Study skills
Studying can be daunting. These free courses will refresh your study skills and prepare you for success.
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Education & Development
Developing good academic practice
This free course, Developing good academic practice, is intended to help you develop good academic practices in your studies and when producing assignments and completing assessments. Although designed as a course to work through, the content can also be used to dip in and out of, if you feel you need to improve your skills in a particular area.
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Health, Sports & Psychology
Supporting university students with a mental health condition
There is an increasing prevalence of university students who need mental health support and university staff benefit from training on this topic. This course explores this phenomenon, drawing on an Open University study on how staff (tutors) can support students with a mental health condition, and considers both what staff and institutions can ...
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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
Making social media work in Higher Education
This free course explores the potential of social media as a space that can be used in higher education/University to enhance educational experiences. It examines how students can take advantage of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to engage and connect with other fellow students and their lecturers. While, also examining the ...
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Education & Development
Am I ready to be a distance learner?
Distance learning can open up opportunities for study. You might have not studied for a while, you might be returning to education, or you might not have had the chance to study at a higher level before. This free course, Am I ready to be a distance learner?, will help to boost your confidence. You'll explore useful skills so you can discover ...
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Languages
Grammar matters
Grammar matters because, combined with vocabulary choice, it is our main way of making meaning. This free course introduces you to one approach used to understand how meanings relate systematically to different aspects of grammar and shows how this deeper understanding can be applied to make everyday communication more effective.
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Society, Politics & Law
Reading and note taking – preparation for study
Reading and note taking are two essential study skills. How do you read? This free course, Reading and note taking preparation for study, will introduce you to different techniques to help you to alter the way you read according to the type of material you are studying. You will also learn the techniques behind successful note taking and how to...
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Languages
How to be a critical reader
In this free course you will focus on how to be a critical reader. Reading critically is an essential skill at university. It means being aware of your own purposes and opinions as you read and being able to recognise the writer's purposes and opinions in their writing.
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Education & Development
Revision and examinations
Do you get stressed at the thought of an examination? Does the idea of revision fill you with dread? This free course, Revision and examinations, will provide a host of tips to help you improve your revision and examination techniques and enable you to manage your time effectively by creating a timetable for your revision.
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History & The Arts
Introducing music research
Introducing music research provides you with insights into the wide variety of possibilities for studying music at postgraduate level. In this free course you will explore diverse musical topics through four themes: inclusions and exclusions, practice, technology, and community. You will encounter music from different times, places and genres ...
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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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Science, Maths & Technology
Working with charts, graphs and tables
When you come across information represented in charts, graphs and tables, you'll need to know how to interpret this information. This free course, Working with charts, graphs and tables, will help you to develop the skills you need to do this. For further study, there's another course titled 'More working with charts, graphs and tables' which ...
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