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 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
What does Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus tell us about the author and the time at which the play was written? This free course, Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, will help you to discover the intricacies of the play and recognise how a knowledge of the historical and political background of the time can lead to a very different ...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Roaring Twenties? Europe in the interwar period
While recognising the shadows cast by two world wars (one concluded and one imminent) over European society during the 1920s and 1930s, this free course, Roaring Twenties? Europe in the interwar period, demonstrates how a number of specific features indicate that the interwar period was a distinctive and important moment of modernity in the ...
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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 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
The Roman Empire: introducing some key terms
This free course, The Roman Empire: Introducing some key terms, will define basic concepts and terms that are essential for an understanding of the culture and identity of the Roman Empire. Terms such as 'Roman Empire' and 'imperium' will be introduced in the context of the formation and expansion of the empire, and the course will provide you ...
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Picturing the family
Besides being simple mementos, family photographs can offer insights into the past. This free course, Picturing the family, looks at some of the ways photographs can reveal, and sometimes conceal, important information about the past. It teaches the skills and provides some of the knowledge needed to interpret such pictorial sources.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Hadrian's Rome
This free course, Hadrian's Rome, explores the city of Rome during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (117-38 CE). What impact did the emperor have on the appearance of the city? What types of structures were built and why? And how did the choices that Hadrian made relate to those of his predecessors, and also of his successors?
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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
How do empires work?
How are empires ruled? How do military, economic, logistic and cultural constructs combine to create 'systems of empire'? This free course, How do empires work?, introduces these questions by briefly sketching in the dramatic events of the Anglo-Chinese conflict over Hong Kong from 1839 to 1842.
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level 2: intermediate icon
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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level 2: intermediate icon
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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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 ...