Name: Model Thinking
Brand: University of Michigan
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 4.8 (507 reviews)

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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Model Thinking by University of Michigan

4.8

stars

2,250 ratings

About the Course

We live in a complex world with diverse people, firms, and governments whose behaviors aggregate to produce novel, unexpected phenomena. We see political uprisings, market crashes, and a never ending array of social trends. How do we make sense of it? Models. Evidence shows that people who think with models consistently outperform those who don't. And, moreover people who think with lots of models outperform people who use only one. Why do models make us better thinkers? Models help us to better organize information - to make sense of that fire hose or hairball of data (choose your metaphor) available on the Internet. Models improve our abilities to make accurate forecasts. They help us make better decisions and adopt more effective strategies. They even can improve our ability to design institutions and procedures. In this class, I present a starter kit of models: I start with models of tipping points. I move on to cover models explain the wisdom of crowds, models that show why some countries are rich and some are poor, and models that help unpack the strategic decisions of firm and politicians. The models covered in this class provide a foundation for future social science classes, whether they be in economics, political science, business, or sociology. Mastering this material will give you a huge leg up in advanced courses. They also help you in life. Here's how the course will work. For each model, I present a short, easily digestible overview lecture. Then, I'll dig deeper. I'll go into the technical details of the model. Those technical lectures won't require calculus but be prepared for some algebra. For all the lectures, I'll offer some questions and we'll have quizzes and even a final exam. If you decide to do the deep dive, and take all the quizzes and the exam, you'll receive a Course Certificate. If you just decide to follow along for the introductory lectures to gain some exposure that's fine too. It's all free. And it's all here to help make you a better thinker!...

Top reviews

Jun 6, 2016

Wonderful course and equally wonderful instructor. I really like how Scott builds up from a very simple model and by explaining the intuition behind how we got the math, explains the maths.

Apr 7, 2018

This is a great introduction to the types and uses of models. The lectures are clear, and the examples given show good applicability to real world problems. Thanks for making it available!

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476 - 500 of 507 Reviews for Model Thinking

By Gustavo T d F

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Aug 29, 2017

Great learning tool. Thank you!

By Federico P

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Sep 25, 2017

Nice course, but lacks depth.

By Sushil S

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Jan 23, 2021

Better course for beginners.

By Behailu D

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Sep 19, 2020

it is interesting course

By Ed K

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Oct 28, 2016

Good overview course.

By kelly d

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Nov 27, 2019

Hard, but worth it!

By Karel G

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Oct 25, 2016

Great introduction.

By Venugopal

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Jul 18, 2024

very good course

By Ton T N K

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Sep 11, 2020

That's great!

By ruyanan

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May 2, 2021

看到了看问题的不同角度

By Marek L

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Sep 23, 2016

Very good!

By Mimis L

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Oct 11, 2019

excelente

By ರತೀಷ್ പ ( P

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Jan 14, 2016

Excellent

By zhangmutanxi

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Mar 21, 2016

great

By Muhammed M H

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Jun 27, 2018

good

By Luiz C d P W F

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Apr 4, 2017

Ver

By Adem A

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Sep 6, 2016

By Nick M W

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Mar 7, 2016

By Milady M

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Mar 6, 2017

i would like to see some subtitles in Spanish, to help me understand much better the main idea ! but in generally is so good and helpful!

By Jaroslav A

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Mar 6, 2021

Interesting but so boring

By Eli M

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Mar 14, 2016

There have been some undesirable references to equations, in terms of equating modeling to economic growth and investment. I was interested by the syllabus and its outline of theories and the means to use models to study social sciences and systems sciences. After week 1, though, it was not a very interesting course so I considered trying to simply survey most of the videos to gain some more information, not necessarily for any more insight from the Professor from the University of Michigan.

By Kätlin K

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Apr 28, 2022

Expected to understand why things take place. The more I try to understand this material, the less sense it makes. All I see is a person throwing random numbers like these are a logical course of things. Very disappointed.