Department for Continuing Education

Oxford was one of the pioneers of the University Extension movement in the United Kingdom, and we still retain our original mission of making the scholarship of the University accessible to wider audiences. In recent years the Department has grown very considerably, and now every year more than 15,000 people join one or more of our courses. Our students may be members of the public who wish to study a subject out of general interest or for personal satisfaction, members of professional groups or business organisations who wish to update their professional knowledge and skills, or participants in our increasingly large number of courses for international groups. Most of our longer courses now lead to a University award or other forms of credit but the large number of short courses on offer may be taken by those who are less interested in obtaining further qualifications. Courses last from one day to several weeks; the residential courses are held in Oxford but other part-time courses are also held in a large number of other centres.

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Title	Description	People	Date
Talking to Camera	A new one-day course at the Department for Continuing Education taught by Paul Heiney, writer and broadcaster, this course is intended to help people face a video camera with confidence, and communicate through the fast-growing video media.	Paul Heiney	4 May, 2011
Mathematics in the real world	Inspired by Évariste Galois's attempts to express symmetry using mathematical equations, Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores the inextricable link between the physical world and mathematics.	Marcus du Sautoy	25 November, 2010
The God Delusion: Questions and Answers	Stephen Law and Marianne Talbot take part in a panel discussion with Tom Fisher, chairman of the Oxford Philosophical Society, chairing. They answer questions form the audience about The God Delusion and discuss the philosophical issues surrounding it.	Marianne Talbot, Stephen Law, Tom Fisher	20 May, 2010
Attacking the God hypothesis in other ways	Stephen Law gives the fourth talk on Richard Dawkins' The God Delsuon as part of The God Delusion Weekend.	Stephen Law	20 May, 2010
Has Dawkins shown that God is Redundant?	Marianne Talbot presents the third talk on Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as part of The God Delusion Weekend.	Marianne Talbot	20 May, 2010
The Strengths and Weaknesses of The God Delusion	Stephen Law givs the second talk on Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as part of The God Delusion Weekend.	Stephen Law	20 May, 2010
A Scientific Hypothesis?	Marianne Talbot gives the first talk on Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as part of The God Delusion Weekend.	Marianne Talbot	20 May, 2010
Evaluating Arguments Part Two	Part six of a six-part series on critical reasoning. In this final lecture we will look at fallacies. These are bad arguments that can easily be mistaken for good arguments.	Marianne Talbot	18 March, 2010
Evaluating Arguments Part One	Part five of a six-part series on critical reasoning. In this lecture we will continue with the evaluation of arguments - this time deductive arguments - focusing in particular on the notion of validity.	Marianne Talbot	15 March, 2010
Taming the Casino Banks	In this podcast the experts discuss whether the 'casino' banks that are considered too big to fail are simply too big, and explain the arguments for and against splitting them up.	Jonathan Michie, Martin Slater, Linda Yueh	15 March, 2010
What is a Good Argument? Validity and Truth	Part four of a six-part series on critical reasoning. In this lecture we will learn how to evaluate arguments and how to tell whether an argument is good or bad, focusing specifically on inductive arguments.	Marianne Talbot	11 March, 2010
Setting out Arguments Logic Book Style	Part three of a six-part series on critical reasoning. In this lecture we will focus on how to identify and analyse arguments, and how to set arguments out logic book-style to make them easier to evaluate.	Marianne Talbot	10 March, 2010
Different Types of Arguments	The second of six lectures dealing with critical reasoning. In this lecture you will learn about the different types of arguments, in particular deductive and inductive arguments.	Marianne Talbot	29 January, 2010
The Nature of Arguments	The first of six lectures dealing with critical reasoning. In this lecture you will learn how to recognise arguments and what the nature of an argument is.	Marianne Talbot	29 January, 2010
