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This stimulating 1-year course builds on your own knowledge of computing and gives an understanding of modern systems analysis, development and management. The theme of this course follows through the analysis and design of practical real-life computing applications, enabling you to extend your skills from being a computer user to being able to analyse and design your own applications. Click here for further information, and for the on-line application form.

This course aims to dispel the myth that Old English literature is either dreary, difficult, or only about drinking and fighting, and will introduce participants to the range of Old English literature, from stirring tales of heroism, courage, and fellowship, to poignant elegies of love and loss; from passionately devout to earthily humorous.

Animal welfare in commercial livestock production has an increasingly high profile, with more and more customers concerned over the origin and conditions of the food they eat. At the same time, current market pressures and fluctuations in what is now a global market have made it vital for everyone involved in the food industry to rethink how food, particularly food from animals, is produced. This includes everyone from large scale producers to retailers right down to small-scale restaurants trying to deliver ‘quality’ food to their customers.

This course will provide the information about the current state of the animal food industry and what changes might be possible within a commercial framework. It asks the fundamental question: does improving animal welfare have to cost money or could it become a positive part of a business future that would put the UK at a competitive advantage?

Do you think reproductive cloning is morally permissible? Do you check food labels to exclude any with GM ingredients? Would you worry if the government introduced compulsory depositing of DNA in the national DNA bank? This course was previously run under the name Playing God.

How did three sisters living an apparently secluded and eventless life write some of the most original, passionate and dramatic novels and poetry in the English language? Who were the Brontës, what fed their imaginations, and what makes their writing so haunting, intense, and important?

Sir Winston Churchill is regarded as one of Britain's greatest statesmen. His impact on the course of twentieth century history was profound yet his name still provokes controversy and debate. The aim of this course is to study Churchill's life in detail, to assess his successes and failures and to gain some insights into the complex personality of this fascinating politician.

This emphasis on animal welfare and commercial livestock production focuses attention ever more sharply on one key question: how can we measure animal welfare sufficiently objectively that we can be sure that suggested improvements to animal welfare are based on evidence rather than well-intentioned but erroneous knowledge about animals?

Recent research on consumer attitudes within the EU reveals that scientists and consumers may have radically different ideas about what constitutes ‘good animal welfare’. Scientists concentrate on ‘outcome’ measures such as unblemished skin, hormone levels and behaviour whereas consumers define it more in terms of aesthetics, such as green grass and fresh air.

Farmers, retailers and all those concerned with food production are faced with the dual problem of deciding what is genuinely best for animal welfare whilst convincing customers that the steps they have taken do actually improve the welfare of animals. In addition, industry decisions about changing production methods have to be taken against an increasingly difficult economic background and changing demands about environmental protection.

This course is for you if: you enjoy reading and discussing novels; you belong to a book club or reading group; you read reviews of fiction, you have opinions and ideas about novels; if you have ever thought ‘so many books, so little time’, and wondered how to decide which authors to try; if you have ever been daunted by terms such as ‘modernism’, ‘magic realism’ or ‘postmodern’ - and if you would like to: take your enjoyment and appreciation of fiction to the next stage; develop your ideas into coherent, backed-up analytical arguments; have technical terms demystified.

This course is for anyone wanting to learn to read critically, and explore texts that are regarded as ‘critical’, or essential, reading.

This course serves as a sequel to the course ‘Van Eyck to Memling: Northern Renaissance Art c.1430-1480’, but also stands as a self-contained course. The ten sessions explore the riches of Northern European art from c.1480-1580; artists including Dürer, Bosch, Holbein and Bruegel will be studied, as well as the prints and sculpture of the period. [NB: This course was previously called ‘Northern Renaissance Art c.1480-1580’]

This new online course provides prospective online tutors with an opportunity to develop the skills and experience they need to teach effectively online. The target audience for the course is teachers delivering education online, academics looking to develop new skills for teaching undergraduate and postgraduate-level courses online and organisations involved in Continuing Professional Development who wish to improve the effectiveness of their distance learning courses. The course is also suitable for individuals looking to deliver training online or those interested in facilitating online collaborative spaces.

Note that Unit 2, an Introduction to Teaching and Learning Online, is available as a free trial unit. To access the free online trial, please go to the following link - access Introduction to Teaching and Learning Online free trial here (note that you will be asked to create a user name and password for access to this part of the course using the "Create new account" link on the left of the page).

