This free course, Collaborative problem solving for community safety, offers a range of techniques for community police officers, other community-based public service professionals and members of community groups working to solve problems collaboratively and creatively. It examines some of the ways which OU specialists in creative problem ...

The course goes on to consider how social scientists and criminologists, in particular, study and seek to understand problems of crime. The course invites you to develop what can be called your 'criminological imagination'. This, in part, involves viewing criminological issues or problems from multiple perspectives but also encourages you ...

This course explores key legal concepts such as legal capacity and the rights and responsibilities of the individual. You will examine how laws are made, and how they affect us at different points in our lives. It is an ideal course if you are a beginner or returning to study.

Anti-social behaviour, homelessness, drugs, mental illness: all problems in today's society. But what makes a problem social? This free course, Social problems: Who makes them?, will help you to discover how these issues are identified, defined, given meaning and acted upon. You will also look at the conflicts within social science in this area.

How big an impact does CCTV have on your life? This free course, The technology of crime control, provides the opportunity to listen to an argument surrounding the purpose, efficacy and regulation of CCTV. Is it there for crime control or is Big Brother really watching?

Learn about the benefits of online learning forums, with strategies for participating more fully.

When you come across information represented in charts, graphs and tables, you'll need to know how to interpret this information. This free course, Working with charts, graphs and tables, will help you to develop the skills you need to do this. For further study, there's another course titled 'More working with charts, graphs and tables' which ...

This free course, Introducing social work: a starter kit, provides a glimpse into some of the things that social workers do and looks at why and how social work is done. The course is designed for people who might be interested in and curious about social work practice. It will also be a useful initial resource for those who may be thinking ...

This free course, Understanding mental capacity, covers the principles and criteria underpinning the assessment of mental capacity and decision making in the UK.

This free advanced level course, Exploring the relationship between anxiety and depression, serves as an introduction to masters level study in neurosciences and mental health. Focusing on anxiety and depression, you will consider key issues concerning diagnosis, causes and interventions, exploring how these conditions relate to each other. You ...