Caring for Others

Overview

Caring for Others examines how society cares for its at-risk members and the experiences of its caregivers. This Caring for Others course offered by Coursera in partnership with University of Colorado Boulder 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.

What 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

• Understand the individual experience of suffering and care in a larger social context

• Identify caring professions, describe the motivations for entering caring professions, and identify pathways into caring professions.

• Develop a deeper appreciation of the centrality of care in human society