Continuing Professional Development courses

Are you looking for a quick and effective way to build new skills within your team? With over 40 courses to choose from, including digital marketing, digital transformation, business management, and more, we offer digestible, bite-sized learning that can be completed at your employees' own pace.

Key benefits of Continuing Professional Development

Typically 10-50 hours of self-paced study
Most are available to start at any time
Suitable for beginners and those with some experience
Created by leading OU academics or industry experts
Stay up-to-date with industry trends
Test understanding with reflection and multiple-choice questions
Learn in an engaging and interactive environment on the OU's platform

Sponsor an employee or a group of employees by paying some or all of their course fees.

Contact us today to learn more about our CPD courses, request a registration pack, or explore flexible learning options tailored to your needs.

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Business and Management

Course	Description
Analytical thinking for problem solving	Develop the analytical and problem-solving skills needed to contribute effectively in organisations.
Behavioural insights for the workplace	Learn how and why people interact in different ways and how this contributes to the successful working of organisations.
Communication skills in the digital world	Explore changes in the way we communicate in the digital era and the tools to make more effective communications.
Creating a successful and sustainable business	Learn about the approaches and methodologies for sustainable business and how to implement a sustainable impact for positive change.
Creative thinking for the workplace	Reflect on your creative journey, and learn new tools, skills and approaches to add value to organisations.
Design thinking in the digital world	Learn what ‘design thinking’ is, how it can create value and explore how it is used.
Introduction to business and workplace coaching	This is ideal if you've little or no coaching experience and want to use coaching to develop people, ensure wellbeing and enable performance.
Developing a coaching culture	Develop your people, their wellbeing and the organisation you work in using a coaching approach.
Developing strategy to manage uncertainty	This course will teach you what a strategy is, who can be a strategist and how to develop a strategic mindset.
Developing team leader skills	Learn various techniques to develop teamworking skills and understand the challenges of teamworking in ever-changing environments.
Evaluating financial performance	This course deals with performance measures that can be calculated from information in published and audited financial statements.
Leadership in the digital world	Explore aspects of leadership and the importance of effective leadership in a digital era.
Managing a budget	Learn how to use financial techniques in managerial decision-making and become more confident about dealing with finance professionals.
Managing change in the digital world	Discover the different aspects of managing change and planning for change – even when the nature of the change is unknown.
Managing uncertainty through monitoring and control	Learn about the importance of strategic monitoring and control systems to effective strategy implementation.
Managing uncertainty through policy implementation	Discover why public policies and services have become so important and the relationship between policy and organisational life.
Organisational behaviour in the workplace	This course focuses on interactions in and around organisations, and the variety of environments that organisations network with.
Start your own business	Gain the knowledge and practical skills to turn your small business ambitions into reality.
The impact of storytelling in business	In this course, you'll consider aspects of storytelling at the personal, organisational, and social levels.
Understanding financial statements	Develop a general knowledge of financial reports and accounting concepts to understand the uses of financial statements.

Communication and Cultures

Course	Description
An introduction to artificial intelligence	Examine historical, ethical and social issues around Artificial Intelligence technology.
AI language technology in the workplace	Explore Language Technology, a rising form of Artificial Intelligence, and its impact in our working lives.
An introduction to intercultural competence in the workplace	Improve your intercultural communication skills in the workplace.

Counselling and Social Care

Course	Description
Advanced therapeutic relationships	Develop an advanced understanding of how to work effectively with the therapeutic relationship.
Online counselling: advancing your knowledge	Advance your understanding of how to provide online counselling effectively and safely.
Online counselling: getting started	Written in partnership with leading professional bodies, this course introduces practitioners to online counselling and setting up a video/phone provision with clients.
Trauma-informed counselling	Enhance your understanding of trauma-informed counselling, including the importance of self-awareness.

Creative Writing

Course	Description
Introduction to creative writing	Develop your creative writing skills as you explore poetry, fiction and scriptwriting.

Digital Marketing

Course	Description
Introduction to digital marketing	Build core digital marketing skills and knowledge to plan and implement first-class digital campaigns.
Digital marketing content creation	Gain the practical skills to create effective online content that engages your audience and delivers business objectives.
Social media marketing	Accelerate your social media marketing skills across a range of channels, measure your success, and optimise your approach.

Education

Course	Description
Blended learning innovations for teachers and trainers	Learn to plan, deliver and evaluate innovative blended learning in education and training.
Creative education (OCA)	Explore the relationship between creativity and education, and how teaching and artistic practices can interact and complement each other to enhance teaching and learning.
Generative AI in education	Explore the opportunities and challenges of generative AI in education, with practical guidance for ethical, effective teaching, learning and employability.
Teaching climate action: empowering students to tackle the climate crisis	Learn to teach for climate action across disciplines, support student skills, and create a climate education action plan.
Teaching with eXtended reality (XR)	Transform your teaching and create immersive, engaging experiences that boost outcomes and inclusivity.

Film, Media and Photography

Course	Description
Digital photography	Broaden your photography skills with a course produced with The Royal Photographic Society (RPS).
Storytelling with video editing	Learn the basics of video editing through a series of practical activities using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Law

Course	Description
Foundations of UK immigration law (OISC Level 1)	Explore the skills and knowledge expected of an OISC Level 1 Immigration Adviser.
Advanced UK immigration law (OISC Levels 2 and 3)	Learn more about UK immigration law and develop the skills to work at OISC Levels 2 and 3.

See all Open University short courses.

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