UCLA Extension courses

Work one-on-one with a current Visual Arts instructor who guides development of a meaningful project geared toward a portfolio piece, competition, freelance assignment, or other advanced goal. Students choose their own mentors from instructors currently…

Get personalized guidance and feedback on building a cohesive photography portfolio. A series of class assignments are designed to teach advanced level students how to produce a unique personal photographic style. Instruction covers how to adapt your own…

This studio-based course introduces students to abstract painting and expands their ability to enjoy and respond to abstract art. Students improve their color skills and learn techniques for composition and improvisation. The course also focuses on creating…

Whether you're shooting people, products, still life or landscapes, understanding how light interacts with your subject matter is critical to mastering the art of photography. This course covers both artificial (strobes and hot lights) and natural lighting,…

Designed for beginning photographers, this course provides an introduction to digital workflow using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. Lectures and exercises address organizing photographs with Lightroom; importing and processing RAW files; and how to…

Designed for the serious writer committed to participating in a structured writing regimen as well as engaging in ongoing critiques and craft discussions, this course guides you to examine key issues in your work, create an involving storyline out of your…

A memoir is a book-length narrative that is told from the writer's point of view and captures a meaningful slice of the writer's life. If you have a story to tell and would like to figure out how best to tell it, this course helps you get started. In-class…

Unlike fiction, personal essay offers an opportunity to explore the choices you've made, whether life-changing moments or those little decisions that set us on a new course. Through this exploration, you come to a better understanding of family dynamics and…

"Personal Essay" is a broad term that encompasses essays, opinion pieces and mini-memoirs—but which always details the writer's journey through a specific experience. This workshop teaches aspiring personal essayists how to be a compelling first-person…

Designed for those who have already begun to explore memoir or other narrative nonfiction genres, this workshop guides you to take your skills to the next level by focusing on a collection of essays, a single project or other types of nonfiction prose;…

This in-depth exploration of photographic portraiture covers approaching subjects, establishing a rapport, collaborating with your subject, and digital workflow. Through a series of in-class projects and assignments, students master simple and inexpensive…

In Chinese art and culture, a flower is never merely a flower nor scenery merely a place; each has its legends, romantic stories and symbolic spirituality. Take a journey into the world of Chinese Brush Painting in this comprehensive 11-week course which…

Join us for a live online open house to learn more about our Architecture and Interior Design program. Speakers will include the program advisor, instructors, current students, and graduates. Learn more about the program curriculum for our Interior Design:…

An introduction to design fundamentals, including exercises in figure-ground relationships, color interaction, line, texture, shape, scale, balance, rhythm, emphasis and organization of elements in the 2D plane; this course develops perceptual skills,…

This course introduces machine learning using Python. Students will learn structured and unstructured data processing, linear regression modeling and non-linear modeling methods used in machine learning algorithm development, optimization techniques, neural…

This course introduces tools for distributed storage and data processing in an open-source framework. It covers NoSQL, the core components of Hadoop, and an overview of Hive. The extent of data being produced and stored by organizations is increasing. In…

This course provides a practical introduction to the core concepts, methods, and visualization techniques that support modern data exploration and analytics. Students will learn how data science uses historical information to understand past behavior and how…

Get an introduction to the foundational concepts and techniques behind data science and its real‑world applications. Students will learn core programming languages used in the field, including Python and SQL, and gain hands‑on experience building common…

This hands‑on course introduces foundational defensive security strategies and the practical tools used to protect modern computing environments. Students will learn to configure and manage virtualized lab environments, implement firewalls and web servers,…

This hands-on course provides an in‑depth exploration of both common and specialized security tools used during professional penetration assessments. Beginning with an overview of the offensive attack lifecycle, students will examine the strategic purpose of…

Cyber-based attacks and data breaches are threats to any organization, however, effective defense mechanisms are seldom well understood or applied. This course delivers a step-by-step methodology for securing any infrastructure through enhanced defenses to…

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) rapidly evolves, it's reshaping design and development in unprecedented ways. This introductory course is designed to familiarize creative professionals with the transformative potential of AI. It offers an overview of AI…

This course explores both physical and logical cybersecurity practices essential for protecting technology assets and the core components that support modern IT infrastructures. Students will examine infrastructure security management, physical and logical…

This course explores motion graphics in After Effects with AI integration. Students learn animation fundamentals, AI-generated imagery, text-to-video, and conversational AI. Topics include AI history, effortless development, and prompts for design. Hands-on…

This course provides an introduction to the concepts, practices and processes of user experience. Topics include observational research and insight generation, developing user personas and scenarios, information architecture, user interface design,…