Computer Specification Queries If you have queries about your computer facilities, please contact the TALL (Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning) programme by email: tallithelp@conted.ox.ac.uk or telephone +44 (0) 1865 280990.

If you are intending to access the course on a public computer, such as in a public library or internet cafe, we recommend that you contact TALL before applying. For further information on the Effective Online Tutoring course please follow this link.

Some of the most powerful and moving English poetry of the modern period was written during or about the First World War. This course examines the context of that poetry and issues involved in studying it by exploring the life and writing of three major war poets: Owen, Rosenberg and Sassoon, amongst others.

This is a short (ten week) online course designed to help students of science and working scientists to understand, reflect on and engage with some of the key ethical and social issues thrown up by biological science and technology.

The next dates for this course will be announced shortly. In the mean time please contact the programme office for further information.

Britain was part of the Roman empire for about four hundred years, in the first half of the first millennium AD. The impact of this can still be recognised in the landscape today, but what was life like for people in Britain during that time? Using archaeological evidence, this course will explore the long-term effects of Roman rule on different communities around the country.

Some of the greatest writers of the Victorian period were women. This course looks at the work of authors such as Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Margaret Oliphant, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon both as representing women’s lives and women’s issues, and as compelling fiction in its own right.

This module will survey the range of techniques and methodologies available to determine the nature and composition of nanoparticles (both organic and inorganic), thin films and nano-structures. For course details and application, visit www.conted.ox.ac.uk/nano.

Particles and structures at the nano-scale demonstrate phenomena not seen at other length scales. This course will explain the mathematical foundation for these phenomena as well as their application. Effects of the nanometre length scale on electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, diffusion and mechanical properties and optical scattering will be considered, along with collective effect of particles. Nano-scale structures such as quantum dots, nanotubes and fullerenes will be described, and their application including Quantum computing. For course details and application, visit www.conted.ox.ac.uk/nano.

This online course covers the ethics, conventions and often unwritten rules of publishing in peer-reviewed journals and at conferences.

The course is for everyone who wants to understand and manage the publication process, and in particular, anyone who develops publication plans and strategies. Whole teams of researchers work collaboratively on a project but then the responsibility for writing up and getting the results published can be a solitary process for which there is no guide.

Even experienced researchers admit that some of the processes whereby papers are accepted or rejected remain a mystery. This course will provide you with a route map for navigating the publications process. It's a user-friendly way to avoiding the frustrations and blind alleys of the process and gaining an easier, cost effective path to getting research published.

This course gives avid readers the skills necessary to turn a love of the written word into a practical experience. It introduces the key characteristics of creative writing, and students are supported with stage-by-stage guidance as they assimilate and put into practice a range of critical and creative methods. In addition to tutor feedback on the course assignments, participants will be encouraged to discuss one another's writing in the course forums, and will be given guidance on offering constructive and useful criticism.

The credit crunch of 2008-9 brought the effects of the global economy to everyone's attention. From international trade and global inequalities to the impact on our carbon footprints, this course analyses the global economy – what ‘globalization’ means in practice, and why it takes the form it does.

Focusing on the key turning points in the history of western medicine e.g. the advent of hospitals, the role of public health, the rise of biomedical research, this course offers insights into medicine’s past, asks what has shaped contemporary medicine and how do people study it.

The god Shiva dancing in a ring of fire and the white marble Taj Mahal are two of the most famous images from the rich artistic heritage of the Indian Subcontinent. This course will examine the great diversity of art produced in South Asia over two thousand years, relating it to the contemporary religious and political environment. This course was previoulsy run under the name Visual Arts of India.

We take ourselves to know, but do we? We take ourselves to be free, but are we? What is the nature of the reality that we believe ourselves to live in? When are our actions moral? The oldest questions asked by human beings meet with the newest technology, to offer students the opportunity to explore these questions in this introductory online philosophy course.

This course is for anyone interested in understanding Islamic art and culture, by examining the relationship between Islamic faith and various art forms.

From Bellini and Botticelli to tapestry and tableware, the material culture of the Italian Renaissance continues to fascinate us to this day. This course is an opportunity to explore a wide variety of art forms and to discover more about the cultural, social and historical background that made this period so unique.

