OpenLearn – The home of free learning from the OU

OpenLearn attracts millions of visitors each year from around the world. Whether it’s a two-minute exploration or a 24-hour expedition into learning that you’re after, you’ll find it on OpenLearn for free.

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 115 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 The Open University can operate in a more open manner and what benefits it brings for learners, educators and the OU itself. 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 continuously 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 nearly 900 courses totalling 10,000 study hours. Its 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:

Mental health in society - an 8 hour course in which you can explore the different perspectives about mental health, including how the use of language reflects these perspectives.
Interactive Learning Hub - Grow your knowledge and have fun with this collection of games, quizzes and other interactive activities.
Introducing the psychology of our relationships with fictional villains - a 12 hour course where you will explore how crime writers approach creating and developing villainous fictional characters.
Race and Ethnicity Hub – a 250-strong collection of content offering fresh perspectives on issues surrounding race and ethnicity.
The Financial Five-A-Day podcast series - a series of 10 podcasts offering financial guidance, hints and tips from experts.

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

OpenLearn turns 20!

In 2026 we are celebrating a major milestone: 20 years of the OU's free learning website.

The first iteration of OpenLearn was launched in October 2006 with 900 hours of content. Today the platform is visited by millions of people every year from all over the world, with an estimated 20,000 hours of learning content available, including more than 900 courses.

At the time, Professor David Vincent, the OU's Pro-Vice-Chancellor, explained the ambition behind OpenLearn:

"Our mission has always been to be open to people, places, methods and ideas and OpenLearn allows us to extend these values into the 21^st century. We want to lead the learning revolution, experimenting with new models of content and technologies. OpenLearn is a huge step towards this aim"

Has OpenLearn helped you with your studies, or supported you in your career? If you have any stories to share on how you have used OpenLearn please contact us at [email protected].