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Languages
Beginners’ Chinese: a taster course
Learn about Mandarin Chinese as a tool for communication and gain insights into Chinese society and culture. This free course, Beginners’ Chinese: a taster course, provides a brief introduction to the Chinese language, its scripts and sounds, and how words are formed. You will hear short conversations where people greet each other and introduce ...
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Money & Business
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace
Do you feel concerned about a lack of diversity in your workplace? Is this something you want to address? Perhaps you’d like to feel more informed on a personal level before taking it further organisationally? This free course introduces you to the benefits and complexities of developing and supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce. It ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Understanding dyslexia
Dyslexia is a neurodivergent condition affecting over 10% of the population. It is often linked to reading and writing challenges, but also gives rise to strengths like creativity and problem-solving. Each individual experiences dyslexia differently. Despite its prevalence, it remains under-recognised globally. With proper understanding and ...
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Education & Development
Making social media work in Higher Education
This free course explores the potential of social media as a space that can be used in higher education/University to enhance educational experiences. It examines how students can take advantage of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to engage and connect with other fellow students and their lecturers. While, also examining the ...
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Education & Development
Building confidence in using online forums
Learn about the benefits of online learning forums, with strategies for participating more fully.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Being a boy
What is life like for boys today? In what follows, we explore aspects of contemporary boyhood, drawing on research conducted at The Open University and elsewhere.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
What does it mean, to be a man?
Beliefs about what makes a ‘real’ man have changed enormously over time. So what does it mean to be a man in the twenty-first century? Do traditional ideas about masculinity still apply, and if not, what kinds of new ideas have replaced them? Explore our interactive below to learn more.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Algorithmic Design
This course explores the creative potential of designing with algorithms. This is part of the new BDes Design qualification at The Open University. Learn to think algorithmically and tweak code to create your own wallpaper patterns and be part of contemporary design practices. Through hands-on graphical experimentation using p5.js JavaScript, ...
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Education & Development
Becoming an ethical researcher
This free course, Becoming an ethical researcher, explores the ethics of planning, carrying out and reporting research which involves human participants. It will sensitise you to issues that a researcher should consider to support ethical and well-justified decision-making. A wide variety of research scenarios will be used to stimulate ...
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Languages
Machine translation in language learning and teaching
In this free course, you will learn to implement freely available online machine translation tools (OMT) such as Google Translate or DeepL into your language learning or teaching. The course is aimed at learners and teachers of all languages and levels. It introduces the uses of AI in language learning and provides activities and examples of ...
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Health, Sports & Psychology
5 reasons why exercising outdoors is great for people who have dementia
Severity of dementia is linked to getting older. In this article Dr Jitka Vseteckova tells us of the five ways exercise can benefit people with dementia...
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Money & Business
Retirement planning made easy
This free course on money and retirement planning has been produced by The Open University in collaboration with Legal & General.