Free courses
Produced by The Open University, a world leader in open and distance learning, all OpenLearn courses are free to study. We offer nearly 1000 free courses across 9 different subject areas. Our courses are available to start right away.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Creative writing and critical reading
This free course, Creative writing and critical reading, explores the importance of reading as part of a creative writer’s development at the postgraduate level. You will gain inspiration and ideas from examining other writers’ methods, as well as enhancing your critical reading skills. Examples will cover the genres of fiction, creative ...
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Writing what you know
Do you want to improve your descriptive writing? This free course, Writing what you know, will help you to develop your perception of the world about you and enable you to see the familiar things in everyday life in a new light. You will also learn how authors use their own personal histories to form the basis of their work.
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Religious diversity: rethinking religion
Religion is not necessarily what you think it is! This free course, Religious diversity: rethinking religion, introduces you to a selection of the vast variety of religious beliefs and practices in Britain today. Having some familiarity with religion and belief is increasingly required to make sense of issues of local, national and international...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Napoleonic paintings
In this free course, Napoleonic paintings, we will examine a range of Napoleonic imagery by David, Gros and a number of other artists, beginning with comparatively simple single-figure portraits and moving on to elaborate narrative compositions, such as Jaffa and Eylau. In so doing, we will have three main aims: to develop your skills of visual ...
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Diversity in religion: Islam
In this short course, Diversity in religion: Islam, you will explore how attitudes and opinions within a single religious tradition can be internally diverse. You will look at Islam in particular, considering the diversity of Muslim attitudes to same-sex relationships. This will focus mainly on relationships between men because Muslim legal ...
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Introduction to music theory 1: form
In this free course, you will learn how to identify musical form through close engagement with recorded of music, and studying examples of folk, popular, and classical music from several world traditions. You will explore a number of methods of representing form, including alphabetical designations (e.g., AABA), genre-specific terminology (e.g.,...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Art in Renaissance Venice
This free course, Art in Renaissance Venice, considers the art of Renaissance Venice and how such art was determined in many ways by the city's geographical location and ethnically diverse population. Studying Venice and its art offers a challenge to the conventional notion of Renaissance art as an entirely Italian phenomenon.
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
The Byzantine icon
This course is a short journey into the rich world of Byzantine artistic production via its most illustrious representative – the icon.
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level 2: intermediate icon
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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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
The Enlightenment
The free course will examine the Enlightenment. To help understand the nature and scale of the cultural changes of the time, we offer a 'map' of the conceptual territory and the intellectual and cultural climate. We will examine the impact of Enlightenment on a variety of areas including science, religion, the classics, art and nature. Finally, ...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Voice-leading analysis of music 3: the background
The music of Mozart has been used to examine the foreground and middleground of harmony in free courses AA314_1 and AA314_2. In this free course, Voice-leading analysis of music 3: the background, you will use Beethoven's Eighth Symphony to consider the largest-scale stage of voice-leading analysis.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Society, Politics & Law
George Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four
This course will introduce you to the work and writings of George Orwell through a study of his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). By studying the book, well-known for its depiction of a totalitarian state, and the techniques, language and oppressive methods used by such states, you will gain a wider understanding of the meaning of ...