Many readers enjoy Austen’s novels but cannot define the qualities that make them so special and enduring. This course will help you to analyse Austen’s style and techniques, and give you a greater knowledge of the novels’ context, which will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of reading them.

Many people feel that Modern Art, from 1900 to the present day, is more difficult to understand than art of the past. By looking at and discussing a wide range of works, this course will aim to provide guidelines about how to understand and appreciate Modern Art better and how to discover continuity between the art of earlier periods and our own.

Have you ever looked at a picture in a museum or gallery and been able to see and feel its characteristics but not had the vocabulary to put your thoughts into words? This course offers you the opportunity to learn how to study and analyse paintings, drawings and prints and learn the 'language of looking' to communicate your appreciation of art.

This course is designed to enable students to ‘read’ the architecture of the Western world in a critically informed way. You will learn to recognise and differentiate between the major architectural styles of the western tradition – and will thus gain a greater understanding of the way that buildings are built, and why they look the way they do.

Literary theory has changed the way we think about literature, language, identity, and society. Although theory might sometimes seem intimidating, it can be very accessible and exciting. This course aims to demystify literary theory, showing how it illuminates literary texts and enriches our understanding and enjoyment of literature.

Welcome to the Master's programme in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. This is a part-time degree offered over two academic years. It involves two periods of distance learning via the internet as well as two summer sessions held at New College, Oxford. The degree programme is designed in particular for lawyers and other human rights professionals who wish to pursue advanced studies in international human rights law but may need to do so alongside their work or family responsibilities.

The aim of the degree programme is to train and support future leaders in the field of international human rights law. A central objective of the course is to ensure that participants not only know but can also use human rights law. The curriculum places roughly equal emphasis on the substance of human rights law, its implementation, and the development of human rights advocacy skills.

Click here for further information about this course

In the global economy of the 21st century, Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) are suddenly emerging as major players, shaking up the existing order, and generating waves of uncertainty around the world. Will the U.S., Japan, and Europe be surpassed by these new economic powers? How did these countries achieve their success? Will that success last? What lessons can be learned from their strategies? And how will the world be reshaped by their emergence?
To get a taster of the discussion around the current economic climate, listen to this debate: How did this crisis develop and what happens next?. Dr Linda Yueh, author of the New Economic Powers course, and Professor Jonathan Michie, Director of the Department for Continuing Education and a leading economist, debate the issue: "Is laissez-faire capitalism dead?"

Based upon our popular 2-day Overview of Electronics course, this new on-line course will introduce you to the basic ideas behind electronic circuits. The course will consist of ten units each of which will require around 5 - 10 hours of study depending on your level of knowledge.

For further information on the Online Introduction to Electronics course please follow this link.

10 weeks online

What makes the human species different from other primates? When did we become human? This course examines these questions by reviewing the archaeological and fossil evidence for the development of human behaviour from six million years ago to the end of the last ice age.

This is a six week online course. The module offers an introduction to basic computing concepts and programming skills. The main concepts of Linux will be demonstrated to the students and they will be introduced to programming in Perl.

Have you ever wondered where the universe came from? Whether time travel is possible? Whether its morally acceptable to genetically design babies? If God exists? If so then you have already started to do philosophy.

The philosophy of mind is one of the most exciting areas within philosophy. It is concerned with questions about the nature of mind and the relation between our minds and the physical world. This course provides an introduction to philosophy of mind by introducing you to the mind-body problem, one of the most intractable problems in philosophy.

If you’re interested in delving into the philosophical issues and arguments surrounding the claim that there’s a God, then this is the course for you. Together, we shall look at what, if anything, it is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are agreeing about when they claim that there is a God; and we shall look at what, if any, prospects there are for rationally defending or attacking this claim.

This course introduces the core issues in the philosophy of science, in particular the debates about the nature of the scientific method, theories of confirmation, the demarcation of science from non-science, the rationality of theory change, and scientific realism. Participants will be introduced to the key thinkers in philosophy of science.

Political philosophy contains some of the greatest writings in the western intellectual tradition, as well as highly stimulating contemporary contributions. This online course introduces the student to classic and contemporary texts in the context of approaching some central questions in political philosophy concerning, the state, democracy, liberty and justice.

