Since the coronavirus first made headlines in November 2019, it has grown to impact almost every aspect of our daily lives in the UK and around the world.
At FutureLearn, our goal is to provide everyone with access to learning, no matter where they live or what their circumstances. This has never been more important than during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From providing continuity for students moving to online learning to understanding how to improve testing capacity for suspected COVID-19 cases, sharing evidence-based knowledge and working together as a global community is key to overcoming the virus and its effects.
This post collates all of our course resources for learning more about coronavirus and coping with its impact.
Whether you’re a healthcare professional looking for support in responding to COVID-19 at work or a concerned member of the public interested in how coronavirus is impacting our lives and health, you’ll find support through the courses on this page.
Courses for healthcare professionals
We know how hard healthcare professionals are working to save lives and deliver much-needed care in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In such a fast-moving situation, it’s important health workers receive the latest training and that anyone who wants to can access up-to-date information regarding COVID-19.
Alongside global healthcare experts and organisations, we’re offering free courses made by healthcare professionals, for healthcare professionals.
These courses are specifically designed to support frontline clinical workers in the fight against COVID-19 and have been created by healthcare institutions that are leaders in their field.
COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application from the University of Edinburgh and The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
This course has been created by the University of Edinburgh, one of the world’s top universities and globally recognised for research, innovation and high-quality teaching.
Edinburgh designed the course in collaboration with The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. RCPH set the specialty training standards for physicians in the UK and have been enabling doctors to pursue careers in specialist internal medicine through medical examinations, education and training for over 300 years.
Their critical care course is for health workers who need to learn the principles and practice of treating critically ill patients during the coronavirus.
Many health workers are moving from roles in other areas of healthcare practice and may not have recent critical care training. The course will support those refreshing critical care knowledge and skills, as well as newly qualified doctors, those who are upskilling, and those returning to acute clinical services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Professor Andrew Elder, said of the course, “There can be little doubt that this resource will help to save lives in many parts of the world.”
As well as covering how to apply critical care principles in practice, this learning resource offers strategies for looking after your emotional wellbeing in a high-stress, high-risk environment. The course also advises on the correct PPE equipment for anyone working in critical care.
COVID-19: Diagnostics and Testing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM)
With testing acknowledged as crucial to outbreak control, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has also joined forces with FIND and ASLM to design a coronavirus diagnostics and testing course. It examines how to improve testing capacity, particularly in low-income settings.
This course explores the latest recommendations on COVID-19 testing and will provide you with up-to-date information on the performance of tests and how best to deploy them.
You’ll learn the global recommendations on the use of COVID-19 diagnostics and testing strategies, and explore how different countries are scaling up testing capacity.
The course is for anyone involved in the testing and diagnosis of COVID-19, from Ministry of Health officials to laboratory technologists and technicians.
Managing COVID-19 in General Practice from St George’s, University of London
For those working in primary care, St George’s, University of London’s General Practice course explores how to respond to the pandemic as a frontline clinician dealing with a large volume of coronavirus patients.
St George’s is the UK’s only university dedicated to medical and health sciences education, training and research.
The university has three research institutes that focus on biomedical and scientific discovery, advancing the prevention and treatment of disease in the fields of population health, and heart disease and infection – three of the greatest challenges to global health in the 21st century.
This course will teach you what you need to know and what you need to do in relation to COVID-19 in primary care.
With practical advice from industry experts, you’ll learn how to complete a safe assessment of a suspected COVID-19 case and discover the best protocol for protecting yourself from the virus whilst doing so.
The information covered will be relevant to healthcare practitioners around the globe, though the course will be based around guidance from UK public health bodies.
Airway Matters from UCL (University College London) and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH)
Endorsed by the Difficult Airway Society, this course is designed for any health professionals who need to provide airway support to patients, or care for patients with a compromised airway.
In partnership with UCL, UCLH is one of only five comprehensive biomedical research centres in the UK. They exist to support the delivery of top-quality patient care, and world-class education and research.
The course explores how to ensure human and technical resources for safe airway management are best utilised in crisis.
You’ll learn how to undertake the extremely challenging and complex task of managing a person’s airway and will develop strategies to improve patient safety in your area of healthcare practice.
This course covers all aspects of airway management and has been updated with the latest guidance on airway management in patients with COVID-19 and the relevant PPE.
COVID-19: Effective Nursing in Times of Crisis from John Hopkins University and School of Nursing
Designed for nurses and healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients, this course covers how to provide quality care with limited resources.
