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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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Visualisation: visual representations of data and information
Modern society is often referred to as 'the information society' - but how can we make sense of all the information we are bombarded with? In this free course, Visualisation: visual representations of data and information, you will learn how to interpret, and in some cases create, visual representations of data and information that help us to ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Understanding operations management
Operations management is one of the central functions of all organisations. This free course, Understanding operations management, will provide you with a basic framework for understanding this function, whether producing goods or services or in the private, public or voluntary sectors. In addition, this OpenLearn course discusses the role of ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Money & Business
Understanding management: I'm managing thank you!
This free course, Understanding management: I'm managing thank you! provides you with a set of ideas for developing your approach to managing your own work what we might call self-management. In order to do this, we will examine some of the key processes of management decision making, such as allocating time, staff, physical and financial ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Making decisions
Do you hate making decisions? Does the ability of others to make snap decisions really frustrate you? This free course will help you understand some of the processes involved in decision making. Attention to the psychology of decision making and the social context in which decisions are made can improve your understanding of others and yourself.
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level 1: introductory icon
Society, Politics & Law
The role of diagnosis in counselling and psychotherapy
This free course, The role of diagnosis in counselling and psychotherapy, explores the role of diagnosis in the treatment of mental health problems. It considers the history of our current understandings of 'mental health' and 'illness' with a focus on the concepts of anxiety and depression, and looks at potential gains and losses in using ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Money & Business
Conversations and interviews
This free course, Conversations and interviews, explores how to ask and answer questions in interviews and conversations.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Money & Business
Stakeholders in marketing and finance
This free course, Stakeholders in marketing and finance, comprises two sections introducing the idea of customers and stakeholders for financial information. It also contains two activities in which learners are asked to relate the ideas discussed to their own work practice.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Money & Business
Developing high trust work relationships
Learn about trust in the organisational context. This free course, Developing high trust work relationships, introduces the concept of trust, what it means to you and how it may affect your organisation.
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level 3: advanced icon
Health, Sports & Psychology
The MMR vaccine: public health, private fears
A decade ago, the possibility of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism hit the media. Fear of the vaccine spread rapidly and, despite an almost unanimous consensus that the claim was unfounded, still persists today. In this free course, The MMR vaccine: public health, private fears, we'll examine why this controversy took on such a life of ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Education & Development
The family at the centre of early learning
This free course, The family at the centre of early learning, focuses on the positive learning relationships that can exist in any family and how ordinary, everyday domestic activities can sustain learning. You will consider how the traditions and cultural practices of the community to which the family belongs filters through to the child’s ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Technology, innovation and management
Develop a critical understanding of technological innovation and management. This free course, Technology, innovation and management, will provide you with an overview and introduction to a range of related concepts, ideas and debates. It adopts a broad definition of innovation and subscribes to the view that a fundamental feature of any ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Technological innovation: a resource-based view
This free course, Technological innovation: a resource-based view, aims to provide you with an overview and introduction to a range of related concepts, ideas and debates which enable you to develop a critical understanding of capabilities in relation to technological innovation. It will enable you to develop a critical understanding of the ...