Pompeii is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. Its fame and uniqueness are,of course, due to the remarkable way in which it was preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Using evidence from Pompeii, you can study public buildings, monuments, inscriptions and painted posters that reflect public life, houses and gardens that reveal how the people lived, shops, markets and streets where they earned their living, and tombs where they buried their dead.

The online Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology programme is made up of three modules, each of which can be taken independently as stand-alone courses, but which together make up a Postgraduate Certificate in Nanotechnology.

The programme has been developed using a collaborative, student-centred approach, and introduces students to fundamental material essential to the understanding of nanotechnology. Difficult concepts are presented in an engaging way. The modules include a blend of individual work studying online learning materials and group work in the form of online discussions and research. This results in an individual report forming the basis for module assessment. Tutors provide online support which replicates the Oxford tutorial system. The third module includes a long-weekend visit to Oxford to enhance the learning and group work.

The modules introduce the most commonly used and most important analytical, quantitative and experimental methods in nanotechnology. Students from a range of backgrounds are able to consolidate their knowledge and apply that knowledge to techniques and methods in the analysis of nanotechnology problems at all levels.

Metaphysics is the most general investigation into the nature of reality. It has been at the centre of philosophy since the beginning of the western tradition in ancient Greece, and many of its concerns are the same as those of Plato and Aristotle. This course will introduce you to some of the traditional concerns.

How can we begin to understand the spiritual lives of people in the distant past? When do religious ideologies first appear on the human evolutionary timescale? How can we recognise and interpret ancient myth and ritual from the burial mounds, temples, art and artefacts left by our prehistoric ancestors? Using key concepts drawn from anthropology, these and many other questions will be examined as we take a global view of the archaeological evidence for prehistoric rituals and religion.

This course focuses on five Shakespeare plays, covering a range of genres and periods of his writing. There is an emphasis on both page and stage (or film), and on enriching enjoyment and appreciation of Shakespeare’s work in the context of his own time and of ours.

Animal welfare has an increasingly high profile. More and more people are concerned about where the animal food they eat comes from and want to be satisfied that it is safe, healthy, minimizes damage to the environment and is grown to high standards of animal welfare. Recently, the profile of welfare issues has been further raised by an increased level of coverage in the media, perhaps most notably by high profile chefs championing specific welfare causes via popular television shows.

In response to these concerns we have developed a be-spoke training programme in animal welfare and livestock production. The two courses are designed help UK food producers, retailers and food outlets to meet the changing demands of their customers and so ensure that they are in the forefront of the delivery of high quality food.

We recognise that it is difficult to justify leaving the office to attend residential courses, so we are offering a series of one-day courses, supplemented by online support. These will appeal to anyone engaged in the food industry, including producers, processors, retailers, caterers, NGOs and anyone with an interest in the future of animal farming.

These short courses will help a range of specialist professionals acquire and update essential key skills for the development of their professional roles

These courses are offered both as open courses and can also be tailored for presentation as in house programme for your organisation.

This is a six week online course. This course aims to bring students up to speed with the relevant statistical techniques involved in bioinformatics today.

Particpants are helped to acquire introductory knowledge of mathematics, probability and statistics as preparation for more specialized courses in the field The module covers probability methods including simple frequency-based approaches, conditional probability, Bayes' formula, hypothesis testing using likelihood ratio tests and existing distributions, simulation methods for statistical testing. The course also introduces R.

R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is an effective data handling and storage facility, with a suite of operators for calculations on arrays, in particular matrices. It has a large, coherent, integrated collection of intermediate tools for data analysis and graphical facilities for data analysis and display, either on-screen or on hardcopy. It is a well-developed, simple and effective programming language which includes conditionals, loops, user-defined recursive functions and input and output facilities. R is available as free software.

This course is part of the Oxford Bioinformatics Proramme.

This online statistics course is designed for busy health and social care professionals who need to understand the basics of health statistics without becoming statisticians. Students can study at the time of day and week that is best for them. Online tutorial support is provided and concepts are applied to real-life scenarios.

The course is designed around student-student and student-tutor communication to ensure that students are able to develop a sense of an online learning community to support and motivate them during the 10-week duration.

This course is built upon material developed in face to face teaching on the University of Oxford MSc in Evidence Based Health Care and was supported financially by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The BBSRC support was essential in getting this project off the ground and made it possible to develop the high standard of online materials.

"This research looks really useful for my patients. But can I trust the results of the study?"

