Have you ever wanted to take a University of British Columbia course, but don't have the money to spend on it or the time to go to classes in person?
If that's the case then you'll be happy to know UBC and edX are offering many free courses you can take online.
The free courses at UBC include classes in coding, business, marketing, gaming, psychology and more.
So you can learn about an entirely new field, learn about something you're interested in for fun or beef up your resume for future jobs.
While these University of British Columbia courses are free, students can also choose to receive a verified certificate for a small fee.
The best part is that a lot of these university courses offer flexible schedules meaning you can do the work on your own time.
You also don't have to be enrolled at the B.C. university to take any of these classes.
Here are 10 free online courses you can take at UBC.
Introduction to Marketing
Course description: This course will teach you core concepts and tools to help you better understand and excel in marketing, regardless of your industry background.
The key topics you'll cover in the class include market research and how important it is to brand strategy, pricing, integrated marketing communication and social media.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
Business Communications
Course description: Taking this course will help sharpen your writing, presentation and interpersonal communication skills that you can take with you into the business world.
Students will learn a range of successful practices and guidelines that have been developed through research and experience.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
How to Code: Simple Data
Course description: This programming course will help you with the creativity needed to program well in any language. By taking this class you will learn a variety of techniques like developing program requirements, producing programs with consistent structures that are easy to modify and making your programs more reliable.
By the end of the course, you will be expected to design a simple interactive game.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
Video Game Writing Essentials
Course description: If you're interested in learning more about video game writing, this is the course for you. During this class, you'll learn about interactive storytelling, how game narratives are built, where they come from and how they are changing.
You'll also hear from working gamewriters about their jobs in the industry.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
AP Psychology Course 1: What is Psychology?
Course description: This intro to psychology course will answer the "What is Psychology" question as well as discuss its history and the state of psychology today.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
AI for Teachers
Course description: As technology and computers become more capable of solving problems, this course will teach students how to "speak" to computers and prepare them for a future in which technology will become more powerful and prevalent.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
Writing Video Game Characters
Course description: Characters are an integral part of a video game and developing them correctly is a vital part of the overall gaming experience.
This course will teach you how to create a player character who "fits into the mechanics of a video game" as well as how to create memorable characters and develop them further.
Instructors will also discuss how characters relate to gameplay, how to work with intellectual property and how a game needs a great villain.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
Software Engineering: Introduction
Course description: This software engineering course looks at the fundamentals like how teams design, build and test multi-version software systems.
Students will learn about software engineering principles that they can apply to large-scale software systems. The course will explore various topics, including REST and Async programming, software specification, design, information security, and more.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
Business Foundations
Course description: This business course is designed to give students the terminology, concepts and frameworks they'll need to understand businesses and how they can build their own "tool-kit" for strategy and decision-making.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
Worldbuilding for Video Games
Course description: This online course will look at the collaborative process of game writing and how a game world is designed with the input of a number of people, including art directors, level designers and marketing teams.
Game writers have an integral role in the entire process and through this course, you'll learn how to use tools of environmental storytelling, lore and audio/video logs to help develop a memorable game setting.
Start date: Self-paced, progress at your own speed
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
