Skills for study
Studying for the first time or returning after years away can be daunting. These free courses will refresh your study skills and prepare you for success.
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Education & Development
All my own work: exploring academic integrity
Are you currently studying? This free course, All my own work: exploring academic integrity, is designed to help you build confidence in producing your own work for academic purposes. You will explore what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, and learn how and when to reference. The course also includes an interactive to work through, which will ...
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Education & Development
All my own work
Plagiarism comes in all shapes and forms. Step into the shoes of a university student to learn the challenges and temptations facing her during her assignment, and help make it all her own work.
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Education & Development
Succeed with learning
This course is for people who want to feel more confident about their learning skills. Informal in approach, the course builds on each person's own qualities, knowledge and skills to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of learning and of their own potential. It introduces some core ideas about learning and academic study, and some ...
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Languages
Describing language
This free course introduces you to the basics of describing language. Using examples from English, you’ll learn how words are built, how they fit together to make sentences, and what labels like noun, verb and adjective mean. You’ll see how language patterns in regular ways and how the meaning of a sentence is more than the sum of its parts. ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Succeed with maths: part 1
If you feel that maths is a mystery that you want to unravel then this free course is for you. It will guide you through how numbers are put together, give you confidence with using percentages, fractions and negative numbers and provide you with problem solving skills for your everyday life and the wider world.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Applying to study for a PhD in psychology
This free OpenLearn course is for psychology students and graduates who are interested in PhD study at some future point. Even if you have met PhD students and heard about their projects, it is likely that you have only a vague idea of what PhD study entails. This course is intended to give you more information.
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Education & Development
How can I cope with exam stress
The exam period brings with it extra challenges - but if you manage your stress, you can make it through. Teena Clouston has some tips, and you may turn your papers over now.
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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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Languages
How to learn a language
Learn about the concepts and skills required to learn languages successfully. This free course, How to learn a language, introduces the skills and strategies for language learning, setting realistic goals when learning languages and keeping motivated, practise speaking skills and vocabulary learning strategies. It will enable you to evaluate ...
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Education & Development
English: skills for learning
Develop the English reading and writing skills needed for university success.
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Science, Maths & Technology
Mathematics for science and technology
Maths is intimately entwined with science and technology, whether it is used to analyse data collected on plants in the Amazon rainforest, to calculate the trajectory of a comet or design a bridge to connect two countries. This means that science and technology go hand-in-hand with maths, and that a firm grasp of maths is crucial for studying ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Learn to code for data analysis
This free course will teach you how to write your own computer programs, one line of code at a time. You'll learn how to access open data, clean and analyse it, and produce visualisations. You will also learn how to write up and share your analyses, privately or publicly.
Find the right course for you
At The Open University, we're pioneers of flexible learning that's respected by employers and affordable for you. That's why more than 170,000 students are studying with us right now.
Whatever subject you want to study, and whatever qualification you want, we've got the right course for you.
Create your free OpenLearn profile
Anyone can learn for free on OpenLearn, but signing-up will give you access to your personal learning profile and record of achievements that you earn while you study.