OpenLearn - The home of free learning from the OU

OpenLearn attracts more than 14 million visitors each year from around the World. Whether it’s a five minute exploration or a 50 hour expedition into learning that you’re after, you’ll find it on OpenLearn.com for free.

OpenLearn allows you to learn for free, at any time.

OpenLearn is a trailblazer for the provision of high quality open educational resources at scale and breadth, for free without barriers. It is designed to be accessible by all, and to date over 100 million visitors from around the World have discovered this treasure trove of learning materials.

Established in 2006 OpenLearn started as a two-year experiment to understand how we can operate in a more open manner and what benefits it brings for learners, educators and The Open University. It is now a business-as-usual activity that supports informal learners and OU students alike. Millions who have taken the free courses report that they now have the confidence to start formal study.

OpenLearn continusouly responds to the World's need for free and relevant higher education and gives people opportunities to study that they would not otherwise have had. It currently hosts around 35,000 pages of high quality resources, including about 1,000 courses totalling 13,000 study hours. It's mission is simple; reach everyone that needs free access to higher education.

A wide range of topics from across the OU curriculum are covered, including popular factual content related to current affairs. For example:

How women changed the world - an interactive activity exploring extraordinary women in history
Brexit Hub - a collection containing analysis and expert commentary on Britain's changing relationship with the European Union and the global world.
Learning from major cyber security incidents - a course which analyses the lessons which can be learned from several major cyber security incidents.
David Bowie: identity is creativity - articles about gender identity and creativity, in relation to the death of David Bowie.
Harry Potter and the Translator's Challenge - an article about the linguistics of Harry Potter.

Content can be filtered by format (course, interactive activity, article, video, collection), subject, skills for study, and skills for life, or browse our most popular content.