That’s 60 million people who have benefitted from OpenLearn’s mission to make informal learning freely available and accessible to people around the world, regardless of their prior educational record, or financial situation.
Launched in 2006, OpenLearn is the home of free learning from The Open University. The site currently averages 44,000 visitors a day, across nearly 1,000 free courses, in a variety of subject areas. This October, OpenLearn has hit 60million visitors.
OpenLearn aims to break the barriers to education by reaching learners around the world, providing free educational resources and inviting all to sample courses that students of The Open University take. The platform plays an invaluable role in introducing potential students to the world of study, and in supporting existing students to develop their study and employability skills.
A team effort
Patrina Law, Head of OpenLearn said,
“Over the last 12 years there have been thousands of contributors to OpenLearn. The platform has gone from strength to strength in terms of building on what we know of online learning, how best to serve those who cannot afford to study, and guiding many thousands of new students through to formal education at the OU each year.
This ambitious and scholarly endeavour has been the achievement of many and to reach this incredible milestone so much quicker than we thought is testament to the commitment of the OpenLearn team and to our colleagues in the faculties and nations who have helped us achieve this.”
Building confidence
An OpenLearn ‘Introducing Philosophy’ student said,
“I have repeatedly put off applying for a degree course by a fear of what is involved, whether I am capable, will it develop or frustrate me. However this course has not only allayed my fears of all the above but also given me the confidence to look forward to October.
I now have an idea of the level of writing the course materials will be at, the type of questioning that will be followed, and the skills I will need to develop. I can now spend my summer enthusiastically preparing for my course without cause for concern!!”
OpenLearn in numbers 2017/18
- 44,000 visitors daily
- 7.8m unique visitors
- 4.5m viewed a free course
- 2.6m viewed interactive and AV content
- 1.2 million viewed BBC related content (Blue Planet II accounted for around half)
Most popular OpenLearn courses 2017/18
- Start Writing Fiction
- Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting
- Introduction to Child Psychology
- Getting Started on Classical Latin
- Forensic Psychology
