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 8 different subject areas. Our courses are available to start right away.
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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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Health, Sports & Psychology
Panic attacks: what they are and what to do about them
Panic attacks: what they are and what to do about them is a free course that should be helpful to anyone who experiences panic or panic attacks, for their family and friends, and anyone more generally interested in mental health and mental health treatment. The course starts by exploring formal definitions of panic and panic attack. These ...
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Education & Development
Talk the talk
This free course introduces the mechanics of effective, persuasive oral presentations, by giving you the opportunity to analyse examples and then create your own. Using resources such as TED Talk videos, you will see how experts deliver professional talks and famous speeches, observe what works, and identify how language connects ideas and keeps...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Strategic planning: systems thinking in practice
Strategic planning: systems thinking in practice is a free course introducing core ideas of systems thinking in practice for managing and improving complex situations. The ideas correspond with three core activities of, firstly, understanding inter-relationships, secondly, engaging with multiple perspectives, and thirdly, reflecting on boundary ...
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Money & Business
Exploring career mentoring and coaching
This free course, Exploring career mentoring and coaching, will explain what mentors and career coaches do and how a colleague or expert who can ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and help an individual to find the best solutions for themselves, can make a significant difference in a wide range of situations and contexts.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Population ageing: a global health crisis?
This free course, Population ageing: a global health crisis?, focuses on two major issues of our time – ageing societies and global health. It provides you with an introduction to ageing societies and their implications for global health – implications which are only just beginning to be fully understood. The course will help you to deepen your ...
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Money & Business
Marketing communications as a strategic function
Marketing communications help to define an organisation's relationship with its customers. This free course, Marketing communications as a strategic function, emphasises the strategic importance of such communication and its long-term effect on consumers. Communication models can act as a predictive guide, but in the end it is important to ...
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Money & Business
Managing and managing people
This free course, Managing and managing people, will introduce you to the world of management. We will be looking at a range of topics, including what managers do, what skills they require, and how you can develop as a manager.
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Money & Business
Understanding and managing risk
This free course, Understanding and managing risk, provides an introduction to financial risk management. The processes of risk identification, risk measurement and risk management are explored. The course then goes on to examine reputational risk and operational risk. It concludes with an examination of the subject of behavioural finance and ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Understanding depression and anxiety
This free course, Understanding depression and anxiety, explores the causes of these mental health issues, with a particular focus on stress. You will consider some risk and causal factors for some depression and anxiety disorders, and learn about the biology and psychology behind them.
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Money & Business
Sure, I know how to talk to people!
This free course is one in a series focusing on leadership, decision-making and communication in the context of policing within the community. This particular session focuses on communication skills and specifically looks at how to build rapport and get the most out of conversations in community settings. It introduces a psychological model ...
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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.