{"id":28018,"date":"2025-12-12T12:10:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T12:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/?p=28018"},"modified":"2025-12-12T15:47:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:47:26","slug":"mini-course-about-mental-health-is-fastest-growing-on-ou-free-learning-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/education-languages-health\/health\/mini-course-about-mental-health-is-fastest-growing-on-ou-free-learning-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini course about mental health is fastest growing on OU free learning site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bite-sized learning\u00a0about\u00a0mental health in the 21<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0century\u00a0is\u00a0capturing interest at The Open University by becoming one of its most popular free courses in the past year.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The OU\u2019s free learning site\u00a0<\/span>OpenLearn<\/span><\/a>\u202fheld\u00a0an audit of its wealth of short online courses\u00a0over\u00a0the past 12 months and found an incredible 13.3 million visits recorded.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Topping the\u00a0list\u00a0of the most popular free courses\u00a0launched\u00a0in the\u00a0last year is\u00a0<\/span>Mental health in society<\/span><\/i><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>which\u00a0has\u00a0recorded\u00a0a huge\u00a0<\/span>7000\u00a0enrolments\u00a0<\/span><\/b>in less than 11 months.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Level 1 course, which takes an average of about eight hours to complete, explores and reflects on mental health\u00a0in today\u2019s world, giving both a historical perspective as well looking at\u00a0the language we use and its evolution.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Academic Sarah Vicary Professor of Social Work and Mental Health<\/a>, in the faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, is the author behind the course and she comments on how it taps into today\u2019s agenda about mental health, with the\u00a0<\/span>UK Government\u2019s\u00a0Mental Health Bill 2024-25<\/span><\/a>\u00a0currently going through Parliament.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She says:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when mental health is high on the Government\u2019s agenda it is a pleasure to see the success so far of this Open Learn course which sets out to explore different understandings of mental health and the perspectives from which it can be viewed.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUsing a mix of media, the course uses knowledge of a number of experts in the field to examine a brief overview of the history of mental health developments in England and Wales and of the various models that continue to evolve. As such the course challenges misconceptions.”<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The course is aimed at a broad audience and explores the relationship between the lived experiences of individuals, and the society and environment in which they live.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amongst the reviews from those who have completed the course\u00a0comes this\u00a0one<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWonderful course which sparked further interest for me to carry on studying mental health and the\u00a0individual\u2019s\u00a0role which can be played in treating and maintaining their health.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The course is one of thousands which have been studied for free by people of all ages on OpenLearn, beginning a\u00a0journey of discovery on the platform, and accessing\u00a0a wildly diverse array of subjects, from Spanish to\u00a0Everyday\u00a0Maths or Coding and Creative Writing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the academic year\u202f2024\/25 there were\u202f<\/span>13.3\u202fmillion<\/span><\/b>\u202fvisits to\u202f<\/span>OpenLearn<\/span><\/a>\u202fand\u202f<\/span>3.3 million<\/span><\/b>\u202fvideo views on\u00a0the OpenLearn\u202f<\/span>YouTube<\/span><\/a>\u202fchannel.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There were over\u202f<\/span>1 million<\/span><\/b>\u202fenrolments across\u00a0the platform\u2019s range\u00a0of\u202f<\/span>900\u202f<\/span><\/b>courses (including\u202fover\u202f<\/span>80<\/span><\/b>\u202fbadged courses), with\u202f<\/span>421,000<\/span><\/b>\u202fstatements of participation and\u202f<\/span>56,000<\/span><\/b>\u202f<\/span>digital badges<\/span><\/a>\u202fawarded.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The digital badges they achieve once they complete the final online course assessment, can be used on CVs to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0professional development and a commitment to study. They can also be downloaded and shared on social media including LinkedIn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most popular interactive was\u202f<\/span>Do you have a photographic memory?<\/span><\/a>\u202fwith\u202f<\/span>65,000\u202f<\/span><\/b>visits, and\u202fthe most popular article was\u202f<\/span>Hitler’s rise and fall: timeline<\/span><\/a>, with over\u202f<\/span>57,000\u202f<\/span><\/b>visits.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Dave Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of\u202fthe Open University\u00a0said;<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I\u2019m pleased to celebrate another remarkable year for OpenLearn, as it continues to inspire and empower people everywhere through free and flexible learning. In the past 12 months alone, over one million new course enrolments have shown the incredible appetite for learning that OpenLearn supports.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe growing success of our digital badging and CPD-accredited courses reflects our ongoing commitment to helping learners gain valuable skills and recognition for their achievements. As we look to the year ahead, we will bring even more learning opportunities to communities around the world and continue The Open University\u2019s mission to make education open to all.”<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can find out the current most popular pieces of content on OpenLearn by\u202f<\/span>viewing the live top 10<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main image:<\/strong> Jay Antol, Unsplash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bite-sized learning\u00a0about\u00a0mental health in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0is\u00a0capturing interest at The Open University by becoming one of its most popular free courses in the past year.\u00a0 The OU\u2019s free learning site\u00a0OpenLearn\u202fheld\u00a0an audit of its wealth of short online courses\u00a0over\u00a0the past 12 months and found an incredible 13.3 million visits recorded.\u00a0\u00a0 Topping the\u00a0list\u00a0of the most popular free courses\u00a0launched\u00a0in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,15,22],"tags":[1415,1525,1640],"class_list":["post-28018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-society-politics","category-university-news","tag-mental-health","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28018"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28029,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018\/revisions\/28029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}