13 Free Online Courses With Certificates in Ontario

There are many free online courses in Ontario, most of which are offered by universities and the others are sponsored by governments.

The government of Toronto pays 250 Canadian dollars per month to students who participate in these programs, this is to cover the expenses the students may make while attending the programs.

Most of the courses in this article are fully delivered online, they are also free and students can get certificates once they finish any of the courses. The duration of the courses ranges between one day and six months. For more information, see 545 free online courses with printable certificates.

Institutions/Universities that Offer Free Online Courses in Ontario

  • University of Toronto
  • Working Skills Center
  • Western University
  • Humber College
  • The University of Alberta

How to Study in Canada for Free

If you are looking to pursue your education in Canada, you have truly made a good choice and Canada is home to some of the best universities and learning institutions in the world. Below are some of the ways you can study in Canada for free:

  • Enroll in Massive open online courses (MOOCs).
  • Apply for free online courses, certificate programs, and degree programs.
  • Apply for a scholarship from the university you are looking to study in.
  • Apply for government-sponsored scholarships.
  • Request for sponsorship or paid leave from your employer.
  • Apply for study grants.

13 Best Free Online Courses with Certificates in Ontario

Administrative Assistant With Desktop Publishing Diploma

Institution offering course: Working Skills Center.
Duration of course: twenty weeks.
Schedule of study per week: N/A.

This course was developed to help administrative assistants develop desktop publishing skills. Students who enroll in this course will learn to write eye-catching newsletters and publications, and they will also learn to create attractive graphic designs.

This course equips students with skills that enable them to work as receptionists, graphic designers, content creators, digital marketers, office secretaries, etc.

For more information about the course, see Administrative assistant with desktop publishing diploma.

Science Literacy

Institution offering course: University of Alberta.
Duration of course: five weeks.
Schedule of study per week: five hours.

Science Literacy is a course developed by the University of Alberta to help increase the scientific awareness of the public by teaching people how to differentiate bad science from good science. This course is self-paced and has 23 hours of course materials.

There are five modules in this course: introduction to science, pseudoscience, critical thinking, scientific methods, and interpreting evidence. At the end of the course, students should be able to differentiate between fake statistics and real science.

For more information about the course, see Science literacy.

Crafting Quality Code

Institution offering course: University of Toronto.
Duration of course: five weeks.
Schedule of study per week: five hours.

This course was developed by the University of Toronto to teach people how to develop efficient programs through quality coding. This free course is flexible and is fully online. It is available in six languages: French, European Portuguese, Vietnamese, Russian, English, and Spanish.

There are five modules in this course: palindrome, testing programs, analyzing algorithms, plugging into python syntax, and passing functions as arguments.

For more information about the course, see Learning to program: crafting quality code.

Arctic Development

Institution offering course: University of Alberta.
Duration of course: four weeks.
Schedule of study per week: two hours.

The Arctic Development course was developed by the University of Alberta to help people understand the role of natural resources in the regional development of the Arctic regions. The artic includes some parts of Canada, America, Russia, Norway, Denmark, and Finland.

In this course, students will learn how climate change and global warming are affecting the arctic regions. This MOOC is only available to English speakers and is meant for those with little knowledge of the topic.

For more information about the course, see Arctic development.

Supply Chain Clerk/Analyst Diploma

Institution offering course: Working Skills Center.
Duration of course: 18 weeks.
Schedule of study per week: 6 hours.

This course was developed to teach students and aid them to acquire the abilities they need to fit into many fields, including supply chain, analytics, research, and logistics.

This course is open to all but it was specially made to suit the needs of the clients of Toronto employment and social services (TESS).

For more information about the course, see Supply chain clerk/analyst diploma.

Practicum in Clinical Trials Management

Institution offering course: Western University.
Duration of course: 15 weeks.
Schedule of study per week: five hours.

Practicum in Clinical Trials Management is a hybrid online course; the first part of the course is delivered fully online while the second part requires field placement. The aim of this course is to give students a practical experience in clinical trial management.

