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What is OpenLearn-ing?

OpenLearn is online learning that is open to anyone, anywhere in the world using materials taken from Open University courses. And it is completely free to use! Instead of attending classes, you study online in the LearningSpace, using materials that have been specially designed for distance learning.

OpenLearn does not:

• require you to be or become an Open University student
• grant degrees or award credits
• provide access to the services available to students registered on Open University courses, such as tutorial support

If you are interested in becoming an Open University student you might want to visit New to the OU.

OpenLearn is an opportunity for informal study - in your own time access materials in areas familiar or new to you, without the pressure of keeping to a timetable or sitting exams. Instead, assess your own progress by keeping an online learning journal, discussing the topics with other online learners in forums and completing self assessment exercises where you control when the answer is revealed. While OpenLearn isn't exactly the same as studying at University, it gives real learning experiences taken from degree courses - and for free!

Where do I start?

We suggest you go to the LearningSpace, where you will find all the free course materials. If you are new to study you might want to start in the Study Skills section, or simply browse through the options available in an area of interest - there are 11 topic areas, from arts to science. Each topic has a range of study units from access to masters level, each lasting between 3 and 20 hours.

You can get straight into the materials without registering, but to get the most from the website we recommend you spend a few minutes setting up a free learning profile. This will give you added benefits such as being able to enrol on study units and find other learners with the same interests.

Giving online learning a social life

To help you get the most out of OpenLearn we've provided a tool kit of resources to help you connect with other learners and educators and make sense of your study. The tools help you:

• recreate the learning experience of studying at university where often the best learning happens in conversations with others
• to form your own opinions and make links between the online learning materials and the knowledge you bring to them.

You can join and set up your own video conferences to meet online learners from anywhere in the world. You'll be able to see who else is studying the same material as you and find yourself a study buddy using our Learning Clubs feature! You can also create knowledge maps to help you organise the information in a way that makes sense of it for you, and draws in your previous knowledge or research on the subject.

Tell us what you think

Learners around the world are using open educational resources to keep their knowledge up to date, benefit from the latest educational thinking, gain new knowledge or supplement a current course. Learners tell us they use OpenLearn to:

• enrich their current studies
• research into future course options
• build up a learning portfolio for continuing professional development
• find quality learning materials quickly
• keep up-to-date with their subject or interest
• try out new subjects

Whether you are new to study and want to try out Higher Education materials, or whether you are an old timer in academia wanting to keep up to date, we hope you find OpenLearn a rich resource for online learning. It will keep growing as we add more materials from our courses.  So watch this space, or better still, sign up to our newsletter or a forum to keep up to date with developments.

We want you to tell us what you think. Use the rate and review options on the first page of each unit, the forums or the contact us page to tell us what you think and what you would like to see. You might also want to contribute to our research by filling in our questionnaire.