How our short courses work

Join us online or in Oxford
Ways to study with Oxford Continuing Education
Explore a new topic or revisit a favourite subject over the course of a few days, a few weeks or a term. Our short courses run in person or online, with some offered in both formats – so you can choose the study option best for you.
- ‘Online – live’ courses are taught completely online and have scheduled, live-time meetings to attend. Live-time discussion and Q&A take place via an online platform. Additionally, some ‘online – live’ weekly courses have prerecorded lectures to enjoy. Courses include day events, weekend schools, lecture series and weekly classes.
- ‘Online – flexible’ courses are taught fully online but have no live-time meetings – so you can study when it suits you at any time of the day or night. Teaching takes place in a virtual learning environment, with students and tutors interacting in online text-based forums. The forums are not live and students can add their comments at any time.
- In-person events require attendance in Oxford and have no online components. These include weekly classes, day events and weekend schools.
- Hybrid teaching events are livestreamed from Oxford, or another specified location, and include lecture series, day events and weekend schools. You can choose to join either in person or online.
Upcoming courses
Online - live • Short courses • Hybrid - in person or online
Building on Mick Aston’s work on early medieval landscapes in Somerset, Professor Stephen Rippon explores the fragmentation of early folk territories into manors and parishes and the abandonment of a newly excavated settlement at Ipplepen, in Devon.
- Fri 01 Dec 2023
- 4:45 – 6:15pm
Online - live • Short courses • Hybrid - in person or online
Explore the Irish Literary Revival of the early 20th century. The works of W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge will be placed in the context of the Irish Home Rule movement and the events leading to the Easter Rising of 1916. Join online or in Oxford.
- Sat 02 Dec 2023
- 10:15am – 5:30pm
Online - live • Short courses • Hybrid - in person or online
Explore the career and achievements of John Singer Sargent: a portraitist extraordinary to the glittering Edwardian Age, who also painted sparkling landscapes, ambitious murals and one of the most haunting images of the Great War. Hybrid day school.
- Sat 02 Dec 2023
- 9:45am – 5:00pm
In-person day/weekend • Short courses
Identify, explore and resolve common punctuation, grammar and spelling problems with this friendly and supportive study day in Oxford.
- Sat 02 Dec 2023
- 1 meetings
- 9:45am – 5:00pm
Online - live • Short courses • Professional development
Many Change programmes fail to achieve their promised benefits, because they fail to take into account true Complexity. This course shows how to first assess Change projects in terms of their complexity and then to apply tools and methods appropriately.
- Tue 05 Dec 2023 – 08 Dec 2023
- 10:00-11:45 and 12:45-14:30