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
Science, Maths & Technology
Structural devices
Microelectronics has enabled designers of integrated circuits to exercise complete control over the electrical characteristics of each component they create. This free course, Structural devices, will illustrate how such control is achieved and the various methods that can be applied in differing circumstances.
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level 3: advanced icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Software and the law
In this free course, Software and the law, you'll look at the laws relevant to software and its use, taking a global perspective. A major part of this course is devoted to intellectual-property law, the issue of who owns software and digital content and how that ownership can be protected using instruments like copyright and patents. We also...
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
An introduction to geology
In this free course, An introduction to geology, you will explore basic geological processes, focusing on how, where and why different rocks and natural resources form across the Earth.
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Learning from major cyber security incidents
As a society, we are now almost always connected to the internet and rely on it for many different day-to-day activities. However, this dependency on the internet can make us vulnerable to attacks.
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level 1: introductory icon
Nature & Environment
Studying mammals: A winning design
The term mammal encompasses a huge variety of animals, including humans. But what makes a mammal a mammal? This free course, Studying mammals: A winning design, explores some of the features, such as reproduction, lactation and thermoregulation methods, that mammals have in common. It is the first in a series of ten Studying mammals courses....
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Prices, location and spread
The free course, Prices, location and spread, explores aspects of the question Are people getting better or worse off? It covers statistical measures characterising the location of a batch of data (the median and the mean), and looks further at weighted means and at the interquartile range as a measure of spread (variability). Boxplots and ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
More working with charts, graphs and tables
When you encounter maths or technical content you'll need to know how to interpret this information, and possibly to present your own findings in this way. This free course, More working with charts, graphs and tables, will help you to develop the skills you need to do this, and gain the confidence to use them. This free course builds on our ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
A tour of the cell
This free course, A tour of the cell, contains a blend of text and a multimedia interactive component to look at the uniformity and diversity within cells. Fundamental to understanding how cells 'work' is a knowledge of the subcellular components and how they are arranged. This is introduced through a series of in-text and self-assessment ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Mosquito resistance to insecticides
Learn about how allele frequency can change rapidly in a population in response to selective pressure by considering how evolutionary change can occur in insects that are exposed to insecticides. This free course, Mosquito resistance to insecticides, further demonstrates how traits that are advantageous in one environment can have effects that ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Technological innovation: a resource-based view
This free course, Technological innovation: a resource-based view, aims to provide you with an overview and introduction to a range of related concepts, ideas and debates which enable you to develop a critical understanding of capabilities in relation to technological innovation. It will enable you to develop a critical understanding of the ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Pain and Aspirin
What causes pain and how do we stop it? This free course, Pain and Aspirin, looks at how the human body responds to the release of certain chemicals and as a result feels pain. Pain can be reduced by inhibiting the formation of such chemicals and you will learn how the molecular structure of aspirin has been formulated to help in this process.
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level 1: introductory icon
Science, Maths & Technology
What do genes do?
This free course, What do genes do?, explores how information contained in DNA is used, explaining the flow of information from DNA to RNA to protein. Also introduced are the concepts of transcription (as occurs between DNA and RNA) and translation.