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Free online courses for everyone!

(40 Posts)
Luckygirl Mon 18-Jan-16 14:52:18

I have just discovered Future Learn which provides free online courses on many different topics, many of which would be of interest to us Gransnetters. Most of the courses last about 3 or four weeks. Here is a link to the list of courses; www.futurelearn.com/courses/upcoming

I have registered for the one about literature and mental health. I read avidly and write poetry, and have also suffered a depressive illness, so I hope to gain a lot from this.

There are courses of particular relevance to us on here: Successful Ageing, Religion and Conflict (this seems to be a hot topic here!), and health related topics; as well as astronomy, langauges and many others.

I have no idea how it is funded but intend to take the opportunities that it is offering. This may be of particular relevance to the OP who began the thread about how we do we fill our time.

I hope that you will find something of interest.

agnurse Fri 19-Nov-21 00:50:02

Another really great one is Coursera. They have many courses that you can either complete for free, or audit for free. You can get a completion certificate if you are willing to pay.

FannyCornforth Fri 29-Oct-21 06:26:58

Reported the above

JK123 Fri 29-Oct-21 05:59:01

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Luckygirl Thu 10-Mar-16 13:55:51

mrsmopp smile

mrsmopp Thu 10-Mar-16 12:11:34

Yes, I second all these comments as I have done several of these courses and they have all been of a very high standard.
I believe in keeping my brain active for as long as I can, as I have several members of my family who have suffered from dementia and it is my greatest fear.
I also do crosswords, code words, scrabble, online puzzles etc. hope it works! Now then, what did I come upstairs for??

whitewave Wed 09-Mar-16 18:35:57

I did a few in the Autumn and after Christmas and signed up to about 4! Then we got muddled with health issues, alls well now but I haven't yet got back into the swing. I do enjoy them. The good thing is that once you sign up the course seems to be available for some time, not sure how long and shall be tutty if I miss some.

grannyactivist Wed 09-Mar-16 18:29:01

Lucky I've just started a course on dementia, which I am sure will be a great help for my visits to care homes.

I do think we are very fortunate to have such a range of courses that are free, accessible and of such a high standard.

Charleygirl Wed 09-Mar-16 17:54:50

Thanks for that Luckygirl my essay and dissertation days are long gone.

Luckygirl Wed 09-Mar-16 17:41:43

No essays on the course I have been doing - but lots of online conversations with others - some very learned. You can join in these or not as you choose. Some excellent video interviews with experts and lots of links to various material. I have found it very interesting. I am so glad that others have picked up on this and will be staving off the grey cell degeneration along with me! smile

Charleygirl Wed 09-Mar-16 17:24:41

A superb selection of courses. Does one have to produce essays?

lucycakeface Wed 09-Mar-16 17:08:22

Oh wow this is fantastic. I've just signed up for the Journalism and Italian course. Can't believe my luck!

daphnedill Tue 23-Feb-16 04:36:56

PS. It's wholly funded by the Open University.

followersoftheapocalyp.se/a-brief-note-on-futurelearn-finance/

I guess the idea is to try and get people to follow up by signing up for full OU courses.

daphnedill Tue 23-Feb-16 04:32:31

Alima, I've just started the Agincourt course. I've also been learning Dutch for a week and have spent the last couple of hours doing Cultural Studies and Modern Languages. The last one isn't what I was expecting, but it's quite interesting. A lot of people on the Agincourt course seem to know quite a bit about the period and I'm finding their comments very enlightening.

I don't think I'll be paying for the certificates, because I'm just doing them to stop my grey cells from atrophy.

rubylady Wed 20-Jan-16 05:28:32

Thank you. I enrolled on forensic psychology and "What is the Mind?" courses. That should keep me out of trouble for a week or two. grin

petallus Tue 19-Jan-16 20:26:26

I also have registered for the Literature and Mental Health course which starts on 1st Feb.

I'm really looking forward to it and have just tried a taster which was great.

I do find poetry, both writing and reading, very helpful when going through difficult times.

Elegran Tue 19-Jan-16 19:14:53

I have done free Corsera courses.

Luckygirl Tue 19-Jan-16 18:53:07

Thanks for that Lindylou - I have flagged up that course with the teachers in school where I am governor.

I have also just noticed that there is a course for carers of people with dementia to help them understand and deal with challenging behaviour.

Lyndylou Tue 19-Jan-16 09:03:14

I totally endorse this post. I completed a couple of courses on Futurelearn last year and really enjoyed them. One of them was really aimed at teachers who will be teaching computing coding under the new curriculum, but was open to all. As my grandson's school seem to be ignoring coding and hoping it will go away, the course gave me loads of ideas for doing things with him online to give him a head start. Looking forward to doing more courses this year.

Eloethan Tue 19-Jan-16 00:22:19

Thanks for the information. These sound very interesting and I'm going to have a look.

grannyactivist Mon 18-Jan-16 23:25:50

Luckygirl and bags - some of the coursera courses are free and otherwise there is financial help available if you fill out an online form and qualify.

Badenkate Mon 18-Jan-16 23:18:26

The two sites that I've done courses on and that I know are free are Futurelearn and EdX. I must say of the two I prefer Futurelearn. The courses seem to be produced much more professionally, but that maybe just the courses I've done.

thatbags Mon 18-Jan-16 22:17:34

Oh, sorry! I thought it was. Scrub that then.

Luckygirl Mon 18-Jan-16 22:03:17

Coursera is apparently not free from what I can see - is this right bags?

thatbags Mon 18-Jan-16 21:55:33

There is also this site for free online courses: www.coursera.org