This course combines theoretical cybersecurity fundamentals with state-of-the-art use cases for a comprehensive introduction to the field. It is designed to benefit a cross-section of students, including those considering a career in cybersecurity; system…

The Supervised Field Work Practicum, extending over two quarters, is designed for students who have completed the prerequisite courses in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling Certificate. Students are assigned a minimum of 255 hours of on-site agency…

This course provides a brief overview of the theoretical and practical methods of assessing and implementing the basic counseling skills for treating substance use disorders in family systems. Information is presented through lectures and interactive…

An introduction to surface materials for interior designers, this course covers the selection and use of textiles, wall coverings, hard and soft surfaces, floor coverings, rugs, ceramic and vinyl tile, woods and plastics. Instruction includes illustrated…

is designed for college seniors and provides them the foundation to understand their role as military officers and how they are directly tied to our National Security. It is an overview of the complex social and political issues facing the military profession…

utilizes student’s field training experience to take a more in-depth look at leadership. Special emphasis is placed on enhancing communication skills, and why that is important as a leader. Students have an opportunity to try out these leadership and…

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to programming using Java , a powerful and well‑designed object‑oriented language widely used to build large‑scale Internet and intranet applications. Known for its simplicity and readability, Java is also an…

Python is a high-level, dynamically typed, and portable programming language that excels when the cost of software development outweighs performance considerations—which is quite often in practice. Python covers similar territory as Perl and is similarly an…

Anyone who does web work needs to understand HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Together, they provide the foundation on which web pages are built. HTML labels types of information, and CSS specifies how that information will…

Java Programming II builds on foundational Java skills and focuses on the advanced concepts required to develop robust, scalable, and maintainable applications. Students will deepen their understanding of object‑oriented programming, explore the use of…

Structured Query Language (SQL) is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard computer language for accessing and manipulating database systems. SQL works with database programs such as Microsoft Access and SQL Server, DB2, Informix, Oracle and…

The course provides an introduction to computer programming (coding) and software app development. It benefits individuals pursuing programming and software development as a career, as well as anyone in the IT field who works with programmers and systems…

Alumni, current students and program instructors are on hand at this free information session to answer any questions you may have regarding the program. If you are interested in becoming a landscape designer or a landscape architect, sign up today! Program…

Study of world literature, with emphasis on Western civilization as it grapples with its past and with other civilizations. Examination of works such as Dante's "Divine Comedy," Cervantes' "Don Quixote," Shakespeare's "King Lear," and Sor Juana's Mexican…

Engr 213 Data and Business Analytics (Instructor: Huang, B.) Lecture, four hours; outside study, eight hours. Coverage of wide variety of spreadsheet models that can be used to solve business and engineering problems, with emphasis on mastery of Excel…

Culture is the living architecture of the human experience. It is the values, rituals, memory, grief, joy, and expression that humans carry collectively across generations. In this session, Monty Marsh examines how the medium of photography documents culture…

This course, presented by the Alzheimer’s Association®, provides research-backed guidance on the importance of protecting cognitive function at every age. We gain practical strategies for integrating sustainable habits into their daily lives, grounded in the…

Elevating Aerospace: Design Thinking for Safety Critical AI is a hands-on, applied course for aerospace professionals seeking practical, responsible, and deployment-oriented AI capabilities in regulated and mission-critical environments. Rather than focusing…

This course moves students from AI awareness and problem framing into structured execution. Building on the problem statements and AI foundations developed in Course 1, students learn how to translate aerospace challenges into practical AI-enabled workflows…

This capstone course brings together the full learning journey: problem identification, AI foundations, workflow design, secure architecture, governance, and deployment planning. Students apply what they have learned to design a practical AI solution for a…

This course develops the practical execution capability needed to design and secure AI-enabled systems in aerospace and other regulated environments. Students become “dangerous with tools” in a controlled and responsible way: capable of experimenting with…

Death is one of the greatest taboos and understandably difficult subjects to discuss in our modern world. Like birth, death is a prerequisite for life and yet our culture of death denial prevents us from communally providing the care, compassion and holistic…

This course examines the craft of storytelling across contemporary media platforms, including feature film, broadcast and streaming television series, documentary, audio storytelling (podcast and scripted audio), vertical short-form digital content, and…

Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your photography to the next level, understanding the business side of the lens is essential. In this free one-hour session, photographer and UCLA Extension instructor Dr. Craig Havens breaks down the…

Alfred Hitchcock’s pulse-pounding films set a high bar for suspense, yet several other classic Hollywood thrillers rival the master’s lofty achievements. A few gifted filmmakers took the stylistic elements Hitchcock pioneered and built upon them—or charted…