Free open learning materials and browser tools for data and digital workplace skills (SQL, spreadsheets)

ManyPI, a Germany-based software company that develops sales and lead-generation tools, publishes an education section with free, openly licensed teaching and self-study materials on data, email and digital sales. It contains around 90 resources, including guides, exercises, worksheets, lesson plans, datasets and browser-based tools. Each item lists an estimated duration, for example 25 minutes for a short exercise and 90 minutes for a lesson plan.

Practising SQL in the browser

The SQL sandbox runs a real SQLite database in the browser. It offers four databases: an office supplies shop, school scores, a fictional email campaign and an empty database for building one’s own tables. Its 24 tasks range from a first filter with WHERE to joins across three tables and subqueries. A “check my query” button compares the learner’s result with the expected one, while hints and model solutions are available on request.

Teachers can use a classroom mode designed for projectors and share a starting query as a link. According to the provider, queries run on the learner’s device, nothing is stored and no account is needed. Further materials include a SQL basics exercise, a 90-minute SQL joins lesson and the SQL Query Playground, which lets learners query a CSV file without setting up a database.

Spreadsheets and other workplace skills

The collection also includes a 25-minute exercise on spreadsheet functions for business data (SUM, AVERAGE, COUNTIF and SUMIFS) and a worksheet on weighted pipeline, sales velocity and pipeline coverage. Business English materials cover writing business emails and value propositions. A guide on where B2B leads come from includes an overview of consent and data protection in the EU. A separate logic gates sandbox lets learners build circuits and read the truth table.

Tools for teachers

An exercise builder creates quizzes, matching exercises, gap texts and writing tasks, which can be shared as a link or printed. The class results tool lets teachers paste the codes that learners hand in and see each learner’s score per task.

Access, licence and level

The materials are free and do not require registration. The SQL sandbox page states a CC BY 4.0 licence: the material may be copied, adapted and shared, including commercially, with credit to ManyPI and a link back. The licence is shown on each resource page. The SQL sandbox is aimed at bachelor’s degree, upper secondary and vocational training levels, and all materials are in English.

Good to know

The materials are published by a commercial software company. Much of the example content is set in sales and email outreach, and the company’s paid products are promoted elsewhere on the same website. The education section itself can be used without an account.

Methodology

The resources combine hands-on practice with teaching support. Learners work through short exercises and tasks, such as writing SQL queries in a browser-based sandbox that checks their answers automatically, with hints and model solutions available on request. Lesson plans, exercises and worksheets of 25 to 90 minutes support classroom use or self-study. Teachers can also build their own exercises (quizzes, matching and gap-text tasks) and review learners’ scores per task.