Are you interested in taking a course but just can’t manage to leave your job or family? You may find exactly what you’re looking for at University of Toronto. They have a large selection of online courses, most of which are completely free. Learn more about their courses and start your journey to a better future today!

university of toronto online courses free

• The University of Toronto is one of the top 20 schools in the world.
• It offers free online courses in topics from programming to mental health.
• Below are 12 popular, free online University of Toronto courses you can take on edX and Coursera.

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The University of Toronto — one of the top 20 schools in the world — offers free courses online. 

Like most of the best schools in the world — Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UPenn, Columbia, and Cornell included — the University of Toronto has made dozens of massive open online courses (MOOCs) available on e-learning platforms edX and Coursera. You can learn more about edX here and Coursera here.

• Free Harvard classes
• Free Princeton classes
• Free Yale classes
• Free UPenn classes
• Free Columbia classes
• Free Cornell classes

Whether you’re interested in why COVID-19 has spiked your anxiety (and how to manage it), or want to learn how to program or run a successful virtual meeting, you can learn it for free (or for a small fee if you want to earn a certificate of completion).

12 University of Toronto courses you can take online for free:

Introduction to Psychology

Alyssa Powell/Insider $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 23 hours

Explore the field of psychology through interesting experiments and discussions about how they impact our understanding of the mind and human behavior. Students learn about human development and our memory, learning, attention, perception,  consciousness, and more.

Learn to Program: The Fundamentals

Christina Morillo/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 25 hours

In this beginner’s guide to programming, students learn the building blocks of coding and how to write “fun and useful” programs using Python.

Mind Control: Managing Your Mental Health During COVID-19

Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 3 hours

If you’ve been looking for a hands-on explainer and strategy for managing anxiety in the age of COVID-19, this is it. Psychology professor Steve Joordens delves into multiple drivers — from news consumption to isolation to the way we talk to kids about the pandemic — and offers clear-cut strategies for managing anxiety. 

The Arts and Science of Relationships: Understanding Human Needs

Anna Tarazevich/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 32 hours 

This course covers the foundational concepts of The Strategies and Skills Learning and Development System (SSLD) and how they relate to everyday relationships. Students use case studies to learn about the basic practice principles and methods, the framework for relationship management assessment, core competencies, and more.

Communication Strategies for a Virtual Age

ThisIsEngineering/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 8 hours

Our day-to-day communication has changed, which means our leadership strategies should, too. This course touches on many aspects of effective communication — from using science to creating impactful presentations to using communication principles and techniques in virtual and in-person teams.

It’s worth noting that this course requires a working camera and microphone; you’ll have to record yourself speaking.

Introduction to Self-Driving Cars

Beth Easton/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 35 hours

This course teaches you the basics of self-driving cars: terminology, design, and safety assessments. Students learn about everything from commonly used hardware to how to analyze safety frameworks.

This is part of the Self-Driving Cars Specialization.

Bioinformatic Methods I

Edward Jenner/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 20 hours

This hands-on course teaches you how to use existing bioinformatic resources to access data to answer questions that are relevant to the average biologist. 

There’s a second part, Bioinformatic Methods II, but this first course deals with databases, Blast, multiple sequence alignments, phylogenetics, selection analysis, and metagenomics.

This is part of the Plant Bioinformatic Methods Specialization. 

Behavioral Economics in Action

Keira Burton/Pexels $0.00 from edX

Length: 6 weeks

Learn about the principles and methods of behavioral economics — from how they’re used to change behavior, products, and policies to how they can improve overall well-being.

This course was originally developed in 2013. The field has changed since, but the material is still relevant; the concepts are foundational, and the course has been updated over the years to include new developments.

Introduction To Swift Programming

Udacity $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 8 hours

Learn the basics of Swift Programming in this introductory course, which is part of the iOS App Development with Swift Specialization. 

It’s worth noting that this course will be updated to reflect the release of Swift 3 (it’s taught in Swift 2) but is not updated yet.

Introduction to GIS Mapping

Binyamin Mellish/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 14 hours

Among other things, this course teaches you what a GIS is and how to get started with the software yourself. Students create their own GIS data in a course project by tracing geographic features from a satellite image of their choosing.

This is part of the GIS, Mapping, and Spatial Analysis Specialization. 

Death 101: Shaping the Future of Global Health

Edward Jenner/Pexels $0.00 from edX

Length: 7 weeks

This course aims to answer the question: “How does counting the dead help the living?” Students learn how to think about global health using population and cause of death statistics — real data from real people.

Gender Analytics for Innovation

Lukas/Pexels $0.00 from Coursera

Length: 8 hours 

Students learn to spot gendered processes, products, and policies and evaluate how to use gender analytics to enable inclusive innovation. The course answers questions such as: “Why are women 47% more likely than men to be injured when they get in a car accident?” and “Why will automation and AI be more likely to impact women than men?” 

This is part of the Gender Analytics: Gender Equity through Inclusive Design Specialization.