These are challenging times. You may be busy at your job, or busy looking for one. You know that building your skills can help you succeed, but you wonder if you have the time or budget for professional development. The Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program can help.

Our cost-effective Deep Learning courses are designed for smart, busy professionals with limited training budgets. We provide you with high-quality, practical courses designed and led by expert practitioners. Our courses are interactive and international, so you can share ideas and ask questions of a wide variety of practitioners.

Starting January 12, BOCEP offers five Deep Learning courses:

Urban Design Analysis (January 12 to February 19) teaches the fundamentals of physical planning. It is a great complement to Site Planning Analysis and a good foundational course for anyone seeking to build their expertise in urban design. Matt Wanamaker, an architect and urban designer with Brown & Keener, teaches this course.

Building Creative Communities (January 19 to February 26) is focused on connecting the arts and community development. It focuses on how the arts can be used for such community development strategies as community building, increasing citizen participation, and youth development. The class also provides guidelines for conducting arts-based community planning. It is a distinct class in BOCEP, in that it is designed for placebuilders and cultural professionals to learn with and from one another.

Current Trends in Land Use Law (January 19 to February 26) helps you explore the key legal issues affecting communities these days. Among them are religious land uses and environmental regulations. The instructor for this course is one of the best resources in this area: Lora Lucero, a zoning and land use lawyer who wrote many of the legal briefs for the American Planning Association when it jumped into planning law cases.

Why do some large-scale developments work, while others fail? That's what the Economic Development Studio (January 19 to February 26) will explore. Instructor Nicolas Ronderos, Director of Urban Development Programs for the prestigious Regional Plan Association, will guide learners as they delve into several large-scale projects in New York City. Learners will get insights that can help them plan for and manage large projects in their communities.

How well do you know the housing market in your community? Housing Market Analysis (January 19 to February 26) can help you build your skills and knowledge, whether you're looking to manage a housing project or trying to address housing needs in your community. Deborah Brett, a national expert in housing and real estate market dynamics, teaches this course.

BOCEP Deep Learning courses provide a graduate-level education at less than half the cost of going to a weekend workshop. All Deep Learning courses can help you earn a Bloustein Professional Certificate and most are eligible for 14 AICP Certification Maintenance credits.

Each course is $295, but Planetizen readers can get a $50 scholarship on any course (except Urban Design Analysis). Please use promotion code BGBBS when registering. For those seeking a Bloustein Professional Certificate, there is an additional $50 fee per course.

To learn more about any of these courses or the Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program, please visit http://www.policy.rutgers.edu/bocep (Sign up for our newsletter to get scholarships of up to $145 on some classes.) Questions? Feel free to contact the program director, Leonardo Vazquez, at [email protected] or 732-932-3822, x711

BOCEP is produced by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The Bloustein School is one of the leading centers of research and learning in urban planning in the United States.