From big data to drone warfare: new free online courses address today’s hot topics

New free online courses are now live on FutureLearn and ready for you to join, while many past courses are getting ready to run again. Here’s our quick guide to them all.

Election 2015 for AS Level Politics

This three-week course from the University of Leeds is designed for AS Level Politics students.

It’ll help you prepare for your exams, by understanding how political concepts impact on real-life politics in the 2015 UK General Election.

Find out more and join the course – it starts 9 March.

Inequalities in Personal Finance: the Baby Boom Legacy

In many developed countries, there are rising concerns about generational and economic inequalities.

This four-week course from The Open University explores the key issues, asking whether the baby boomer generation really had it all and how we can create a fair deal for everyone.

Find out more and join the course – it starts 23 March.

From State Control to Remote Control: Warfare in the 21st Century

Drones, special ops units and private security firms are increasingly used around the world.

This six-week course from the University of Bath explores the ethics and impact of this phenomenon, including how remote control warfare is seen by those at its receiving end.

Find out more and join the course – it starts 13 April.

Religion and Conflict

Understand and analyze the role of religion in conflicts and peacebuilding, with this free online course from the University of Groningen.

Over six weeks, you’ll acquire the knowledge and analytical skills to develop critical insights into one of the world’s most urgent issues today.

Find out more and join the course – it starts 13 April.

Big Data: Measuring and Predicting Human Behaviour

Discover how the vast amounts of data generated today can help us understand and even predict how humans behave.

This University of Warwick course lasts nine weeks. It’ll help you unlock the power of datasets across domains including economics, crime and health.

Find out more and join the course – it starts 20 April.

Dyslexia and Foreign Language Teaching

This University of Lancaster course offers practical tools and theoretical insights, to help you teach dyslexic students second languages.

Lasting four weeks, it’s designed for both modern language teachers and those who teach English as a foreign language.

Find out more and join the course – it starts 20 April.

The Holocaust: an Introduction – Parts 1 & 2

These two courses from Tel Aviv University and Yad Vashem depict the complex history of the Holocaust, highlighting its impact on our world today.

Each course lasts three weeks. Together, they’ll take you from the emergence of Nazi ideology, through Jewish ghettos and the infamous concentration camps, to the massive memorial projects undertaken today.

Part 1 starts 20 April and Part 2 starts 11 May.

More free online courses

Finally, 10 popular courses will start again in March and April 2015, covering a wide variety of subjects:

• The Mind is Flat: the Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology
• The Science of Medicines
• Innovation and Enterprise
• Causes of War
• Forensic Science and Criminal Justice
• Global Food Security: Addressing the Challenge
• Introduction to Cyber Security
• Psychology and Mental Health: Beyond Nature and Nurture
• Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching
• Start Writing Fiction