Students will need a cumulative average score of 70% or more to enroll in the practicum. The course’s materials are available in English.

For more information about the course, see Practicum in clinical trials management.

Drug Development

Institution offering course: Western University.
Duration of course: 12 weeks.
Schedule of study per week: four hours.

The course teaches the process between drug development and clinical use. It covers topics on drug effectiveness testing, drug safety evaluation, and drug regulation.

There are four topics in the course:

  • Legislation on the drug approval process
  • Phases of drug and medical device development
  • Pre-clinical and clinical activities required for drug approval
  • Clinical trial outputs

For more information about the course, see Drug development.

Making Media Accessible

Institution offering course: Humber College.
Duration of course: N/A.
Schedule of study per week: N/A.

Making Media Accessible to the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts at the Humber College. This course has no enrollment requirements and is available in English.

There are four topics in the course:

  • Representation of disability in media
  • Video captioning
  • Audio transcription
  • Described video and live captioning for broadcast
  • Alternative text for image descriptions
  • How to make accessible documents and presentations

For more information about the course, see Making media accessible.

Understanding and Managing the Stress of Police Work

Institution offering course: University of Toronto.
Duration of course: three weeks.
Schedule of study per week: one hour.

This free online course was created by the University of Toronto, Ontario to help police officers cope with the mental and physical stress of police work. This course is ideal for policemen whose duties make them come across violent crimes and mentally disturbing events.

There are three topics in this course:

  • Understanding the stress of police work
  • NaRLy approach to managing stress
  • It is all about the practice

This course is available in English and is meant for people with little knowledge of the topic. For more information about the course, see Understanding and managing the stress of police work.

Mental Health and Resilience for Healthcare Workers

Institution offering course: University of Toronto.
Duration of course: six weeks.
Schedule of study per week: one hour.

This course was developed to help healthcare workers withstand and minimize the psychological and physical stress involved in their job as healthcare workers. The course is only available in English and is ideal for people with little knowledge of the subject.

Healthcare workers, especially those on the frontline face a lot of stress in carrying out their duties, so this course has been created to teach them how they can resist mental health issues while increasing their efficiency.

There are six topics in the course:

  • Introduction
  • Understanding and managing anxiety
  • Using the environment to support mental wellbeing
  • The power of gratitude
  • Building resilience
  • Burnout

For more information about the course, see Mental health and resilience for healthcare workers

Bookkeeping

Institution offering course: Working Skills Center.
Duration of course: 14 weeks.
Schedule of study per week: three hours.

This course from Working Skills Center teaches how to effectively manage the affairs of a business using the traditional bookkeeping method. This course is instructor-led and students can get a certificate when they have finished the course.

Through this course, students will be able to record the financial transactions of a business, prepare financial statements, learn about special journals, ledgers, and worksheets, and know about all aspects of bookkeeping.

For more information about the course, see Bookkeeping.

The City and You: Find Your Best Place

Institution offering course: University of Toronto.
Duration of course: six weeks.
Schedule of study per week: three hours.

This course is meant to teach people how to choose the best locations in cities to suit their needs and purpose. In the course, students will also learn the difference it makes between living in cities and living in rural areas.

This course is made of six topics:

  • Why cities matter
  • A world of cities
  • The creative city
  • The new urban crisis
  • Cities and the COVID-19 crisis
  • Find your best place

For more information about the course, see The city and you: find your best place.

Reading and Understanding Research Information

Institution offering course: University of Toronto.
Duration of course: six weeks.
Schedule of study per week: three hours.

In this course, you will learn how to read and comprehend data in research reports and publications. The program is ideal for research supervisors in the healthcare sector.

There are four topics in the course:

  • Nature of the research hypothesis
  • Methods for testing common research hypotheses
  • Common reporting methods for statistical tests and procedures
  • The limitations of statistical hypothesis testing

For more information about the course, see Reading and understanding research information.

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