A key part of your YXM130 learning experience is selecting what you would like to study. As a YASS student you need to select courses to make up at least 100 study hours. There are hundreds of courses available on OpenLearn so we have selected some that we think you are likely to find appealing. You can select all your courses from this list, or you may want to explore the OpenLearn website to find other options. When selecting courses ensure you check the level of the course as well as the number of study hours.
Introductory level:
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 ...
Free course
6 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, Understanding economic inequality, explores the causes of economic inequality in modern times and its consequences for success for the economy. The course will encourage you to reflect on your personal experiences of inequality
before looking at how the issue is approached in economics. You will study some of the different...
Free course
6 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free 12-hour course explores the intriguing world of film production, and illuminates the processes of film development, distribution and finance.
Free course
12 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
Everyone needs a place they call home and housing costs are usually your largest outgoing. Many aspire to buy, but rising house prices, while good news for existing owners, put homeownership beyond the reach of others. This free course, Rent or buy? The challenge of access to housing, addresses some of the most important decisions that ...
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, From Brexit to the break-up of Britain?, sets the experience of Brexit in the context of the UK. It first analyses Brexit as a symptom of the political, economic and social geography of the UK, focusing on its uneven development in a country increasingly dominated by London and the South East of England. It then considers how ...
Free course
12 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, Discovering disorder: young people and delinquency, will introduce two approaches to understanding juvenile delinquency. The psychological approach focuses on examining what makes some individuals, but not others, behave badly. The sociological approach looks at why some individuals and some behaviours, but not others, are ...
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
Handling statistical data is an essential part of psychological research. However, many people find the idea of using statistics, and especially statistical software packages, extremely daunting. This free course, Getting started with SPSS, takes a step-by-step approach to statistics software through seven interactive activities. No statistics ...
Free course
3 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
Tough on the causes of crime'. A famous phrase, but what is crime? This free course, The meaning of crime, examines how we, as a 'society', define crime. You will look at the fear that is generated within communities and what evidence is available to support claims that are made about crime rates.
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
What does a picture or an image tell you? This free course, Reading visual images, is an introduction to analysing and interpreting photographs as social data. Who controls what the image is saying? You will look at how photographs provide visual evidence and how they can illustrate and support our ideas about society.
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
Cars have sat nav systems, mobile phones use GPS: maps are important in everyday life whether captured by aerial photography, satellite imagery or simply drawn. This free course, Why maps are made, looks at how we read and evaluate the information in maps and assesses the values embedded within them. From mental maps to public transport and ...
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, Political ordering, asks questions about what states are and how they are involved in the processes of governing and ordering social life. Building from an awareness of just how much of everyday life involves the state, the course questions whether states have this authority to govern. It also asks about situations in which ...
Free course
10 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, Exploring economics: the secret life of t-shirts, aims to describe what goes into making and selling t-shirts. Which resources, which markets, who is involved, the income people get, the income and value they create are all discussed.
You will explore these questions at different stages of the production of a t-shirt, and ...
Free course
6 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, Waste management and environmentalism in China, is an introduction to waste generation and waste management processes currently being practiced in China. This course explores how the Chinese can deal with increasing volumes of waste, drawing parallels with the UK experience of waste management. It also discusses the conceptual ...
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
Environment: treading lightly on the Earth focuses on the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide. This free course will give you an understanding of the nature and importance of carbon footprints of individuals and households. It will enable you to measure your own carbon footprint and explore what you could do to reduce ...
Free course
15 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
What affects the atmospheric and ocean flows? This
free course, Environment: understanding atmospheric and ocean flows, explores the mechanisms that are
important; the most rapid carrier is the wind. The basic principle of global
atmospheric circulation is simple: warm air rises and cold air sinks. How does
this principle affect the ...
Free course
10 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
This free course, Modern slavery, is designed to develop an understanding of the international system of human rights protection in relation to modern slavery, but also encourage an appreciation of the influence of International Human Rights Law on the development of the domestic system of human rights protection.
Free course
15 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
The European Union (EU), formed out of the ashes of the Second World War, continues to expand in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite the EU's growing size and significance, the question 'What is Europe?' still resonates through the continent. This free course looks at a range of different views on the question, contrasting ...
Free course
10 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
In this free course, Forensic psychology, you will discover how psychology can help obtain evidence from eyewitnesses in police investigations and prevent miscarriages of justice.
Free course
24 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
In this free course, Psychological research, obedience and ethics, you will learn about the importance of ethics in research that is undertaken by psychologists. You will read about the famous study on obedience conducted by Stanley Milgram, and watch two psychologists talk about their research with meerkats and chimpanzees.
Free course
5 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development, and studying these changes is endlessly stimulating. In this free course, Introduction to child psychology, you will be introduced to the discipline of child psychology and some of the key questions that guide the understanding of childhood. These questions include 'What influences children's...
Free course
8 hours
Level: 1 Introductory
An introduction to crime and criminology
Understanding economic inequality
The business of film
Rent or buy? The challenge of access to housing
From Brexit to the break-up of Britain?
Discovering disorder: young people and delinquency
Getting started with SPSS
The meaning of crime
Reading visual images
Why maps are made
Political ordering
Exploring economics: the secret life of t-shirts
Waste management and environmentalism in China
Environment: treading lightly on the Earth
Environment: understanding atmospheric and ocean flows
Modern slavery
What is Europe?
Forensic psychology
Psychological research, obedience and ethics
Introduction to child psychology
Intermediate level:
Why are social psychologists interested in politics, and how can they help us understand things like social movements, protest and activism? This free course, Social psychology and politics, moves away from a state-centric study of politics and, using insights from social psychology, explores the role of identity, personality and culture for ...
Free course
8 hours
Level: 2 Intermediate
One of the keys to understanding psychology is to know about its history and core questions. This free course, Investigating psychology, allows you to explore psychology using an interactive resource. You can follow links to people, contexts, perspectives and methods to discover information, images and links from across psychology. The resource ...
Free course
3 hours
Level: 2 Intermediate
Social psychology and politics
Investigating psychology