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Hundreds of educational interactives, games, quizzes, videos and podcasts, plus 1000s of articles written by academic experts and guest contributors.
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History & The Arts
World Poetry Day
21st March is World Poetry Day. Take a look at a range of powerful poems in our poetry prescription tool, view our videos and try a range of free courses.
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History & The Arts
Behind The Reputation
In this interactive, you’ll uncover the real people behind the icons. Does the reality of the life of Van Gogh, Queen Elizabeth I and Charles Dickens match up with their reputation?
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History & The Arts
National Novel Writing Month
You know how they say everyone's got a novel in them, just waiting to be written? Well, now's your chance!
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Health, Sports & Psychology
An introduction to European crime fiction since 1945
The popularity of crime fiction is on the rise. Bill Alder looks back and charts the history of this genre in post-1945 Europe.
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History & The Arts
How I wrote Frankenstein
In this extract from the preface to the third edition of Frankenstein, published in 1831, Mary Shelley explains how she came to write her most famous novel.
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History & The Arts
Travelling for culture: the Grand Tour
In the eighteenth century and into the early part of the nineteenth, considerable numbers of aristocratic men (and occasionally women) travelled across Europe in pursuit of education, social advancement and entertainment, on what was known as the Grand Tour. A central objective was to gain exposure to the cultures of classical antiquity, ...
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History & The Arts
Eco-art, Sustainable Art, art as activism
From synthetic polymers to recycling and up-cycling.
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History & The Arts
A freelance career in the creative arts
A freelance career in the creative arts is a free badged course which lasts 8 weeks, with approximately 3 hours’ study time each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week, there’s nothing to stop you pushing on and completing another week’s study. This course has a specific focus on the ...
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History & The Arts
Write around the world - the map!
Travel right around the world in the company of books.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
What happens to you when you read?
Ever wondered about the psychology of literature or stories? Or how a certain narrative might change our attitude or perspective?
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History & The Arts
Star Wars: Myth and fairy tale
What storytelling styles and genres can be applied to Star Wars? Sara Haslam investigates...
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History & The Arts
Dr Sara Haslam on the Brontë sisters’ work
Sara Haslam was The Open University's academic consultant on OU/BBC drama 'To Walk Invisible'. Here she discusses what makes the Brontës’ work so fantastic.