7 Free Online Courses Offered By Canadian Universities That Are Actually Interesting
In the classes, you'll use DNA to solve a murder, design an interactive game, find the best place for you to live and more! 📚
Students on laptops at the University of B.C. Right: People gathered in front of a University of Toronto building.
There are so many free online courses being offered by Canadian universities that are actually pretty interesting.
If you want to learn something new or expand the knowledge you already have, you can find classes with the University of Alberta, McMaster University, the University of B.C. and the University of Toronto you can take free of cost.
The free online courses that are available include Introduction to Psychology, DNA Decoded, Working as a Game Writer and Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds.
In some of the classes, you won't just learn something new but you'll also put that knowledge into practice.
You'll use DNA analysis of samples from a crime scene to solve a murder, design a simple interactive game, assess your own community to find the best place for you to live and more!
So, here are seven free university courses that you can take online with Canadian universities.
Introduction to Psychology
School: University of Toronto
Course Description: This course will highlight experiments within the field of psychology, explore the brain and its cognitive abilities, examine human development and discuss mental illnesses and their treatments.
Working as a Game Writer
School: University of B.C.
Course Description: In this course, you'll explore what it takes to get a job as a video game writer or narrative designer.
Throughout the class, you'll learn how to get experience that will make you stand out, what the hiring process is like, what writing tests you might have to do and how to connect with people in the industry.
Apply Here
DNA Decoded
School: McMaster University
Course Description: This course will answer questions about DNA including how scientists clone DNA, what DNA can teach you about your family history and the possibility to revive dinosaurs by cloning their DNA.
You'll also learn the practical techniques that scientists use and then perform your own forensic DNA analysis of samples from a crime scene to solve a murder.
Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds
School: University of Alberta
Course Description: This course gives an overview of the origins of birds and examines the anatomy, diversity, and evolution of theropod dinosaurs which relates to the origin of birds. Plus, you'll explore hypotheses about the origin of flight.
How to Code: Simple Data
School: University of B.C.
Course Description: In this course, there is a focus on learning a systematic programming method rather than a programming language which is a "practical approach."
You'll learn techniques to develop program requirements, produce programs with a consistent structure that are easy to modify later and make your programs more reliable.
Then you'll finish off the course by designing a simple interactive game.
Apply Here
Indigenous Canada
School: University of Alberta
Course Description: This course explores different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada and explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective.
Topics include the fur trade, land claims, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism and contemporary Indigenous life and art.
The City and You: Find Your Best Place
School: University of Toronto
Course Description: This free course will help you understand what cities do, why they matter, what forces shape this "greatest wave of urbanization in history" and how to pick the place for you.
Then you'll have to apply what you learned in the class to assess your own community and find the best place for you to live.