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Science, Maths & Technology
Blood and the respiratory system
‘Don’t hold your breath’ is an expression you’ve probably heard many times, but may not have thought too much about. In this free course, Blood and the respiratory system, you’ll study why respiration is so important for life, including how air enters and leaves the lungs, how oxygen is transported in the blood, the many dynamic factors that ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Understanding mental capacity
This free course, Understanding mental capacity, covers the principles and criteria underpinning the assessment of mental capacity and decision making in the UK.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Introducing ageing
Everyone is ageing, whatever their current age, and we live in a world where many people are living much longer than previous generations. This is often seen as a problem. But is it? This free course, Introducing ageing, will help you to think about this issue by introducing you to some key ideas in studying later life.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Introducing public health
This free course, Introducing public health, presents some key elements of public health and health promotion. It considers the scope and focus of public health and how it is subject to change and located within the wider global context.
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Nature & Environment
Climate change and renewable energy
Human-induced climate change and resulting extreme weather events are an increasing and serious threat to the Earth’s ecosystems. This free course, Climate Change and Renewable Energy, describes the basic science of the greenhouse effect and how it has been modified by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels. It describes the ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Unsolved problems in cosmology
The science of cosmology has been very successful in explaining a wide range of observational evidence about the Universe, from the detailed properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation to the distributions of galaxies, and the elemental abundances in astrophysical environments. However, there are several major unknowns in ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Introducing the psychology of our relationships with fictional villains
This free course, featuring interviews with famous crime fiction authors, explores psychological theory and research on the relationships we form with fictional characters.
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Education & Development
Introducing Union Black
This free course, Introducing Union Black, aims to build your confidence as a change agent for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Everyday maths 1 (Northern Ireland)
This free course will develop and improve your essential maths skills for work, study and everyday life. The course has four sessions, which cover the following topics: numbers, measurement, shapes and space, and handling data. There will be plenty of examples to help you progress, together with opportunities to practise your understanding.
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History & The Arts
Introduction to music theory 2: pitch and notation
In this free course, you will explore the concept of musical pitch by working with examples of folk, popular, and classical music from several world traditions. You will learn how pitch is represented using staff notation and other forms of illustration. You will also practise reading and writing pitch using staff notation, and learn to perform ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Sporting women in the media
The mass media (e.g. radio, TV, internet) has become one of the most powerful institutional influences in society. This free course, Sporting women in the media, explores whether gendered inequalities exist in sport by evaluating the media coverage. The media can be highly influential in shaping perceptions about gender in sport and headlines ...
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History & The Arts
Banning the bomb: a global history of activism against nuclear weapons
In this free course you will learn about the global anti-nuclear movement that has worked for decades to prevent the use of nuclear weapons, with the ultimate aim of abolishing them altogether. You will see how opposition to nuclear weapons has been an important cause on every continent. Beginning in 1945, this course will equip you with ...
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Education & Development
Approaching language, literature and childhood
This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course L301 Language, literature and childhood.
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Society, Politics & Law
Carrying out research for policy and advocacy work
How can you effectively influence decision makers to change laws, regulations or policies? How can your idea to improve an issue or problem be adopted by those in power? If you are involved in law reform or policy work, then this free course, Carrying out research for policy and advocacy work, is for you. Whether you are employed as a policy ...
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Money & Business
Exploring career mentoring and coaching
Explore 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
Gwella profiadau tystion sy’n gleifion, teuluoedd a chydweithwyr o’r broses Addasrwydd i Ymarfer
Mae’r cwrs hwn, sy’n seiliedig ar dystiolaeth, yn darparu dysg ynghylch y broses Addasrwydd i Ymarfer a bod yn dyst.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Improving patient, family and colleague witnesses’ experiences of Fitness to Practise proceedings
This evidence-based course provides learning about the Fitness to Practise process and being a witness.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Promoting the effective management of children’s pain – part 2
This is the second of two OpenLearn courses focusing on the effective management of children’s pain. The focus of the first course was on why pain matters and how a pain management framework can be used to deliver the effective management of children’s pain. This second free course further develops how to improve children’s pain management in ...