Education
Free Online Courses
University of Glasgow free online courses offer high-quality learning accessible to everyone, anywhere in the world. These flexible, engaging courses are designed to be studied entirely online, supporting you to upskill in key and emerging areas, develop new knowledge to support career progression and deepen your understanding across a wide range of subjects.
You’ll engage with a variety of resources including videos, articles, peer-reviewed assignments, hands-on tasks and interactive quizzes to reinforce your learning. Our courses range from 3-5hrs per week of learning with digital certificate on offer to evidence and showcase your learning.
The Scottish Highland Clans: Origins, Decline & Transformation
- Length: 3 weeks; 4 hours per week
- Start date: anytime
- Introductory: leads to further study opportunities
Why this course
Intended learning outcomes
- Develop an understanding of the origins and functions of the Scottish Highland clans, and assess their social structures, economy and culture
- Investigate the contrast between hostile stereotypes of the clans as barbaric and warlike and their day-to-day role as complex social communities
- Reflect on the processes of feuding, civil war, revolt and social-economic change between 1500 and 1800 that resulted in the slow transformation and decline of the clans
- Identify and assess the modern legacies of the clans in events such as Highland Games, Clan Societies and Tartan Parades, as well as their portrayal in film and television
- Assess in an informed way the key characteristics of Scottish Highland clanship, their history, their decline and their modern reinvention
- Assess the social and cultural basis of the new representations of clans, such as Highland games and clan societies, that developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
How to register
The course is hosted on an external learning platform, Futurelearn.
Registration for this course is free, with free time-limited access to content: charges may apply for additional features and extended study.
Early Modern Scottish Palaeography: Reading Scotland’s Records
Travel back in time through Scottish history by examining early modern Scottish handwriting.
- Length: 3 weeks; 3 hours per week
- Start date: anytime
- Introductory: leads to further study opportunities
Why this course
Intended learning outcomes
- The ability to read and interpret early modern manuscripts
- The specialist skills required to transcribe documents
- An understanding of how historical research is conducted
- Knowledge of politics, religion and society in early modern Scotland
- Familiarity with extant records stored in Scottish archives
- Expertise in handling the kirk session records of the Church of Scotland
How to register
The course is hosted on an external learning platform, Futurelearn.
Registration for this course is free, with free time-limited access to content: charges may apply for additional features and extended study.
Robert Burns: Poems, Songs and Legacy
Dig deeper into the life and works of Robert Burns, with this free University of Glasgow course.
- Length: 3 weeks; 4 hours per week
- Start date: anytime
Celebrate Robert Burns with this free online course.
This free course from the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, University of Glasgow, will introduce you to the life, works and global celebrity of Robert Burns.
You’ll examine poems, songs, manuscripts, and objects used to commemorate the poet. You’ll also develop your understanding of Robert Burns’s posthumous reputation – from Burns Suppers and Burns Night through to Hogmanay.
What topics will you cover?
- The cultural reputation of Robert Burns as patriot, lover, and man of the people
- Robert Burns as poet and songwriter
- Major works such as ‘Scots Wha Hae’, ‘Ae Fond Kiss’, ‘A Man’s a Man’, ‘The Vision’, and ‘Auld Lang Syne’
- The commemoration of Burns in material culture
- The international celebrity and legacy of Burns
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to…
-
Explore the poems, songs and legacy of Robert Burns
-
Discuss the reputation of Burns as a national and international poet
-
Collaborate with other learners in researching and mapping examples of Burns’s global reach
-
Develop an understanding of Burns’s place in Scottish literary tradition
-
Engage with diverse media related to the study of Burns, including poems, song recordings, videos, images, maps, and manuscripts
Who is the course for?
No previous experience or qualifications are required for this course – just an interest in Robert Burns, Scottish history and culture, or poetry and song in general.
It is ideal for anyone considering further study in the field, such the courses offered by the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow.
Robert Burns: Poems, Songs & Legacy – Online Course – FutureLearn
The Life & Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots
- Length: 3 weeks; 4 hours per week
- Start date: anytime
- Introductory: leads to further study opportunities
Why this course
Intended learning outcomes
- Apply a deep and broad knowledge of the personality of Mary Queen of Scots, of the major events and issues connected to her life and reign
- Assess the major developments in political, cultural and religious life in Scotland between c. 1542 and c. 1587, using sources in a variety of media to do so
- Compare the myriad ways in which Mary has been memorialized in popular culture from her own time to the present day
- Evaluate multiple interpretations of complex historical debates relating to Mary, her reign, and her cultural afterlife
How to register
The course is hosted on an external learning platform, Futurelearn.