"I do read the research papers in my field but I tend to skip the statistics."

"I need to get more experience for my exams - but I can't take time off work to attend a statistics course."

If this sounds familiar, then this course is for you.

This online statistics course is designed for busy health and social care professionals who need to understand the basics of health statistics without becoming statisticians. Students can study at the time of day and week that is best for them. Online tutorial support is provided and concepts are applied to real-life scenarios.

The course is designed around student-student and student-tutor communication to ensure that students are able to develop a sense of an online learning community to support and motivate them during the 10-week duration.

This course is built upon material developed in face to face teaching on the University of Oxford MSc in Evidence Based Health Care and was supported financially by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The BBSRC support was essential in getting this project off the ground and made it possible to develop the high standard of online materials.

"This research looks really useful for my patients. But can I trust the results of the study?"

"I do read the research papers in my field but I tend to skip the statistics."

"I need to get more experience for my exams - but I can't take time off work to attend a statistics course."

If this sounds familiar, then this course is for you.

Studying at undergraduate level is an exciting and rewarding experience, but if you are new to higher education, or have not studied for some time, you may find it useful to brush up your reading, note-making and essay-writing skills, and to revisit the basic rules of punctuation and grammar.

The theory of knowledge is one of the most central areas of philosophy. In this online course students will cover the key issues in epistemology while also learning to think for themselves and develop their own answers to the core questions in this area.

Madness, hilarity, doubt and devotion are just some of the many aspects of life explored in the huge wealth of Victorian fiction. This course makes the great creative energy present in nineteenth-century writers accessible through reading a mixture of popular and less well-known works by the century’s greatest authors. [NB: This course was previously called ‘Victorian Fiction: an Introduction’]

We offer an increasing range of accredited undergraduate level one 10-week online courses for the general public.

There are no formal entry qualifications for our short introductory courses, all you need is enthusiasm, commitment, a high degree of motivation and a willingness to engage in discussion with others. However, to ensure that you can participate fully in a course you must have sound English language skills and be comfortable using the internet and email.

These part-time classes are open to all and enable students to follow a chosen interest in greater depth over a period of 10 or 20 weeks (for a weekly class), a week-long seminar (for OUSSA) or for a weekend. They are accredited at level 1 and coursework is an integral part of each syllabus.

This is a one-year part-time course taught over the Internet. Students work at home in their own time, with access via the Internet to course materials, to their tutor, and to fellow students. The course aims to provide an understanding of the nature of Local History and of its relationship to other branches of historical studies. Students will learn the skills needed for historical research, especially the use of databases, and become familiar with a wide range of historical evidence. Click here for further information and for the on-line application form

The census returns for England and Wales dating from 1841 to 1901 are one of our most valuable sources for studying society, families and local communities in the 19th century, and their availability online now brings them within reach of anyone with access to the Internet. This practical course will introduce the census and show how it can be used to explore the world of our Victorian ancestors.

To participate in this course you must have Microsoft Excel version 97 or later.

The work of Northern Renaissance artists is often incredibly beautiful, with marvellous colours and textures conjured up from their hallmark technique of oil painting. Yet there is much more to the work of Jan van Eyck, his contemporaries and their followers, than simple aesthetics, for it evolved from, and reflected, an intriguing range of religious and cultural beliefs. This online course will explore some of the fascination of these images and their meanings. [NB: This course was previously called ‘Northern Renaissance Art: Methods and Meanings’]

Ravagers, despoilers, pagans, heathens - the Vikings are usually regarded as bloodthirsty seafaring pirates, whose impact on Europe was one of fear and terror. Yet these Vikings were also traders, settlers and farmers with a highly developed artistic culture and legal system. This course uses recent findings from archaeology to examine these varied aspects of the Viking world.

Drama is a hugely popular art form. This creative and critical course will help students to turn their passion for drama, whether stage, radio, television, or film, into the craft of dramatic writing, and to understand and appreciate the work of established dramatists.

Is there a true story that only you can tell? This course is designed to provide you with the skills you need to turn experiences, recollections and real-life phenomena into literary works that are enjoyable and accessible to a wider audience.

How can poetic form help me to turn the passion and intensity of life into memorable expressions? How can an appreciation of the techniques used by past and living poets help me to improve as a poet? Take this course and find out.