University of Bristol Courses

Unleash Your Potential: Innovation and Enterprise

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Discover how to shape your world with innovationIn the ever-changing and highly competitive world we live in, the ability to think creatively has never been more important.Get an introduction to innovation and enterprise, and gain the confidence to generate ideas so that you can make a difference, with this online course from the University of Bristol.You’ll learn ways to develop ideas, gain creative confidence, and turn ideas into action.You’ll improve your problem solving capabilities, and discover problem structuring tools to tackle complex issues.Finally, you’ll learn how to develop networks, articulate ideas, and pitch successfully.This course is aimed at anyone interested in innovation and enterprise in the modern world, but may be of particular interest to students who are looking to develop their transferable skills for the workplace and general day-to-day life.

Decolonising Education: From Theory to Practice

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Decipher how to decolonise educational practicesRecent world events including the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign and the pulling down of the Colston statue in Bristol point to a rapid rise in concern about the persistence of colonial thinking and practices in our current institutions.This course will help you to understand the nature of the colonial legacy on our current state of knowledge and learning practices, and how decolonisation of the curriculum is important for social and epistemic justice.Identify the critical importance of decolonial theory in educational learning environmentsThis course is intended as a practical guide, with many examples, to help learners instigate meaningful decolonial changes in their own educational settings. You’ll gain an understanding of the history of colonialism and the legacy of colonial thought with respect to the development of universities and other educational institutions.You’ll also identify the critical importance of decolonial approaches in creating fully-inclusive educational learning environments.Gain the skills and knowledge to develop decolonial practicesYou’ll assess appropriate actions that would be effective in developing decolonial practices in your own educational settings, and will cover the importance of combining top-down and bottom-up decolonial approaches.Finally, you’ll understand how to lead a change process that includes students, colleagues and other stakeholders in a joint programme of decolonisation.Learn from decolonisation lecturers at the University of BristolThroughout the course you’ll be learning from lecturers at the University of Bristol, which has a strategic commitment to decolonisation in its research and education.[Course image credit: Getty/Harry Pugsley]This course is aimed primarily at university professionals and academic staff and students thinking about practical decolonisation at an institutional level.This course will also be useful for teachers and leadership team members in schools and colleges.It also may appeal to general learners interested in the current surge of interest in the colonial legacy and what decolonisation of knowledge and learning entails.

Unleash Your Potential: Sustainable Futures

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Find out how to deal with world sustainability issuesUnited Nations (UN) countries have adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.On this online course, you’ll learn about these UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the different roles people can play in creating a sustainable future.You’ll get an introduction to the sustainability challenges the modern world is facing, and gain the skills to play a part in solving them.You’ll learn how to make a positive contribution to society on a local and global scale, and create a happy and fulfilling sustainable future for everyone.This course is aimed at anyone interested in sustainability in a broad sense, but may be of particular interest to students who are looking to develop their transferable skills for the workplace and general day-to-day life.

Cracking Mechanics: Further Maths for Engineers

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The aim of this free online course is to introduce you to some of the physics and maths that engineers find useful.The content comprises: parts of A-level maths and further maths (mechanics); the physical laws which this maths is used to model; and examples of how these skills are employed in mechanical, aerospace, civil, environmental, materials and electrical engineering.The course is run over six weeks, and every week has a different theme, such as forces, motion or energy.Each week is split into bite-sized chunks, taking less than 30 minutes per day.You’ll watch videos, read articles, answer questions, do tests and quizzes, and discuss problems with other learners and help them with their problems too.You’ll learn maths skills like: calculus (integration, differentiation, and solving differential equations); trigonometry (e.g. resolving forces); and geometry (calculating where things are).You’ll learn laws of physics like Newton’s laws of motion and the laws of thermodynamics.Finally, you’ll see how these tools and principles allow engineers to design: planes, cars, skyscrapers, bridges, dams, ICT networks, self-healing materials, robots, water treatment systems, wind turbines, hydro-power systems, biofuel plants.The course is designed to be adaptable to your needs with quick questions (to check knowledge) and optional work sheets (so you can focus on areas that are new to you or practise skills that you want to improve).The aim of the course is to “have a go, get it wrong, and learn some new skills and knowledge”, it is certainly not to complete every single task perfectly.The course is aimed at A-level students and first year undergraduates who want to “up-skill” themselves with some of the maths they’ve not been taught or have forgotten.However, the maths worksheets are optional, so this course is suitable for anyone with an interest in physics, maths or engineering.In short, A-level maths is useful but not essential.

Cultural Studies and Modern Languages: an Introduction

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##Are you interested in other countries? Do you want to study and understand other cultures? This free online course will take you on a journey through a number of periods from the medieval to the modern day, from Russia to Europe and all the way to Latin America.Explore eight countriesTogether we’ll explore eight countries by looking at some of the slogans, books, monuments and images which emerged from them over different historical periods. You will learn about the following topics:Slogans: Franco Basaglia’s La libertà è terapeutica; Dolores Ibárruri’s ¡No pasarán!; Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!Books: Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables; Dante’s Inferno; Ladislav Fuks’s The CrematorMonuments: The Holocaust Memorial; The Obelisk of Luxor; The Bronze HorsemanImages: Bouabdellah’s video artwork ‘Belly Dancing to the Marseillaise: French Identity in Video Art’;Shepherd’s map of the Habsburg Empire;The Quauhquechollan’s cloth paintingLearn with 12 cultural expertsYou’ll learn with a team of 12 academics from the University of Bristol’s School of Modern Languages. They are experts on different countries and passionate about the study of culture.They will offer you an understanding of how language and objects/artefacts can reveal insights into nations. You’ll get the chance to discuss these with other learners online, and enjoy further reading, writing and research opportunities.This four-week course will give you a taste of the university’s BA in Modern Languages where cultural studies plays a key role in the degree alongside the study of foreign languages.This course is partly funded by Routes into Languages. You can find out more about what to expect in Gloria Visintini’s post for the FutureLearn blog: “What do three slogans tell us about the cultures they come from?”This course is ideal if you’re thinking about a degree in modern languages, although it is open to anyone. English is the only language needed.