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History & The Arts
Forth Road Bridge
Scotland's Forth Road Bridge may not be the most beautiful bridge over the Firth of Forth, but it is an incredible feat of engineering and is integral to the economy of the entire area. However, rust is threatening to destroy the cables that suspend the road. This free course uses video to explore the issues associated with the potential demise ...
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History & The Arts
Form and uses of language
In this free course, Form and uses of language, we will consider how language can be used in different ways for different purposes. To do this we will use the theme of memorial and commemoration. In the first section we briefly discuss the life of the poet Siegfried Sassoon before examining both his poetry and his prose. Through this we will see...
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Nature & Environment
Financial methods in environmental decisions
This free course, Financial methods in environmental decisions, begins by introducing some of the tools that can be used to assess the benefits of investment decisions, including ways of assessing the ‘external costs’ – the wider costs and benefits to society as a whole – of environmental decisions.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Exercise and mental health
Each year thousands of pounds are spent on medications to treat conditions such as anxiety and depression. These medications often have negative side effects. Exercise is an alternative treatment that is low cost and has few side effects. In this free course, Exercise and mental health, we will look at the links between exercise and improved ...
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Nature & Environment
Eutrophication
Managing eutrophication is a key element in maintaining the earths biodiversity. Eutrophication is a process mostly associated with human activity whereby ecosystems accumulate minerals. This free course, Eutrophication, explains how this process occurs, what its effects on different types of habitat are, and how it might be managed.
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Money & Business
Estimating the cost of equity
This free course, Estimating the cost of equity, looks at how to estimate the cost of equity using the dividend valuation model (DVM) and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), and how to evaluate the use of the DVM and the CAPM from a financial and strategic perspective. It then explores the implications regarding selection of the inputs to ...
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Nature & Environment
Environmental management and organisations
It is believed that environmental management requires action at all levels and by organisations of all types and sizes. However it is not always clear what we mean by environmental management and the role that organisations do and could play. This free course, explores the different interpretations and viewpoints involved by using system ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Exploring family health
How can families support healthy living and cope with illness? This free course, Exploring family health, will provide an understanding of what is meant by socialisation. You will recognise how a family can learn and support good and poor health behaviours alongside government interventions, such as the 5 A DAY strategy. Identification of people...
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Education & Development
Extending and developing your thinking skills
Diagrams, mind-maps, tables, graphs, time lines, flow charts, sequence diagrams, decision trees: all can be used to organise thought. This free course, Extending and developing your thinking skills, will introduce you to a variety of thinking skills. Asking and answering questions is at the heart of high-quality thinking. Questions naturally ...
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Languages
Англійська у світі сьогодні
Як англійська мова стала сьогодні справжньою глобальною силою? Цей безкоштовний курс «Англійська у сучасному світі» досліджує статус мови та її розмаїття на планеті. Він розглядає, як соціальні та політичні аспекти впливають на ставлення людей до англійської, а також на зв’язок між мовною спадщиною та почуттям власної ідентичності.
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Languages
English in the world today
How did English become the global force it is today? This free course, English in the world today, explores the status of the language and its worldwide diversity. It looks at how social and political factors influence people's attitudes towards it, and at the relationship between one's linguistic heritage and sense of identity.
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level 3: advanced icon
Nature & Environment
Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment
Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment is a free course. It begins with an introduction to water and goes on to briefly outline the major sources of water pollution (these being sewage works, manufacturing and industrial plants, the farming and animal husbandry sectors, landfill sites and urban surface water run-off). It considers ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Economics and the 2008 crisis: a Keynesian view
This free course, Economics and the 2008 crisis: a Keynesian view, looks at how Keynes's theories revolutionised thinking about the causes of crises and unemployment. Keynes's thinking on how to reduce these problems was very influential with economists and policy makers for several decades following the 1930s. The economic downturn that started...
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Society, Politics & Law
Discovering disorder: young people and delinquency
This free course, Discovering disorder: young people and delinquency, will introduce two approaches to understanding juvenile delinquency. The psychological approach focuses on examining what makes some individuals, but not others, behave badly. The sociological approach looks at why some individuals and some behaviours, but not others, are ...
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Digital & Computing
Digital communications
Optical-fibre communications became commercially viable in the 1970s and innovation continues today. This free course, Digital communications, will illustrate how very high data rates can be transmitted over long distances through optical fibres. You will learn how these fibres are linked, examine the technology used and assess the future ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Diagrams, charts and graphs
Diagrams, charts and graphs are used by all sorts of people to express information in a visual way, whether it's in a report by a colleague or a plan from your interior designer. This free course will teach you how to interpret these tools and how to use them yourself to convey information more effectively.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Design
This free course looks at the process of design, from assessing the complexity of design as an activity to exposing the difficulty in making general conclusions about how designers work. You will be able to identify innovation in a wide variety of designed objects and evaluate the impact of this innovation.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Education & Development
Democracy? You think you know?
Participating in democratic processes is seen as being a fundamental aspect of citizenship. All pupils need a broad knowledge and understanding of the rights, responsibilities and duties of citizens, as well as an understanding of forms of government. Notions of citizenship have been forged alongside the expansion of the right to vote and the ...