Ace
Short answer: many countries run excellent free study platforms: OpenLearn in the UK, OpenStax and MIT OpenCourseWare in the US, eCampusOntario and BCcampus in Canada, NPTEL and SWAYAM in India, Virtual University lectures in Pakistan, Studyflix in Germany and Trove in Australia. Start with your own university library, then add the national resources for your country, and always pair reading or videos with self-testing.
Which free resources work from anywhere?
- Your university library: free access to journals, e-books and databases you'd otherwise pay for. It's the most underused resource students have.
- Khan Academy: free videos and practice, strongest in maths and science.
- MIT OpenCourseWare: materials from real MIT courses, free for anyone.
- Google Scholar and Zotero: free academic search and free reference management.
What free study resources does each country offer?
United Kingdom
- OpenLearn (The Open University): hundreds of free short courses at university level, many with a free certificate of participation.
- FutureLearn: online courses from UK and international universities, many of which can be studied for free for a limited time.
United States
- OpenStax (Rice University): free, peer-reviewed textbooks for introductory university courses.
- MIT OpenCourseWare and many universities' own open course pages.
Canada
- eCampusOntario Open Library: a large collection of free, openly licensed textbooks.
- BCcampus Open Education: free open textbooks and course materials from British Columbia.
India
- NPTEL: free video courses from the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science, especially strong in engineering and science.
- SWAYAM: the government's free online course platform covering many university subjects.
Pakistan
- Virtual University of Pakistan: publishes a large library of recorded lectures for free on its public channels, across many subjects.
Germany
- Studyflix: free explanation videos in German for school and university subjects, from maths to business.
Australia
- Trove (National Library of Australia): free access to digitised newspapers, books and archives, very useful for history and humanities research.
- Your university's study skills hub: most Australian universities offer free workshops and guides open to their students.
Across Europe
- Europeana: a free EU platform with millions of digitised items from European museums, libraries and archives, great for history, art and culture courses.
Anywhere: finding open textbooks for your course
If your country isn't listed, search for "open textbook" plus your subject and country, or ask your university library which open educational resources they recommend. Many universities now keep their own collections of free course materials for exactly this reason.
How do you use free resources well?
- Choose one main source per topic. Jumping between five platforms feels productive but usually isn't.
- Follow every video or chapter with practice. Testing yourself beats rereading or rewatching for long-term memory (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).
- Use active techniques. Practice testing and spaced practice were rated the most effective study techniques in a major review of the research (Dunlosky et al., 2013).
- Space it out. Coming back to a topic over several days leads to much better retention than one long session (Cepeda et al., 2006).
To practise on any material you find, Ace turns PDFs, slides and YouTube lectures into practice questions, each answer showing the line from the material it came from. See also 12 free study resources to share with students.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use these resources if I study in a different country?
Most of them, yes: OpenLearn, OpenStax, MIT OpenCourseWare, NPTEL and the open textbook libraries are open to everyone online. Some features or certificates may be limited to residents.
Are free online courses recognised by universities?
Usually not as credit, unless your university says so. Their value is the learning itself, which you can use to understand your own course better.
What's the best free resource for university students?
Your own university library and your lecture materials. National platforms are excellent extras, but your exams are written from your course.
Sources
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.
- Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
- Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
