Online and Remote Learning

In this intensive five-week course, you'll learn the fundamentals of human resources for entrepreneurs. Learn how to build and manage a strong, competent team to ensure that your new business succeeds. Topics covered include company culture; recruiting, engaging and retaining for key roles in your company; motivating and rewarding employees; and best practices in coaching and employee communications. Plan a human resources strategy for your business. Recruit, reward, coach and communicate with employees. Know more about key management values, competencies and practices. Know how to comply with relevant government legislation. Build relationships with strategic advisors.

If you're thinking of starting a business, this practical five-week course will de-mystify the practice of early-stage finance. You'll explore different ways to fund your venture and get hands-on exposure as you learn the basic tools of financial planning, including income and expense statements, cash flow forecasts and balance sheets. This course takes place in a computer lab where you'll work on key financial documents for your business with guidance from the instructor. Identify funding options for your business. Become more comfortable with cash flow statements, balance sheets and income and expense statements. Build a financial plan. Forecast different scenarios to manage risk.  

If you work in the scientific community or in health care and you want to write more effectively about your field, this course is for you. Whether you want to write for the mass media, specialist publications, or for your colleagues, this course will focus your thinking, sharpen your wits and ignite your writing. Come immerse yourself in the dynamic currents energizing science, medicine and public health communications with award-winning journalist Paul Webster. This course strengthens writing skills that cannot be duplicated by chatbots. Understand what constitutes good writing about science, medicine and public health. Tools to make science, medicine and public health relevant, understandable and interesting to lay readers. Become familiar with the market for journalism about science, medicine and public health. Complete a brief story, a full news story, a blog and a short feature. Come away with several story pitches.

When Peter became czar in 1682, Europe was foreign to Russia, an insular and tradition-bound nation.  The West fascinated Peter, and he was determined to transform Russia into a great European power. Discover the traditional Russia of Peter’s childhood, his Grand Tour of Europe and his subsequent dream of building St. Petersburg, a new city to match his vision of the country. With images of the city and accounts of his cruel drive to create it, we’ll see how the city emerged as a symbol of his power and of Russia’s hopes.  Explore the rise of Russia as a world power in the 18th century. Understand the impact of Peter the Great on Russia’s past and present. Follow the founding of St. Petersburg as the capital of Imperial Russia. Examine the role of St. Petersburg in Russia’s relationship with the West. Appreciate its influence on Russian culture and society.

Learn the fundamental principles of medical microbiology as they relate to health and disease. This online course was designed by microbiologists from U of T's Department of Molecular Genetics, with contributions from scientists and clinicians from local hospitals and Public Health Ontario. Whether you're an undergraduate or recent graduate, you'll gain a solid foundation in medical microbiology and emerge better prepared for a career in the health sciences. This course also fulfills an entrance requirement for some professional programs. This course is offered in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine.  Discover stimulating and rewarding aspects of medical microbiology. View interviews with experts and go on virtual tours of diagnostic labs. Analyze current events to understand important concepts in medical microbiology, such as the role of quarantines in containing epidemics. Explore career paths you might not otherwise have considered. Fulfill entrance requirements for some professional health science programs.

Get the knowledge, skills and tools you need to succeed in the rapidly evolving world of public relations. In this course, you'll analyze the types of problems, opportunities, issues and situations that public relations practitioners deal with today. You'll learn how to use traditional and new techniques and social media to help solve the business challenges faced by private, public and not-for-profit organizations. This course builds on 2875 Foundations in Digital Communications Strategy & Social Media in the Age of AI. Analyze what public relations is (and is not) Explain and evaluate how the RACE theory is applied to the ethical process and practice of public reactions Apply research, critical thinking and problem solving skills to help solve organizational challenges Summarize current and future tools and approaches to public relations management Identify/analyze the role of media relations, social media and other public relations tactics for past and current news events for a variety of business sectors Analyze and evaluate several communications campaigns that help manage stakeholder relationships Create strategic and comprehensive communications plans 

In this course, you'll examine the fundamental components of strategic public relations in more depth - how to communicate strategically, how to change public opinion and how to do it ethically. Learn how and why opinion changes - essential knowledge if you're a public relations professional seeking a competitive edge. Through case study assignments and in-class discussion, you'll learn how to identify key audiences, create compelling and strategic narratives, build strong relationships with stakeholders and use persuasion to change attitudes and behaviours. Identify and manage key audiences. Get a strategic communications perspective on reputation management, organizational behaviour, government relations and corporate responsibility. Review and summarize the public relations process. Use advanced public relations tools and techniques to solve issues and manage crises. Apply effective strategic communications concepts to practical problems and real-life situations.

This course gives you the knowledge and tools to be an "intrapreneur" - an organizational innovator and change agent. Business innovation is a learn-by-doing exercise and this course is no different. During its six modules you'll learn and apply innovation nomenclature, frameworks and processes, stakeholder analysis and ways to assess innovation options within your organization. Through exercises, projects and assignments you'll apply theory, learning and best practices to your professional practice and become an intrapreneur. Understand key concepts and frameworks in innovation and innovation management. Identify innovation opportunities within your area of interest/organization. Map out the innovation ecosystem of your organization. Evaluate your organization's innovation capability against best-of-breed innovators. Assess your ideas within the context of your organization and identify opportunities to innovate.

The second course in the Business Innovation certificate program provides you with the knowledge and tools to continue your journey as an “intrapreneur” – an organizational innovator and change agent. Like the practice of business innovation, the development of innovative business cases is best learned by doing. You will develop two main products from this course: a business case and a 10 minute pitch deck that you can use to inform and influence stakeholders. Each module of this course is designed to be highly interactive and applied, with group exercises, projects, and discussions. Utilize Business Model Canvas to understand the structure and create comprehensive business cases. Develop a business case for your own identified innovation project utilizing Business Model Canvas. Create a 10-minute presentation based on your business case to communicate your ideas and influence stakeholders. Deliver feedback to your peers on their pitches and receive feedback on yours. Generalize your experience and devise a scientific framework for articulating business cases.

It's time to put the rubber to the road - it's time to deliver your innovative product or service. What does it take to do this effectively and ensure that you meet customers' expectations? This course builds on the customer insights and business plans you learned in previous courses for the certificate. The modules are comprised of a series of workshops that take you through the development of your own change management plan and a development plan for your innovative product or service. Understand and refine your leadership and management styles, especially as they relate to leading innovation and managing development. Create agile and effective execution plans. Develop a change management strategy to support your innovation project. Design, manage and mentor teams that win.