunecke zeigt Ihnen in diesem Video-Training zunächst, wie Substance Designer grundsätzlich arbeitet. Anschließend lernen Sie die typischen Arbeitsschritte in diesem node-basierten Werkzeug kennen. Durch den Einsatz von übertragbaren Effekten gestalten Sie Ihre Materialien zunehmend realistischer und verleihen ihnen einen eigenen Charakter. Schließlich erfahren Sie, wie Sie Ihre Materialien für die Weiterverarbeitung in anderen Programmen exportieren.

See how to create a stylized, non-photoreal version—such as a cartoon outline—of an existing, realistic-looking material using Substance Designer, part of the Substance suite from Adobe. Instructor Joel Bradley walks through the material creation process from start to finish, beginning with choosing nodes that can achieve the level of control needed. He moves on to cover the details of stylizing the image, including outlining, shading, beveling, patterning, and more, all with an eye to maximizing usability.

Substance Painter is a real-time 3D painting tool that allows visual artists to create incredibly detailed materials for use in product visualization, architectural visualization, VFX, and animation. In this course, instructor Joel Bradley shows you how to create a photorealistic material that will make a 3D object in Substance Painter look real. Joel explains how to organize folders and base layers, bake mesh maps, use color ID masks, and more. He covers how to use existing materials to save time, as well as how to augment smart materials and blend materials together. Joel goes into techniques you can use to create the details you need to achieve photorealism. He concludes by showing you how to add subtle details with hand painting and how to export your material so you can put it to use.

Most networking advice you hear hasn’t been updated for our modern, social, interconnected world. In this course, networking expert JaMarr Johnson teaches you how to stop simply networking and become a super connecter. JaMarr explains how to determine which platforms complement your capabilities and lead to more connections, and how to follow up effectively. He goes over how to tap into causes you’re passionate about to expand your network and how to be interested, not just interesting. JaMarr discusses the connector mindset, including the “Blue Ocean” method and spending more time on personal growth that is challenging but doable. He shows you how to use empathy, humor, speaking skills, and empowering others to build your super connector super skills. JaMarr concludes by describing some super actions that boost your super connector skills, such as mentoring and joining digital groups.

This course was created by Madecraft. We are pleased to host this training in our library.