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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Society, Politics & Law
Equity – law and idea
This free course, Equity – law and idea, gives you the opportunity to broaden your skills in and knowledge and understanding of legal principles. Beyond the confines of the Common Law of England and Wales Equity is rarely discussed or understood, but has long played a vital role in the social, economic, cultural and political life of the nation....
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Society, Politics & Law
China and the USA: cooperation or conflict?
This free course explores the relationship between China and the United States and analyses whether China’s rapid rise will lead to greater cooperation or conflict with the US. The answer to this question will have profound implications for both countries and the wider international system. The course introduces some of the contemporary issues ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Children’s rights
How do children fit in to our society? This free course will help you to understand the issues surrounding children's rights as well as examining the implications of seeing children as citizens. You will also explore the meaning of childhood and analyse children's needs.
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level 3: advanced icon
Society, Politics & Law
Economics explains discrimination in the labour market
Discrimination in the labour market exists in many forms: the 'glass ceiling', ageism, racism, and so on. This free course, Economics explains discrimination in the labour market, will help you look at this problem from a new perspective: through economics. You will learn how economists have tried to understand what drives this distortion of the...
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Society, Politics & Law
Does prison work?
Does prison work and what purpose does it serve? This free course allows you to listen to a discussion on the purpose, efficacy and regulation of prisons. Does prison benefit those serving the sentence or simply satisfy a public demand?
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Society, Politics & Law
Attention
What does 'attention' mean to you? This free course, Attention, will help you to examine how we 'pay attention'. How do we manage to single out sounds and images that require attention and how easy is it to distract someone and why.
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level 3: advanced icon
Society, Politics & Law
Seeing institutions in different ways
To help you to understand the complexity of institutional development, this free course, Seeing institutions in different ways, will present institutions in three key ways: as rules and norms, as meanings and values and as big players. The rules govern social life and the norms establish how people should behave, while institutional development ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Information technology: A new era?
Do the advances in information technology equate to a new industrial revolution? The advances made by IBM, Dell and many other manufacturers have resulted in massive changes to our working lives. This free course, Information technology: A new era?, looks at whether it is possible to predict the future of this industry by comparing it to the ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The body: a phenomenological psychological perspective
The body has traditionally been treated as a biological object in psychology. However, is there more to our bodies than that? Some psychologists recognise that we relate to other people and the world about us through our body. This free course, The body: A phenomenological psychological perspective, explores the theoretical perspective on ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The use of force in international law
This free course, The use of force in international law, is designed to provide you with an introduction to one of the contentious topics in public international law: the use of force. In this course, you will explore international rules governing the use of force, including an introduction to the laws of war (International Humanitarian Law). ...
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Nature & Environment
‘Land grab’: an environmental issue?
This free course, ‘Land grab’: an environmental issue?, explores how environmental problems are entangled with economic and political issues and offers tools for making sense of the complexity that results. The case of land grab illustrates how everyday issues such as food prices are caught up in connections that link different places, different...
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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 ...