All our free courses
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History & The Arts
Writing what you know
Do you want to improve your descriptive writing? This free course, Writing what you know, will help you to develop your perception of the world about you and enable you to see the familiar things in everyday life in a new light. You will also learn how authors use their own personal histories to form the basis of their work.
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd
This free course, Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, is designed to tell you something about Hardy's background, and to introduce you to the pleasures of reading a nineteenth-century novel. Why do we believe in fictional characters and care about what happens to them? You will discover some of the techniques that Hardy ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Veiling
This free course explores controversies associated with the practice of 'veiling' within Islam. The Islamic 'veil', be it in the form of the hijab, niqab, jilbab or burqa (we shall explore this terminology in more detail later), has been at the centre of many different controversies. Many of these controversies can be understood in the context ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Assessing contemporary science
It will explore the ways in which scientific knowledge develops, undergoes peer review and is communicated. The second half of the course will focus more closely on a specific scientific topic – plastics – and give you a chance to practise these skills by considering the topic's social impact, building a glossary of unfamiliar terms, and ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Medical statistics
This free course is concerned with some of the statistical methods used in epidemiology and more widely in medical statistics. Section 1 introduces cohort studies in which individuals are classified according to their exposure and followed forward in time to evaluate disease outcomes. Section 2 looks at models for cohort studies. Section 3 ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Marketing in the 21st Century
This free course, Marketing in the 21st century, offers a managerial perspective on how to deliver more effective marketing in an organisation, regardless of whether it is based in the private, public or non-profit sector. This is achieved through a variety of learning techniques, including case studies, videos, activities and group discussions....
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Science, Maths & Technology
Manufacturing
How are designs turned into products? What resources, materials and methods are used and what set of activities goes under the heading of 'manufacturing'? This free course will introduce manufacturing as a system and will describe some of the many different ways of making products. We will illustrate how the required properties of the materials ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Learning, thinking and doing
How do we learn? Understanding how is the key to learning more effectively. This free course, Learning, thinking and doing, looks at the three main categories of theories: the acquisitive, constructivist and experiential models of learning. There is no right way to learn but developing an active approach will ensure that you are open to new ideas.
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History & The Arts
Looking at, describing and identifying objects
This free course, Looking at, describing and identifying objects, will enable you to practise and develop your skills of observation and description of objects. It will also enable you to interpret objects and work towards writing your own object life cycle. You will also work with, and understand artefact databases.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Education & Development
Listening to young children: supporting transition
In this free course, Listening to young children: supporting transition, you will explore ways of listening to children in order to support their experiences of changes or transitions. Such transitions can involve many dimensions, including familiarisation with new cultural practices, the development of new relationships and potentially a shift ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Linear programming – the basic ideas
This free course examines the formulation and solution of small linear programming problems. Section 1 deals with the formulation of linear programming models, describing how mathematical models of suitable real-world problems can be constructed. Section 2 looks at graphical representations of two-dimensional models, considers some theoretical ...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Library of Alexandria
One of the most important questions for any student of the ancient world to address is 'how do we know what we know about antiquity?' Whether we're thinking about urban architecture, or love poetry, or modern drama, a wide range of factors shape the picture of antiquity that we have today. This free course, Library of Alexandria, encourages you ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Education & Development
Learning how to learn
Learning how to learn: a process we all engage in throughout our lives, but no single method of learning guarantees success. This free course, Learning how to learn, aims to make the process of learning much more explicit by inviting you to apply various ideas and activities to your own study as a way of increasing your awareness of your own ...
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Money & Business
Three principles of a coaching approach
This course provides a good sense for three of the core skills required of an effective coach. Whether or not you recognise the use of a 'coaching approach' in your workplace, you will be able to use the learning in the course to enhance your day-to-day interactions in your workplace.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Language, notation and formulas
Communication is as vital in mathematics as in any language. This free course, Language, notation and formulas, will help you to express yourself clearly when writing and speaking about mathematics. You will also learn how to answer questions in the manner that is expected by the examiner.
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level 3: advanced icon
Education & Development
Open education
There are many different 'flavours' or interpretations of what openness means in education. This free course, Open education, is an example of a massive open online course (MOOC) and spans seven weeks. Like all the free materials on OpenLearn, this course is open to the wider world but, uniquely, it also forms part of the module for students who...
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Society, Politics & Law
Getting started with SPSS
Handling statistical data is an essential part of psychological research. However, many people find the idea of using statistics, and especially statistical software packages, extremely daunting. This free course, Getting started with SPSS, takes a step-by-step approach to statistics software through seven interactive activities. No statistics ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
This free course, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, concentrates on Acts 1 and 2 of John Webster's Renaissance tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi. It focuses on the representation of marriage for love and the social conflicts to which it gives rise. The course is designed to hone your skills of textual analysis.