Bank bonuses, breakups and regulation	In the first podcast of 2010, the experts discuss bank bonuses, proposed break-ups and tighter regulation of the banking and financial sectors.	Linda Yueh, Jonathan Michie, Martin Slater	28 January, 2010
Mathematics: Navigating Nature's Dark Labyrinth	"Mathematics: Navigating Nature's Dark Labyrinth" - the Inaugural Lecture of the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, 2009.	Marcus du Sautoy	30 November, 2009
The Visitors and Residents Principle: A guide to assessing motivations towards the web	An update to Prensky's 'Digital Natives' idea, taking the stand-point that individuals attitudes to the web are not primarily governed by age or technical skill.	David White	25 November, 2009
Occupational Health and Safety in a Research Setting	Dr Simon Ndirangu, Bioanalytical Laboratory at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya discusses the importance of implementing occupational health and safety standards in research settings.	Simon Ndirangu Muchohi	29 October, 2009
Measurement of Drug Levels in Clinical Trials	Dr Simon Ndirangu, Bioanalytical Laboratory at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya describes the basic concepts of pharmacological clinical trials, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.	Simon Ndirangu Muchohi	29 October, 2009
Setting Up a Laboratory for Clinical Trials in Resource-Poor Settings	Ken Awuondo, Clinical Trials Laboratory Manager for the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya gives an overview of the requirements for setting up a laboratory in resource-poor settings.	Ken Awuondo	29 October, 2009
The Role of Laboratory in Clinical Trials	Ken Awuondo, Clinical Trials Laboratory Manager for the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya gives an overview of the role of the laboratory in clinical trials.	Ken Awuondo	29 October, 2009
Data Safety Monitoring Boards: Their Place and Role in Trials	Dr Roma Chilengi, Head of Clinical Trials at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya discusses clinical trial data safety monitoring boards (DSMBs).	Roma Chilengi	29 October, 2009
Clinical Trial Protocol Development	Dr Phaik Yeong Cheah, Head of Clinical Trials at the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit in Bangkok, Thailand discusses clinical trial protocol development.	Phaik Yeong Cheah	29 October, 2009
Introduction to Research Ethics	Dr Roma Chilengi, Head of Clinical Trials at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya gives an introduction to research ethics.	Roma Chilengi	29 October, 2009
The Story of ICH-GCP: An introduction for investigators and site staff	Dr Roma Chilengi, Head of Clinical Trials at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya gives an introduction to ICH-GCP.	Roma Chilengi	29 October, 2009
An Introduction to Clinical Trials	George Warimwe from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya presents an introduction to clinical trials aimed at trial site staff and anyone new to the field.	George Warimwe	29 October, 2009
Challenging Macroeconomics	In part 6, our experts examine new models for monetary and fiscal policy, global financial markets and a world economy characterised by global imbalances.	Linda Yueh, Jonathan Michie, Martin Slater	11 August, 2009
UK Budget and Global Recovery Plans	In Part 5, our experts examine the British economy in light of the recent Budget, and assess whether a global recovery may be on the horizon.	Linda Yueh, Jonathan Michie, Martin Slater	4 June, 2009
The world's first tracheal transplant	A lecture "The world's first tracheal transplant" given by Prof Martin Birchall, University of Bristol, at the 10th OIBC Spring Symposium, held jointly with the Department for Continuing Education, at St Edward's School, Oxford, on 4 March 2009.	Martin Birchall	5 May, 2009
Tissue engineering and stem cell technology	A lecture, "Tissue engineering and stem cell technology" given by Prof ZhanFeng Cui, University of Oxford, at the 10th OIBC Spring Symposium, held jointly with the Department for Continuing Education, at St Edward's School, Oxford, on 4 March 2009.	ZhanFeng Cui	5 May, 2009
Stem cells: what are they and why are they important	A lecture "Stem cells: what are they and why are they important" given by Professor Sir Richard Gardner at the 10th OIBC Spring Symposium, held jointly with the Department for Continuing Education, at St Edward's School, Oxford, on 4 March 2009.	Richard Gardner	5 May, 2009
