Online Learning – Free and At Home – in the Dog Days of Summer

Today’s post is more of a tip than anything else and not strictly genealogically related. Have you ever heard of FutureLearn? I hadn’t until recently.

FutureLearn offers a number of free courses online through universities (often British) and cultural institutions. FutureLearn is owned by The Open University and have offered online courses for the last three years.

A word of warning here – these classes aren’t necessarily for run-of-the-mill topics. Some classes are quite advanced. Take a look at the course categories:

FutureLearnCrop
Course Categories

I like that they showcase upfront and first. There are categories that interest me:

Language and Culture, which is offering a three week course in Dutch and a six week course in beginning Italian. As I am writing this, there is a current class on Catalan sign language – definitely not your typical class.

History, which offers a two week class in World War I heroism though art and film, six weeks on GENEALOGY: Researching Your Family Tree and a fun class – A History of Royal Food and Feasting, presented over a five week period.

Health and Psychology, includes three weeks for Dementia: Understanding and Managing Challenging Behaviour and an eight week class on Logical and Critical Thinking

The variety of classes on the FutureLearn menu is staggering and perhaps many are not for the fainthearted, but check out their current offerings. It’s a great way to spend some time before the fall weather respite. Plus, you will keep the neurons sharp and ready for jumping back into the genealogical research world.

One thought on “Online Learning – Free and At Home – in the Dog Days of Summer”

  1. I’ve never heard of this website. I spent a few minutes exploring and there are some really interesting classes. I wonder how they can afford to do it for free? I need to finish a class I am taking elsewhere, but plan to check into some of these after I do. Let us know if you take any.

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