Skip to content
Skip to main content
  • Video
  • 5 minutes

Explore your world with free learning from The Open University

Updated Tuesday, 1 August 2023

We've thousands of free learning items across OpenLearn - from games to full free online courses. Need help with where to start? We've a few ideas right here...

Find out more about The Open University's Open degree.

Since 1999, The Open University has been making free learning available to everyone online. From 2008, all that learning has been in one place - OpenLearn. The site you're looking at now.

Transcript

OpenLearn can be used for free by anybody... But it's particularly useful for Open University Students.

Using your OU student username and password to log in, you can research your potential OU course or module before signing up, complete your student induction, or learn skills like note taking, revision techniques, essay writing or using online forums, that could all be useful for your studies.

All the content on Open Learn is written and reviewed by Open University academics - so you might even use OpenLearn as part of your OU module. Whatever you're studying, OpenLearn is also useful for acquiring valuable skills that will help you stand out to potential employers.

Any digital badges earned on OpenLearn are visible on your OU student record, they can be included on your CV and can even be shared on social networking sites.

In fact, we've seen that students who use OpenLearn tend to be more successful in their OU studies.

So, whether you're already committed to an OU qualification, wanting to improve your employment prospects, or interested in gaining new skills in between modules, OpenLearn is for you.

We've got thousands of ways to learn - short articles by academic experts from the OU and beyond; videos; podcasts - even, if you're really keen, free courses. You can find your own way through our content - navigate by subject at the top of the page; choose by type of experience at the top right of most pages - or look to the bottom, where subjects and experience are listed again. Or, to get started - why not see what's popular right now?

What next?

Sign-up for a free OU account to join the OpenLearn community and access more features.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest content.

 

Become an OU student

Share this free course

Copyright information

For further information, take a look at our frequently asked questions which may give you the support you need.

Have a question?