Free online resources for college students and staff

There's a wide variety of free, online, open educational OU resources, which are often useful to students undertaking higher education level courses in Scotland’s colleges. They can also aid college staff in continuing professional development.

The OU's free learning site OpenLearn contains courses at all levels across a range of subject areas, which can complement learning at HNC/HND level and help prepare students for future study with The Open University.

For example, Am I ready to be a distance learner? allows students new to online study at higher education level, to discover how ready they are to study and how to develop study skills to become a successful distance learner.

College staff can also benefit from a variety of free courses found on OpenLearn, including Take your teaching online, Exploring innovative assessment methods, Exploring equality and equity in education, and Understanding autism. 

Our Open Learning Champions initiative has assisted college staff in making good use of the range of open educational resources on offer.

The resources were very useful and easy to navigate within the site. The class registered and were given time to explore the open learning resources, they are aware of the learning log and have all enrolled onto a course relating to care or core skills.

Rhona Keys
Curriculum Manager