All our free courses
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History & The Arts
Start writing fiction
Have you always wanted to write, but never quite had the courage to start? This free course, Start writing fiction, will give you an insight into how authors create their characters and settings. You will also be able to look at the different genres for fiction.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
How places affect well-being
This free course looks at how where people live affects their well-being. This includes the kind of neighbourhood people live in, how places are organised and run, as well as the detail of the layout of buildings. You will learn about some of the ways that psychologists explain the links between places and well-being. This includes some of the ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Building motivation and resilience in research
Facing setbacks and demotivation in research? Progress is rarely linear, and challenges like failed experiments or rejected proposals are a natural part of the journey. This course is designed to help you stay motivated, handle setbacks constructively, and turn obstacles into opportunities. This course equips researchers across all fields and...
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Languages
Language in professional life
This free course explores English language use across a range of professions, drawing on audio and video interviews, video footage of different workplaces and short texts for analysis. Over the six weeks, you’ll look at how language is used in branding, English for academic purposes, organisational culture, health communication, speech and ...
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Money & Business
Leadership challenges in turbulent times
This course explains how leadership changes in accordance to the needs of the turbulent environments that we experience. You will explore the leadership challenges that can affect leadership effectiveness and will seek ways to successfully face these challenges.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Extreme endurance performances – who, what and why?
What do we mean by ‘extreme endurance performance’ and why are increasingly higher numbers of people attracted to these events? What is it about extreme feats of physical activity that motivate people to participate in them, and where is the limit to what the human body is capable of achieving? This course examines the subject from ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Exploring cells with digital fluorescence microscopy
Learn about microscopy techniques, understand their differences and delve into the fascinating world of fluorescence microscopy. You’ll learn how to make proteins and structures fluorescent, and you’ll see why fluorescence microscopy is one of the most versatile techniques in cell biology. You can refresh your knowledge about cellular structures...
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Society, Politics & Law
Concepts and theories in international relations
What role do concepts and theories play in the study of International Relations? And what are the key features of each theory? Through a series of narrated mind maps and activities you will be introduced to the purpose and features of concepts and theories in the study of International Relations.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Exploring critical social work practice
What does it mean to be a critical social worker and how can adopting a critical approach improve outcomes for people that use services? This free course, Exploring critical social work practice will support you to question assumptions and navigate complexity as a critical social worker. Through practice scenarios and reflective activities, you ...
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Digital & Computing
Introduction to cyber security: stay safe online
Learn how to spot online threats, keep your information safe and understand key topics like malware, network security and identity theft - helping you stay secure at home, at work, and beyond.
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Languages
Machine translation in language learning and teaching
Learn to implement freely available online machine translation tools such as Google Translate or DeepL into your language learning or teaching. The course is aimed at learners and teachers of all languages and levels. It introduces the uses of AI in language learning and provides activities and examples of how to use online machine ...
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Education & Development
An introduction to artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence represents great opportunity, but also significant disruption for modern societies and cultures. This course investigates the historical, ethical and social issues surrounding this technology. It is aimed at people interested in understanding where this technology has come from, the kinds of opportunities it brings to ...
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History & The Arts
Who gets to be a human? Religion in colonial histories and Indigenous resistance
The global challenge of growing inequalities is intricately linked to the distinction made between those historically regarded as human and those who have not been. The division between ‘civilised’ and ‘non-civilised/primitive’ played a vital role in justifying the colonisation and enslavement of those who were deemed ‘lesser human’, ‘other ...
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Money & Business
Entrepreneurship – from ideas to reality
Turn your business ideas into reality with this free course on entrepreneurship. Explore practical steps for starting and growing a business, from developing ideas and choosing a business model to funding, location, and assessing your own skills and risk approach — all illustrated with real-life case studies.
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Money & Business
Marketing communications in the digital age
In this digital era, using social media to portray a particular image to others is engaging in a form of marketing communications, with you as the brand. This course uses theories and models to explain marketing communications and provides examples of how to effectively manage the marketing communications process. The influence and impact of ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Training for speed and power in sport and fitness
This course explains the physiological principles that underpin speed and power, and how to apply a range of training techniques in practice.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Effective writing in professional social work practice
This course will develop your understanding of the different ways that writing forms an integrated part of professional practice in the UK. People are at the centre of writing in social work practice, and the course will explore the importance of language and analysis. It is through writing that social workers communicate, provide detailed ...
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History & The Arts
Exploring Ovid’s big ideas
Discover how ancient stories still give us new ways of thinking about the modern world’s biggest questions. Meet characters from ancient myth like Actaeon the hunter and find out why Ovid’s work is still so relevant today.