Free courses
Produced by The Open University, a world leader in open and distance learning, all OpenLearn courses are free to study. We offer nearly 1000 free courses across 9 different subject areas. Our courses are available to start right away.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Exploring health: is your lifestyle really to blame?
This free course, Exploring health: is your lifestyle really to blame?, explores the extent to which a person's 'lifestyle' impacts on their health and wellbeing. It also examines how non-lifestyle related factors – in particular social, economic, cultural and political dimensions – influence a person's health.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Exploring the psychological aspects of sport injury
Have you ever experienced a sport injury? Have you ever thought there could be a psychological dimension to sport injuries, as well as a physical one? Sport injury is relatively common among sport and exercise participants, and while the physical impact of injury is often easy to recognise, the psychological impact is less obvious. In this ...
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Education & Development
Attachment in the early years
This free course, Attachment in the early years, covers theory and research in the area of attachment in early childhood. In the 1950s, John Bowlby was the first person to develop a theory about the significance of early attachments between caregivers and very young children. His work has stimulated a massive and very productive field of ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Reading and note taking – preparation for study
Reading and note taking are two essential study skills. How do you read? This free course, Reading and note taking preparation for study, will introduce you to different techniques to help you to alter the way you read according to the type of material you are studying. You will also learn the techniques behind successful note taking and how to...
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Money & Business
Internships and other work experiences
In this free course, Internships and other work experiences, you’ll begin by learning more about what an internship is and how it might differ from other forms of work experience. You’ll find out what you can gain personally and professionally, and consider the practicalities of obtaining work experience, from how to choose what’s right for you,...
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Money & Business
Working in groups and teams
This free course, Working in groups and teams, explores team working from start to finish. It looks at how successful teams are created, roles within a team, the life cycle of a team, how to manage conflict within teams and evaluating team performance.
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Money & Business
Developing career resilience
Do you sometimes wish you were more resilient when faced with changes at work? Do you have career plans but feel unsure about progressing with them? If you do, then this free course, Developing career resilience, will help you to build your resilience and approach career-related change with greater confidence and motivation.
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Money & Business
How teams work
This free course, How teams work, provides an introduction to working in virtual project teams by explaining terms and concepts related to teams and to projects. The complexity of the interaction of people and technology is highlighted.
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Society, Politics & Law
Why are nonhuman animals victims of harm?
In this free course, Why are nonhuman animals victims of harm? you will investigate why nonhuman animals tend to be overlooked as victims of violence. The course explores some of the social processes and structures that victimise other animals, such as ‘livestock’ farming. The course also highlights some of the environmental harms related ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Learning from sport burnout and overtraining
Sport can place high levels of stress on athletes, coaches and others involved. If unable to cope with these stresses they may be vulnerable to developing burnout. This free course, Learning from sport burnout and overtraining, examines burnout in sport from various perspectives including both the coach’s and athlete’s perspective. Drawing on ...
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Money & Business
The importance of interpersonal skills
To succeed in management you need good interpersonal skills, you need to understand how to deal with other people. This free course, The importance of interpersonal skills, will help you gain an awareness of your own skills and understand that an awareness of the interpersonal skills of others can help us enormously in dealing with the work ...
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Society, Politics & Law
An introduction to social work law
This course will get you to consider your initial perceptions of the social work role before exploring what social workers do in their day-to-day practice with people. It will highlight the core values of the social work profession and consider the challenges of applying these values in practice. The course will explore the relationship ...