The reversal of cell differentiation and prospects for cell replacement therapy	The inaugural Anne McLaren Memorial Lecture, "The reversal of cell differentiation and prospects for cell replacement therapy", given by Prof Sir John Gurdon FRS, University of Cambridge, at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, on 7 November 2008.	John Gurdon	5 May, 2009
G20: Solutions to Global Depression?	In this fourth podcast Linda Yueh and Jonathan Michie discuss the G20 debates over co-ordinated fiscal expansion, global regulation, and the role of the IMF.	Linda Yueh, Jonathan Michie	31 March, 2009
Credit Crunch Live	Economics students of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford pose questions to a panel of experts about the credit crunch and global recession.	Linda Yueh, Martin Slater, Outi Aarnio, John Knight	25 February, 2009
Bank Bail-outs and Obama's Green New Deal	In this second podcast, Linda Yueh and Jonathan Michie discuss President Obama's Green New Deal, banking bail-outs, quantitative easing and whether we can spend our way out of the economic crisis.	Linda Yueh, Jonathan Michie	28 January, 2009
Philosophy of language and mind	Language and Mind: What is rationality? What is consciousness? How do we manage to express our thoughts and experiences in language?	Marianne Talbot	9 January, 2009
Metaphysics and Epistemology	Metaphysics and Epistemology: what exists, what is its nature and how can we acquire knowledge of it?	Marianne Talbot	9 January, 2009
Ethics and politics	Moral and Political Philosophy: how should we live? What constitutes a just state?	Marianne Talbot	9 January, 2009
The philosophical method - logic and argument	Logic and Argument: the joys of symbolic and philosophical logic.	Marianne Talbot	9 January, 2009
Global Recession: How Did it Happen?	Linda Yueh talks to Jonathan Michie about the credit crunch and looming global recession, the effect it has had on both banks and businesses, and how a Green New Deal may provide a solution to the crisis.	Linda Yueh, Jonathan Michie	22 December, 2008
A romp through the history of philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the present day.	A romp through the history of philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the present day.	Marianne Talbot	13 November, 2008
John Milton: poet, pamphleteer and patriot	Dr Anna Beer gives an overview of the life and works of the poet John Milton.	Anna Beer	11 September, 2008
How foreign policy is made	Alan Hunt gives an overview of how foreign policy is made - part of a recent training course for junior diplomats.	Alan Hunt	11 September, 2008
Introduction to the software life-cycle	Introductory lecture, given by Dr Raymond Flood, for the summer school part of the online diploma in computing.	Raymond Flood	11 September, 2008
New economic powers: China	Introduction to the BRICs and China's political economy - lecture given by Dr Yueh.	Linda Yueh	9 September, 2008
If I were you, I wouldn't start from here: understanding Oxford through its past	Local history lecture, by Chris Day, giving an overview of the history of the University of Oxford.	Chris Day	1 September, 2008
Phoebe: a pedagogic planner	Marion Manton gives an overview of the Phoebe project which aims to guide practitioners working in post-compulsory learning (FE, HE and ACL) in designing effective and pedagogically sound learning activities.	Marion Manton	1 September, 2008
Using virtual worlds for teaching and learning	David White gives an overview of the Open Habitat project which is investigating using virtual worlds for teaching and learning.	David White	29 August, 2008
Choices and challenges: lessons learned in the evolution of online learning	Lecture given by Dr DiPaolo May 2006 on the lessons learned in the evolution of online education.	Andy DiPaolo	15 August, 2008

Department for Continuing Education

Related

Series in this collection

A Romp Through Ethics for Complete Beginners

The God Delusion Weekend

Critical Reasoning for Beginners

Clinical Trials in Resource-Limited Settings

Anne McLaren Memorial Lectures

The Credit Crunch and Global Recession

Philosophy for Beginners

Humanities at the Department for Continuing Education

Social Sciences at the Department for Continuing Education

Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences at the Department for Continuing Education

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