Needless to say, the world is in no short supply of big, societal problems. But there are also plenty of people prepared to tackle these challenges — and a new, free online course provides just the right tools to help them start making a difference.

Dubbed Solving Public Problems, the 12-week course is based on a forthcoming book with the same title. The book’s author and the course’s creator is Beth Simon Noveck, director of The Governance Lab at New York University (NYU), a center that focuses on how to improve people’s lives by changing the ways we govern.

The course includes classes on how to identify public problems, how to define them with data, and how to do research on an issue out in the field. The latter is particularly important, as interacting with those directly affected by a social issue can provide the most genuine understanding of the problem and the solutions needed to address it.

The content consists of pre-recorded lectures and interviews with changemakers as well as readings, interactive exercises, and worksheets, all built on real-world examples. Soon there will also be an active discussion forum so students of the course can exchange ideas with each other.

With the initiative, Noveck hopes to “democratize access to this kind of learning,” she says, “and to help create more people who are making a difference in the world. By encouraging people and supporting them to be able to figure out something they can do, even if it’s in their own backyard, that can make a real difference.”