Online and Remote Learning

Learn where and when you want.

SCS is committed to making learning as accessible as possible both locally and across the globe. We are continuously expanding our list of over 540 online learning opportunities. From languages to accounting, we offer flexible learning opportunities.

Our online courses are instructor-led and delivered through the University of Toronto’s Learning Management Engine – Quercus. Quercus uses weekly, real time modules and has tools for engagement and community building. Course preparation has built in flexibility so you can read, study, and complete assignments on your own time.

You will communicate with your instructors via discussion boards and/or email. Some online courses include live, interactive webinars. If you’re unable to attend the live webinar, you will be able to view a recording of the webinar on your own schedule.

You may also want to investigate funding opportunities available to you on our Financial Assistance page. Your path to lifelong learning is more attainable than you think!

This Level VI course is for those who have completed Level V, or have equivalent language skills. Attention is given to expanding and developing your ability to articulate complex ideas comprehensibly and without hesitation. In spoken activities, you present ideas clearly, cogently and correctly. By course-end, you will be able to engage in discussions in real-world situations. To determine your Japanese language level, please take a moment to complete our Japanese Placement Exercise before registering. Ability to use the language to express complex, original thought with a sophisticated command of vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Ability to engage with nuanced, subtle expression in both work-related and personal communications.
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • ON-LINE
If you're just getting started as a writer and haven't yet decided on a literary direction, this course gives you the opportunity to try a number of different genres. Half of each class is devoted to a workshop where constructive and supportive feedback will help you focus, polish and deepen your writing. The other half is devoted to discussing an aspect of literary technique such as character, setting, plot, point of view, structure or revision. Understand fundamental literary techniques.Develop your own voice.Analyze the content and style of your work.Use exercises as possible springboards into new work.Find a literary community where you can share feedback and draw support.
  • Fall - 25
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • IN-CLASS
  • ON-LINE
  • Mississauga
  • St. George Campus
If you have written short stories you want to improve and share with others, this five-day intensive workshop is for you. You'll have your work critiqued in a positive and supportive environment. Classes also offer instruction on the basic elements of fiction - plot, character, point of view and language - along with short, timed writing exercises. Part of the U of T Summer Writing School, it introduces you to a wider community of writers working in different genres. Summer Writing School courses are applicable to the Certificate in Creative Writing. Understand literary techniques used in writing short fiction. Get focused feedback on at least one of your stories. Join a wider writing community.
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • IN-CLASS
  • ON-LINE
  • St. George Campus
This five-day intensive workshop with a prominent Canadian novelist will help you get your novel on course. You'll see how longer fiction is structured and sustained - how authors plan, develop and polish their work. Workshops feature open discussions, reading from student works-in-progress and debates on artistic issues. Part of the U of T Summer Writing School, it introduces you to a wider community of writers working in different genres. Summer Writing School courses are applicable to the Certificate in Creative Writing. Understand the basic skills and techniques in writing prose fiction. Analyze the methods and styles of writers you admire. Develop and refine your own writing style. Make contact with a community of writers.
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • IN-CLASS
  • ON-LINE
  • St. George Campus
If you want to write a novel but have no idea how to begin, this course will help you get going. You'll review literary technique with respect to the novel, and spend lots of time writing - and reading - to help you discover your own style. We'll cover basic skills, tips and techniques to improve and polish your writing. By the end of the course, you will have written and edited the opening of your novel. Understand the basic skills and techniques for writing prose fiction. Develop and refine your own writing style. Analyze the methods and styles of writers you admire. Write and edit the opening of a novel.
  • Fall - 25
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • IN-CLASS
  • ON-LINE
  • St. George Campus
If you want to write short stories, meet other writers and learn basic literary technique, this course is for you. You'll learn the building blocks of the writing process by writing and reviewing stories. You'll emerge with at least one story that has been critiqued constructively by your instructor and your peers. You'll discover a larger community of writers working in your genre. No previous creative writing experience is necessary. Understand the building blocks of fiction. Improve your skills and craft as a writer. Complete a draft of a short story. Get advice on sending your work to publishers.
  • Fall - 25
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • IN-CLASS
  • ON-LINE
  • St. George Campus
This is the final component of the Certificate in Creative Writing. Working with an SCS instructor for a maximum of five months, you'll revise and polish a work in your chosen genre: poetry, drama, screenplay, children's picture book, fiction or non-fiction. The supervisor will take you through two detailed revisions. The final manuscript will be evaluated by a certificate panel (the program head, your supervisor and a prominent writer who knows your genre). You must complete it within five years of taking your first Creative Writing course, after you have completed all other requirements. Once you have a complete draft, you may register at any time of year. Once you register, you will receive an email confirmation with further details and instructions. Get detailed feedback on your project from an SCS supervisor. Work through two rounds of revisions. Emerge with a significant portion of a polished manuscript. Build on your strengths in your genre. Prepare for evaluation by a certificate panel.
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • DISTANCE
Designed for those who have completed 1664 Creative Writing: Introduction, this course is a more intensive fiction workshop to help you further develop your voice, often with the same instructor and students as in 1664 Creative Writing: Introduction. You'll complete longer and broader exercises and assignments, either short stories or novel excerpts, and use the feedback to polish your writing. The group will analyze published fiction to understand how their writers constructed them. Learn how to establish and maintain a regular writing practice. Understand what makes a compelling novel or short story. Get instructor and peer feedback on your creative work-in-progress. Emerge with a draft of a short story or chapter of a novel.
  • Fall - 25
  • IN-CLASS
  • ON-LINE
  • St. George Campus
This advanced prose workshop is for the writer of fiction, creative non-fiction or memoir who wants an in-depth workshop experience with both their classmates and an instructor. During the eight week course, students will receive feedback on two pieces of writing of up to 1500 words each, as well as participate in lessons, discussions, exercises and providing feedback to classmates on their work. Editorial feedback to revise two pieces (up to 1500 words each) of prose - fiction, creative non-fiction, or memoir. Identify and refine the shape, sound, feel and arc of the story you are writing. Develop your skills of revision to find and amplify the resonance of your work.
  • Fall - 25
  • ON-LINE
Available for all genres, this e-mail based course will help writers who require feedback on artistic craftsmanship and who need guidance on shaping and polishing a manuscript-in-progress. Students may register at any time. Once assigned a mentor from the Creative Writing program, students have up to 12 weeks, including time for rewrites, to work on up to a maximum of 25,000 words of prose, 40 pages of poetry, or 90 pages of a drama or screenplay. To enroll in Online Mentor, you must submit a first draft of the manuscript you wish to workshop to scs.writing@utoronto.ca, along with the name of your mentor-of-choice from the list of Creative Writing program instructors. Mentorship from a prominent writer who knows your genre. Editorial feedback on up to 25,000 words of a manuscript, 40 pages of poetry, or 90 pages of a drama or screenplay. Emerge with a keener sense of where to go next.
  • Spring/Summer - 25
  • DISTANCE

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