The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is a globally-recognised leader in nursing education, research, and practice and is ranked number one internationally for its master’s programs.
The course will help you respond to the impact of coronavirus in your own context. Using the experience of nurses in crisis zones, you’ll learn how to work effectively with low resources.
You’ll discover how to lead as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic, understand what palliative care looks like at this time, and consider how healthcare systems will recover.
Courses for teachers moving to remote teaching
Although coronavirus is impacting almost every industry, with schools, universities, and colleges being shut around the world education is one of the hardest-hit sectors.
Though most are continuing to offer teaching through online means, quickly switching to online teaching is extremely disruptive to both teachers and students. We’ve dedicated an entire to courses that will help ease the transition to online teaching.
Whether you’re teaching primary students or university graduates, with courses from experts in digital education like the UCL Institute of Education, Cambridge Assessment English and the National STEM Learning Centre, you can discover digital tools to make teaching online easier, as well as methods to align your offline and online teaching approach.
The Open University has also created a course for anyone who wants to get to grips with the basics of online learning and make the most of its benefits. You’ll discover the skills required for online study and evaluate your own study skill set.
With nearly ten years of experience in online learning, and in response to COVID-19, our expert learning design team have created a free course for teachers to provide continuity for students moving to online learning.
You’ll make practical steps towards online teaching and student support, and be able to share your stories and approaches with a global community of educators who’ll help you to get started and keep going.
Courses for coping with and understanding the impact of coronavirus
As well as creating free courses for health workers, frontline clinicians and keyworkers, we’ve created free coronavirus course resources for members of the public who want to learn more about responding to the evolving situation.
COVID-19: Tackling the Novel Coronavirus from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s course on tackling the novel coronavirus lays out all we currently know about the disease itself and is designed for anyone who‘d like an in-depth guide to the virus and its worldwide implications.
LSHTM are world leaders in research and postgraduate education in public and global health and their mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide.
Their course covers how and where the outbreak emerged, how it has spread, and the global health measures and impact of the pandemic going forward.
COVID-19: Pandemics, Modelling, and Policy from The Open University and UNESCO UNITWIN Complex Systems Digital Campus (CS-DC)
Designed for anyone looking to make sense of the conflicting information around COVID-19, this course explores the scientific modelling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Using the accepted facts and statistics of COVID-19 like the incubation period, recovery time and reproduction rates, you’ll learn the role forecasts and computer models play in understanding pandemics.
Once you understand the concept of scientific modelling, you’ll learn how to critique models, and explore how they can support policymakers in times of pandemic crisis.
The course is a collaborative effort from Unesco’s Complex Systems Digital Campus (CS-DC) and the OU. CS-DC is an international network of individuals and more than 100 universities and institutions who work together to share resources and promote research and education in complex systems science. They work to bridge the back between academia, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making.
Panic-Buying During Crisis: How Do Food Supply Chains Cope? from EIT Food
The fallout from the movement restrictions imposed due to coronavirus saw many supermarkets out of stock and being forced to impose limits on how many items customers could buy at once. Although less acute as lockdown has gone on, there has been a clear increase in food stockpiling, and there are concerns about how the food supply chain will cope.
This course explains the challenges faced by different members of the food supply chain and the steps they have to take to ensure food security.
Created by EIT FOOD, leaders in food education and research, this course explores how crises affect how and what we eat, and highlights innovative digital food services and solutions.
COVID-19: Helping Young People Manage Low Mood and Depression from the University of Reading
In an unprecedented time of upheaval and change, the mental health of many young people is vulnerable.
This course for young people and their parents, carers, or teachers provides helpful and practical techniques to cope with low mood and depression during the lockdown period and beyond.
You’ll learn the value of structure, diet, and sleep, and how to keep up positive family communication about your young person’s worried thoughts and feelings. This course will help young people and their families build the lasting habit of resilience, at a time when it’s needed the most.
Thrive in Trying Times Teach-Out from the University of Michigan
The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging individuals, communities, and businesses across the globe to work together like never before.
This course–led by experts from the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan–will teach you practices and concepts to help you through this time of crisis.
You’ll learn about resilience, compassion, and gratitude, and tangible steps to take as an individual or community to maintain personal and collective wellbeing.
We’re working together with world-leading universities and research organisations to bring you up-to-date courses on topics that matter in this time of crisis.
We’re adding new courses all the time. To hear about the latest new coronavirus courses on FutureLearn, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
