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
Pro bono work and social justice
Pro bono (‘for the public good’ in Latin) involves lawyers and law students giving up their time on a voluntary basis to help people who need legal assistance but do not have the means to afford it. In this free course, Pro bono work and social justice, you will consider the role of pro bono in law schools. You will examine the relationship ...
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Society, Politics & Law
How arguments are constructed and used in the Social Sciences
This free course will enable you to understand how arguments are constructed and used in the Social Sciences. Using extracts from a Radio 4 broadcast, you will look at the different viewpoints that are taken by the participants and analyse how the different arguments are being put together.
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History & The Arts
Forth Road Bridge
Scotland's Forth Road Bridge may not be the most beautiful bridge over the Firth of Forth, but it is an incredible feat of engineering and is integral to the economy of the entire area. However, rust is threatening to destroy the cables that suspend the road. This free course uses video to explore the issues associated with the potential demise ...
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Nature & Environment
Environmental management and organisations
It is believed that environmental management requires action at all levels and by organisations of all types and sizes. However it is not always clear what we mean by environmental management and the role that organisations do and could play. This free course, explores the different interpretations and viewpoints involved by using system ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Economics and the 2008 crisis: a Keynesian view
This free course, Economics and the 2008 crisis: a Keynesian view, looks at how Keynes's theories revolutionised thinking about the causes of crises and unemployment. Keynes's thinking on how to reduce these problems was very influential with economists and policy makers for several decades following the 1930s. The economic downturn that started...
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Society, Politics & Law
Discovering disorder: young people and delinquency
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 ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Criminology beyond crime
This free course, Criminology beyond crime, examines the notion of 'social harm' as an alternative to the legal definition of 'crime'. To illustrate this concept, the course considers developments in Green Criminology, which have sought to examine the problems of global environmental harm and the myriad interactions between human beings and the ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Crimes of the powerful
This free course examines the complexities of, and barriers to, setting new criminological research agendas by considering the difficulties associated with conducting research on crimes of the powerful.
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History & The Arts
The poetry of Sorley MacLean
Sorley MacLean (1911-1996) is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century. This free course, The poetry of Sorley MacLean, will introduce you to his poetry and give you an insight into the cultural, historical and political contexts that inform his work. MacLean wrote in Gaelic and the importance of the language to ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Introduction to critical criminology
This free course, Introduction to critical criminology, provides a brief introduction to critical criminological thinking. It defines the ways in which critical criminologists take a 'critical stance' on the fundamental concepts, practices and institutions associated with crime and criminal justice systems.
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Society, Politics & Law
Reading visual images
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.
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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....