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Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate AI language technology in the workplace short course
This CPD course explores the rapidly rising forms of AI, such as language technologies that use human language to carry out daily activities, communicate with people and control systems and devices. You’ll examine their impact on everyday working lives, as well as broader historical representations of society through this technology. The course also explores the technology itself and the issues it raises through a unique co-design methodology, in which people representing marginalised groups have contributed their voices and lived experiences to shape the course content. On completion, you’ll receive a digital badge to share, display or use as a certificate.
AI is part of a swathe of recent technologies that have the potential to significantly disrupt societies and cultures, both for good and ill, in ways that are sure to be profound but that are as yet little understood.
Emerging AI technologies, which include smart assistants, speech recognition and chatbots, risk severely misrepresenting society more generally. Without action to address this, they have the potential to disproportionately exacerbate the marginalisation of less-represented groups in society. In this his short course you’ll gain a solid understanding of the applications of language technology across all aspects of the modern workplace, including a focus on responsibility, transparency and fairness.
You’ll learn about the following:
Unit 1: Language technology all around us
Gain an understanding of the historical, social/cultural and political challenges of AI language technologies with a focus on their use in the modern workplace.
Unit 2: Responsibility, transparency and fairness in language technology
Discover the risks associated with the use of language technology, including the potential for bias toward some forms of language. Gain an understanding of the increasing use of such technology in surveillance, with special consideration of how to identify and manage these risks in the workplace.
Unit 3: Applications: Communication interfaces
Focus on questions about how language technologies work and the technical challenges of building technology to communicate successfully with humans.
Unit 4: Language technology in education
Explore a detailed case study on the use of language technology for educational purposes, covering the opportunities, challenges and risks that arise from this.
Unit 5: Designing and evaluating language technology in education
Consider the design and evaluation of language technologies, with a focus on issues such as ethics, accessibility, equality, diversity and inclusiveness, which arise when introducing language technologies into the education workplace.
The material you will encounter has been designed to provide greater understanding of the technology itself, increased awareness of its risks, ideas about how to best respond to such risks, and also ways of identifying the opportunities offered by language technology. Throughout the course, you will hear from a range of stakeholders across domains where this technology is used, including researchers, developers and activists within academia, industry and elsewhere, many of whom address ways of increasing the equality, diversity and inclusiveness of such technology.
Please note that although this course is non-accredited, it can be used towards the module Making your learning count (YXM130) to gain OU credits.
By the end of this Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course, you will:
The course is taught entirely online, with the aid of a learning adviser to offer support where needed. You will have access to online forums that you are strongly encouraged to participate in, as they are an excellent source of support and information. These forums combine peer support with input from the specialist learning adviser(s). Other support is available via the StudentHome website and computing helpdesk.
The course is made up of 5 units, with each unit expected to take about 3–4 hours to study. In total, you’ll need around 20 hours to complete the course.
You can begin at any time during the life of the course and study at your own pace. The course will be open to you for a time period of between 6 and 18 months depending on your course registration date and you will be advised of the specific time limitations upon enrolment.
All learning materials are delivered entirely online and there is no formal tuition for this course.
Your study is self-directed and you’ll have access to a course website, which includes:
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
There are no entry requirements for this course.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.
The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying LG007 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
StartEngland fee
At anytime before 31/07/2026£195
We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.
If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.
The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2026/27 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
You can start this course anytime.
You can start this course anytime.
Level info