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Course

How Computers & the Internet Work

Short, code-free lessons on how the internet moves data, what artificial intelligence really is, and the ethics that come with it.

Where you are

0 of 5 lessons done.

  1. 01 The internet0/2

  2. 02 Artificial intelligence0/3

Continue: How the internet works

What this course promises

For
Curious beginners who want a code-free explanation of networks and AI.
Prerequisites
No technical experience required
Expected effort
About 75 minutes, including the packet-journey systems practice
Tools and materials
A modern browser
What you will be able to do
Explain one network journey and evaluate one AI ethics case using evidence.

By the end, you should be able to

  • Explain how internet requests find and reach services
  • Distinguish useful AI concepts from misleading claims
  • Discuss an AI decision from several human perspectives

Last checked: 2026-08-21

  1. № 01 · The internet

    Cheat-sheet for this module
    Checkpoint: show what you can do

    You should be able to

    • • Model how addressed packets move through routers and what changes when a path fails
    • • Explain how DNS finds addressing information before a connection begins
    • • Reason about the speed and staleness trade-off created by DNS caching and TTLs
    • • Teach back where the classroom packet and DNS models stop matching real networks

    Explain the complete journey from typing a site name to receiving its packets. Then change one condition: the cached address is still within its TTL but the site has moved. What can happen, what has not failed, and what will eventually correct it?

    Evidence: A causal explanation that keeps name lookup, packet forwarding and cached-answer expiry as three distinct jobs.

  2. № 02 · Artificial intelligence

    Cheat-sheet for this module
    Checkpoint: show what you can do

    You should be able to

    • • Describe what AI is without reaching for either hype or dismissal
    • • Ask what a system learned from, and whether the situation it is used in resembles those examples
    • • Change your mind in either direction on the strength of an answer, and notice that you did
    • • Say where the narrow and general split stops being a reliable map
    • • Separate whether a system works from whether it should be built

    Take a claim about AI you meet this week, in an advert, a news item or a notice from an institution. Write the one question you would ask about it, then say what answer would make you believe it and what answer would make you stop.

    Evidence: One question, plus the two answers that would move you in opposite directions.

Continue learning: 0 of 5 lessons are marked complete. The required packet-journey systems practice is not yet complete. Finish every lesson and the practice activity, and you can open a certificate.

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