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.
- All topics
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Music and its media
This free course, Music and its media, examines some of the main ways in which music is transmitted. It considers how the means of communicating a particular piece can change over time; and how the appearance and contents of a source can reflect the circumstances in which it is produced. The course focuses on three examples of musical media that...
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Languages
Exploring languages and cultures
Explore the multiple relationships between languages and cultures. In this free course you will learn about the benefits and challenges of meeting people from different cultures and the ways in which language and human communities shape each other. You will look at the role of intercultural competence at the workplace, reflect on the use of ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
What is a metal?
This free course, What is a metal? explores the main characteristic properties of metals and their varied use in our everyday lives. Each metal has its own personal signature and you will undertake an online experiment to identify individual metals.
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Society, Politics & Law
The body: a phenomenological psychological perspective
The body has traditionally been treated as a biological object in psychology. However, is there more to our bodies than that? Some psychologists recognise that we relate to other people and the world about us through our body. This free course, The body: A phenomenological psychological perspective, explores the theoretical perspective on ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Metals in medicine
This free course, Metals in medicine, focuses on the use of metals and their compounds in the production of images of internal structures in our bodies and on the role of metal-containing compounds as drugs in the treatment of disease.
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History & The Arts
Two concepts of freedom
What defines individual freedom in a civilised society? Philosophers have argued over such questions for centuries. This free course, Two concepts of freedom, looks at a positive and a negative concept of freedom, asking you to think carefully about how freedom is restricted by our place in society and how it can vary from state to state.
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Education & Development
Strategic planning for online learning
Become a digitally-informed and empowered school leader and learn how to help your school respond more effectively to technology-driven change through COVID-19 and beyond. This free course will help secondary school leaders make decisions about the provision and use of online learning. School leaders in secondary education need to plan digital ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Drug development process: combating pain
Drug development process: combating pain, is a free course offering a brief introduction to the process of new drug discovery; from identification of a suitable candidate drug molecule to the development of a commercial drug product available in the clinic for pain relief or as an anti-inflammatory.
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History & The Arts
Simone de Beauvoir and the feminist revolution
In this free course you will study the ideas of philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986). In doing so you will also briefly study the philosophy of Beauvoir’s lifelong partner, philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. The type of philosophy that links them is called ‘existentialism’. Beauvoir and Sartre are the foremost philosophers of French ...
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Languages
A brief history of communication: hieroglyphics to emojis
This free course, A brief history of communication: hieroglyphics to emojis, is an introduction to the history of writing, and the key role it plays in human communication. It tracks this history from the invention of writing around 5500 years ago to the mass popularity of emojis today.
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Science, Maths & Technology
In the night sky: Orion
In this free course, In the night sky: Orion, you will explore the night sky, discover how stars formed and find out about exoplanets, all through the constellation of Orion.
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Languages
Language in the real world
This free course, Language in the real world, explains and illustrates why a knowledge about how language works (i.e. ‘linguistics’) is helpful – some might say essential – for different aspects of our everyday lives. It provides an introduction to ideas around what language is and to the field of Applied Linguistics, which is dedicated to ...