All our free courses
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History & The Arts
History of reading tutorial 3: Famous writers and their reading - Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Vernon Lee
Have you ever wondered about the reading tastes and habits of famous writers in the past? This free course, History of reading tutorial 3: Famous writers and their reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Vernon Lee, is the third tutorial in a series designed to help users of the UK Reading Experience Database (UK RED) search, browse and use this...
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History & The Arts
History of reading tutorial 1: Finding evidence of reading in the past
How do we know what people read in the past, and how they read it? This free course, History of reading tutorial 1: Finding evidence of reading in the past, is the first in a series of tutorials designed to help users of the UK Reading Experience Database (UK RED) search, browse and use the resource, and explores the types of evidence historians...
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Languages
Grammar matters
Grammar matters because, combined with vocabulary choice, it is our main way of making meaning. This free course introduces you to one approach used to understand how meanings relate systematically to different aspects of grammar and shows how this deeper understanding can be applied to make everyday communication more effective.
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History & The Arts
Art and the Mexican Revolution
In this free course, Art and the Mexican Revolution, you will explore one of Diego Rivera’s key murals which was commissioned by the Mexican government in the period after the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. These monumental public artworks, designed to win over the Mexican peasantry and working-class to the new post-revolutionary state, ...
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Education & Development
Creating open educational resources
Are you interested in creating your own open educational resources? This free course, Creating open educational resources, will help you to write a learning course and provide you with links to various resources for open-learning materials. You will learn about the different purposes of self-instruction and receive advice about the techniques ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The social nature of being human
This free course, The social nature of being human, will introduce you to several of the social aspects of humanity and being human. Some of these are obvious, as, during the course, you will think about crowd behaviour and consider traditional dilemmas of being in crowds. Others will be less obvious, such as the seemingly intimate and private ...
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Society, Politics & Law
From Brexit to the break-up of Britain?
This free course, From Brexit to the break-up of Britain?, sets the experience of Brexit in the context of the UK. It first analyses Brexit as a symptom of the political, economic and social geography of the UK, focusing on its uneven development in a country increasingly dominated by London and the South East of England. It then considers how ...
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History & The Arts
Introducing Homer's Iliad
This free course, Introducing Homer's Iliad, focuses on the epic poem telling the story of the Trojan War. It begins with the wider cycle of myths of which the Iliad was a part. It then looks at the story of the poem itself and its major theme of Achilles' anger, in particular in the first seven lines. It examines some of the characteristic ...
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Nature & Environment
Surviving the winter
In this free course, Surviving the winter, we study one aspect of the fluctuating nature of an organisms environment. We consider how organisms living in a temperate climate, such as that in Britain, are adapted to cope with winter. You will see that there is much diversity of adaptations among organisms, with different species coping with the ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Icy bodies: Europa and elsewhere
The new discipline of astrobiology that is, the science of searching for extraterrestrial life, is not only rapidly growing, but has also captured the public imagination. This free course, Icy bodies: Europa and elsewhere, examines the emergence of icy satellites of distant planets as potential sites of extraterrestrial life, looks at the ...
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History & The Arts
Imagination: The missing mystery of philosophy
What is imagination and can philosophy define it in any meaningful way? This free course, Imagination: The missing mystery of philosophy, will introduce you to some of the possible answers to these questions and will examine why philosophy has sometimes found it difficult to approach imagination. It will then go on to examine the relationship ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Inheritance of characters
Genes are units of inheritance that contribute to a person's behaviour and health. In this free course, Inheritance of characters, you will learn what genes, DNA and chromosomes are and how they combine to make the human genome. You will also learn how the principles of inheritance work, the effect that our genetic make-up has on health, and how...
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Money & Business
How teams work
This free course, How teams work, provides an introduction to working in virtual project teams by explaining terms and concepts related to teams and to projects. The complexity of the interaction of people and technology is highlighted.
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Society, Politics & Law
How arguments are constructed and used in the Social Sciences
This free course will enable you to understand how arguments are constructed and used in the Social Sciences. Using extracts from a Radio 4 broadcast, you will look at the different viewpoints that are taken by the participants and analyse how the different arguments are being put together.
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History & The Arts
Heritage case studies: Scotland
The heritage traditions of Scotland are unique in comparison to the rest of Britain. This free course, Heritage case studies: Scotland, uses two case studies to demonstrate how heritage sites have helped to forge the Scottish national identity and history.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Health and safety in the laboratory and field
Health, safety and risk assessment are of paramount importance both in the laboratory and the field. This free course, Health and safety in the laboratory and field, will help make you more aware of the hazards and risks involved wherever you undertake your research, as well as giving you an overview of the legal requirements attached to this ...
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Languages
Advanced Spanish: Language in context
This course will develop your knowledge and understanding of the societies and cultures of Spain and Latin America and extend the practical skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The course focuses on the many ways in which living languages - notably Spanish - adapt to the contexts in which they are used.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Groups and teamwork
Are you always the quiet one when it comes to group discussion? This free course, Groups and teamwork, will help you improve your working relationships with other people in groups of three or more. The course also deals with project life cycles, project management and the role of the leader.