It’s all been selected as content that can support your studies, be that in developing study skills or as further learning around the curriculum. So while we can’t guarantee there is content on every topic you are studying, with 350+ articles, courses and interactives hand-picked for you, we’re confident there will something that will meet your needs.

Everything on this hub (and on OpenLearn) is free to use, and we would also encourage it to be used inside the classroom too!

Anyone can study an OpenLearn course, read an article or watch a video without creating an account. However, to have your learning recognised (so that you earn a certificate or a digital badge on an OpenLearn course) you must create an account, which will provide any learner with an OpenLearn profile. This profile can be made public or private and records your learning progress and achievements.

Learning carried out on OpenLearn won’t count towards any formal qualification, but sharing your certificates and badges with teachers, tutors, on applications and via social media is a great way to demonstrate your learning and interest in a subject – think college and university applications and how independent, proven study in a subject could set you apart!

All learners must be aged 13 or over in order to create an account with The Open University. There are no forums on OpenLearn courses but all learners with an account can do the following:

• leave a review for a course or comment on an article
• edit their OpenLearn profile

You can find out more about how to make the most of OpenLearn and how to navigate the site on our About us page and in the accompanying animation.

As a teacher, you can use our OpenLearn content in several ways, such as:

• assisting your pupils in topic mastery. OpenLearn provides learning in a variety of formats: articles, courses, educational interactives, videos and ebooks
• supporting students with university decision making, by giving them a taste of a particular subject
• helping teachers and teaching assistants upskill for the classroom or in online learning 

If you are a teacher and you wish to enrol students who are younger than 13 on one of our courses, please email us at openlearn@open.ac.uk and we will deal with your enquiry separately. We are currently working on lowering our age of consent to 11 years old to enable OpenLearn resources to be used by all children at secondary school who wish to earn certificates and digital badges.