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 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
The Ancient Olympics: bridging past and present
This free course, The Ancient Olympics: bridging past and present, highlights the similarities and differences between our modern Games and the Ancient Olympics and explores why today, as we prepare for future Olympics, we still look back at the Classical world for meaning and inspiration.
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History & The Arts
Medicine transformed: on access to healthcare
Access to healthcare is important to all of us. Did the arrival of state medicine in the twentieth century mean that everyone had access to good medical services? If you fell sick in 1930 where could you get treatment from a GP, a hospital, a nurse? This free course, Medicine transformed: On access to healthcare, shows that in the early ...
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History & The Arts
Robert Owen and New Lanark
Childcare, education, working conditions, healthcare, crime: these issues are hotly debated in today's society. They are also issues that Robert Owen, seen by some as a visionary and by others as a knave and a charlatan, sought to address in the early 1800s. This free course, Robert Owen and New Lanark, uses a series of essays written by Owen to...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Schubert's Lieder: Settings of Goethe's poems
This free course, Schubert's Lieder: Settings of Goethe's poems, looks at the short poems in German that were set to music by Franz Schubert (17971828) for a single voice with piano, a genre known as 'Lieder' (the German for 'songs'). Once they became widely known, Schubert's Lieder influenced generations of songwriters up to the present day. ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
David Hume
This free course, David Hume, examines Hume's reasons for being complacent in the face of death, as these are laid out in his suppressed essay of 1755, 'Of the immortality of the soul'. More generally, it examines some of the shifts in attitude concerning death and religious belief that were taking place in Europe at the end of the eighteenth ...
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Delacroix
In this free course, Delacroix, you will be introduced to a variety of Delacroix's work and will see how his paintings relate to the cultural transition from Enlightenment to Romanticism. You will study Delacroix's early career, his classical background, the development of Romantic ideas and their incorporation into his work. You will have the ...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Philosophy: the nature of persons
What is a person? This free course, Philosophy: the nature of persons, examines this philosophical question concerning the nature of personhood. You will examine whether a 'person' is the same as a 'human being', and look at whether it is our free will that in the end defines us as a 'person'.
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Education & Development
Using film music in the classroom
There are many approaches to using film music in the classroom including: a focus on pupil experience; a focus on the structure of composition; a focus on the relationship between music and image. This free course, Using film music in the classroom, explores them all.
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History & The Arts
Welsh history and its sources
This free course, Welsh history and its sources, is a teaching and learning resource for anyone interested in Welsh history. It contains study materials, links to some of the most important institutions that contribute to our understanding of the history of Wales, and a pool of resources that can help you understand Welsh history and the way it ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
History of reading: An introduction to reading in the past
This free course, History of reading: An introduction to reading in the past, consists of a series of essays, drawn from material contained in the Reading Experience Database, that illustrate different aspects of reading in Britain during the period from 1450 to 1945. These essays are designed for you as the reader to dip in and dip out, ...
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History & The Arts
Exploring the English language
How has the English language changed over the course of the last 500 years? What are the social and political contexts that have affected how these changes have come about? This free course, Exploring the English language, will consider the development of the English language from the 15th to the 19th century.
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Music and its media
This free course, Music and its media, examines some of the main ways in which music is transmitted. It considers how the means of communicating a particular piece can change over time; and how the appearance and contents of a source can reflect the circumstances in which it is produced. The course focuses on three examples of musical media that...