Badge Description
The Understanding the Internet course offers a comprehensive introduction to the Internet, covering its historical evolution, technical foundations, operational structure, standardization processes, and the global coordination behind Internet governance. Designed for undergraduate students and general learners with no prior technical background, the course explains how the Internet works and how it is organized. It also highlights the role played by individuals as citizens of the global cyberspace.
The course begins with the fundamental question: “What is the Internet?” Learners examine key concepts such as digital data, IP addresses, and data transmission, and gain a deeper understanding of how the Internet emerged and evolved. The course then examines the core technologies that enable the Internet to function with a focus on communication protocols and the design principles that support its scalability and resilience. Learners explore various communication models of Internet-based applications, including client-server and peer-to-peer (P2P), and the architecture of the modern web, including the foundations of secure communication like Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Together, these topics illustrate how the Internet has adapted to meet the diverse and growing needs of users over time.
Study Requirement: 4 weeks, 3 hours per week
Topics Covered in This Course
- What is the Internet?
- How is the world connected?
- What is digital data?
- The foundation of the Internet
- How does data travel on the Internet?
- How is the Internet working?
- Design of the Internet
- Quality of the Internet
- Technology for the Internet infrastructure
- Applications on the Internet
- Client-server model
- Secure communication
- Network engineering
- Network computing
- Internet-based society
- Global collaboration for Internet technology
- Global coordination for the Internet operation
- Global collaboration for governance
- REN – Research and Education Network
- Challenges to the global cyberspace
Learning Outcomes
This course offers learners the ability to:
- Explain what is the Internet.
- Explain how the Internet is running.
- Describe the technology behind the Internet.
- Discuss the importance of global collaboration to make the Internet.
- Discuss the individual responsibility for the future Internet.
- Discuss the future of the Internet.
- Evaluate your internet connectivity.
- Investigate the network problem in your house.
- Debate privacy and security issues related to the Internet.
- Explore their career in the Internet industry.
Related Courses
- APIE Core Course
- This course is a part of the APIE (Asia Pacific Internet Engineering) curriculum.
- “Understanding the Internet” by Keio University
- This course provides content equivalent to the online course Understanding the Internet, which Keio University offers and is publicly available on the FutureLearn Platform.
Prerequisite
No prerequisite to study this course.
Criteria
This badge was awarded to the learners who completed the following criteria:
- Active participation and contribution to social learning.
- Submission of required assignments.
- 90% completion of the course content, including videos, articles, quizzes, and discussions.
Tags
evolution of the internet, basic internet mechanism, basic internet application, basic internet governance, cyber citizenship, APIE