All our free courses
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Education & Development
Physical and mental health for young children
This free course will increase your knowledge and skills and show you ways that adults, both parents and professionals, can play an active role in supporting and promoting good health in babies and young children.
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History & The Arts
Introducing music research
Introducing music research provides you with insights into the wide variety of possibilities for studying music at postgraduate level. In this free course you will explore diverse musical topics through four themes: inclusions and exclusions, practice, technology, and community. You will encounter music from different times, places and genres ...
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Digital & Computing
Diagramming for development 2: exploring interrelationships
Diagramming for development 2: exploring interrelationships, is a free course that introduces you to the diagramming techniques of Influence diagrams, Multiple Cause Diagrams and Cognitive Maps. Using a case study project based in Africa, this unit illustrates the powerful use of systems diagramming for international development management. This...
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Digital & Computing
Diagramming for development 1: bounding realities
Diagramming for development 1: bounding realities, is a free course that introduces you to the systems diagramming techniques of Rich pictures, Spray diagrams and Systems maps. Using a case study project based in Africa, the course illustrates the use of powerful use of systems diagramming for international development management. This is a ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Introducing social care and social work
This free course, Introducing social care and social work, will introduce you to different social care and social work practitioner roles. It will develop your understanding of the context in which social care and social work takes place in the UK. The course is designed for people who are interested in and curious about social care or social ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Introduction to differentiation
This free course is an introduction to differentiation. Section 1 looks at gradients of graphs and introduces differentiation from first principles. Section 2 looks at finding derivatives of simple functions. Section 3 introduces rates of change by looking at real life situations. Section 4 looks at using the derivative of a function to deduce ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Returning to STEM
This course offers useful skills and solutions to help you get back into a career in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).
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Society, Politics & Law
Bun-chùrsa mu bhith a’ dèanamh atharrachadh poilitigeach is sòisealta
Written in a moment of multiple crises – environmental, economic, political, social and health-related – ‘An Introduction to making political and social change’ gives you a grounding in some of the key citizenship skills and information you will need to intervene in the world as it changes around you. This free course explores how you can make ...
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History & The Arts
Herodotus and the invention of history
With the information explosion online, how can you tell fake news from the real thing, or be more sensitive to how information can be weaponised? In the fifth-century BCE, a Greek by the name of Herodotus faced a similar challenge when he set out to examine why his people, the Greeks, and the Persians went to war with each other. Chief among his...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Understanding autism
Learn about autism, one of the most challenging long-term conditions of the century. This free course, Understanding autism, introduces the autism spectrum, how it is experienced by individuals and families, and why it has become a global concern. The course explains how understanding of the autism spectrum and approaches to diagnosis and care ...
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Languages
Crime fiction in French: le polar français
Le polar, crime fiction, is the most popular literary form in France. In this free course, you will discover the origins and development of French crime fiction, along with its current status, before reflecting on whether it is simply mass entertainment or, rather, genuine literature of quality. You will discover some important authors and work ...
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Money & Business
Global challenges in practice: designing a development intervention
This free short course addresses the key elements of designing a development intervention. Its approach to ‘doing development’ will be value led rather than technical. There is a wealth of material teaching a technical approach to development intervention. This course seeks to shift the balance back to a value based approach to doing development...
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Society, Politics & Law
International relations: exploring territorial divisions
In this short taster course, drawn from part 1 of the MA in International Relations (D818), you will be introduced to the idea of international division, focusing on territory. Divisions over territory have often lied at the heart of global problems like conflict, and in the following pages you will learn about the roots of some of the lines on ...
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History & The Arts
The many guises of the emperor Augustus
This free course focuses on Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, who lived from 63 BCE to 14 CE. The rule of Augustus marked a significant political change in Rome, and Augustus’ position as emperor was initially fragile and controversial. Key to his success in holding onto power was his masterful use of visual propaganda to cement his position and ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Talking about the menopause: symptoms, support and the role of exercise
This free OpenLearn course is designed to help anyone whose life is affected by the menopause. No matter what gender you identify with, this transitional phase can affect people in all sorts of ways, so this course is open to all. The objectives are to empower everyone, by increasing knowledge of what the menopause is and the effects it can ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Introducing relational care
‘Relational care’ is a developing approach to care which can help address many of the challenges faced by the older adult care sector. It provides benefits not only for older people but also all those involved in their care. This free course is for providers, managers and staff of older adult residential and day care facilities. It explains ...
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Education & Development
Introduction to Arabic
In this free course you will learn the Arabic alphabet, vowels, and also a little bit about the history of the Arabic language.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Astronomy: images of the Universe
Modern astronomy utilises a range of techniques across the electromagnetic spectrum that allow astronomers to measure the brightness, size and shape of astronomical objects, as well as their structure in many cases. This free course enables you to explore multiwavelength images of the Universe and make your own measurements of stars, nebulae and...