Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics for Business Decision Making

at Durham College - Oshawa Campus Canada

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to rapidly transform the way organizations and their people work, a shortage of skilled professionals remains the single most significant challenge facing AI adoption by industry. With a focus on enterprise AI, including both off-the-shelf solutions and proprietary AI, this program – the first and only graduate certificate of its kind in Canada – will prepare you to meet this demand for AI-literate practitioners.

As a graduate, you will know how to leverage AI to extract data and use data-driven intelligence to guide decision-making, solving complex enterprise problems with state-of-the-art solutions, all while creating efficiency and quality gains for small and medium-sized enterprises up to the largest of corporations. Additional emphasis will be put on data governance, including data management to ensure its integrity.

Students will also benefit from multiple opportunities for experiential learning, including access to the college’s AI Hub, completion of two diverse capstone projects and an optional work term. Graduates will be prepared to enter this high-growth field, which currently sees the Greater Toronto Area home to the highest per-capita concentration of AI companies in the world.

Helping people of all ages to engage in recreation and leisure programs and events is at the heart of a career in recreation and leisure. This program provides you with the skills and experience to start your career in government, non-profit and commercial recreation organizations. You will learn how to use industry-standard records management software. With an interesting blend of management training, program and event planning, implementation, and evaluation, and customer service, recreation and leisure professionals provide healthy, well-rounded lifestyle opportunities for community members to connect, play, and grow.

This popular program provides students with the leadership skills and training required to strategically plan, implement, evaluate and manage programs for community members of all ages and abilities, prepare budgets, raise funds, manage staff, and market activities with teams of volunteers and other recreation and leisure service providers.
As a graduate, you can pursue an exciting and rewarding career offering recreation programs to community members of all ages and abilities. As such, you will study:

• Community development
• Facility management
• Fundraising for sport
• Outdoor recreation
• Program and event management
• Recreation for diverse populations

You will have the opportunity to obtain HIGH FIVE certifications in Principles of Healthy Child Development (PHCD) and Quality Experience Scanning Tool 2 (QUEST 2) from Parks and Recreation Ontario, as well as other workshops and certifications embedded within the program. In addition, you will learn about Active Network and Intelligenz recreation management software, which is used extensively in the Canadian recreation industry.

This program will help you to develop the knowledge and skills required to effectively address two of Canada’s leading health care issues – mental health and addictive behaviours. You will gain both a theoretical understanding and the clinical skills required to help your clients successfully navigate their challenges with mental health and/or addictive behaviours as they begin their journey to wellness.

Designed for students with previous, relevant education, this highly specialized program was developed in consultation with recognized experts in the fields of addiction and mental health including Lakeridge Health Corporation.

Program highlights include the opportunity to:

• Expand the skills required to practice in addiction and mental health settings
• Gain experience with a broad spectrum of clinical settings where addiction/mental health related issues arise
• Develop an understanding of the particular needs of diverse populations
• Receive training in evidence-based approaches to counselling.

Please note: Some courses may be delivered in online or blended formats using the college's learning management system.C

Modern policing requires officers to possess highly developed social and communication skills, practical law enforcement knowledge, technical skills, and the ability to connect with the communities they serve and protect. In this program you will build these skill sets while gaining vital community outreach experience through a unique program that sees students work with youth from at-risk schools. Training also focuses on mental health strategies in policing related to community members and officers; students will earn their Mental Health First Aid certificate in their course of study.

This program will provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to pursue an entry-level policing position including a broad education in human relation skills and the interpretation of social interaction including the study of:

• Community policing
• Communication
• Investigation processes
• Police powers and procedures
• Professional ethics
• Race relations

You will be subject to all requirements of the Ontario constable selection process and local police requirements when applying for a position as a constable in Ontario. Please be aware that specific, minimum criteria such as vision and hearing standards will apply as will a clear Criminal Background Check (CBC).

Quality early childhood education (ECE) is critical in preparing children for future learning. As an early childhood educator, you will have an integral role in promoting children’s development from birth to age 12 within the following five domains: cognitive, social, emotional, language and physical. In the ECE program, you will engage in theoretical studies along with practical applications. Moreover, professional practice and ethics will guide you in working with families, understanding pedagogy and fostering belonging and well-being in children. Upon completion of your program, you will apply to the College of Early Childhood Educators, the provincial regulatory body, to become a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE) in Ontario.

The Social Service Worker program combines academic study with practical experience to provide graduates with the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to work in the diverse and complex field of community and social services. The program focuses on the development of front-line interviewing and counselling skills that will prepare students to work with individuals and groups in a variety of social service settings, including group homes, women’s shelters, addiction and mental health facilities, employment programs and services for seniors.

This program combines classroom work with practical experience to provide you with the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to work in the diverse and complex field of community and social services. It focuses on the development of front-line interviewing and counselling skills that will enable you to work with individuals and groups in a variety of social service settings. In addition to theoretical models, methods and skills of social service work practice, you will receive extensive training in:

• Community organizing and development
• Crisis intervention
• Group work
• Life skills methodology
• Social welfare policy and social justice

Professionals with knowledge in international business can help organizations understand marketing, law, trade and finance as they apply to the global village we live in. As a professional in this field you may investigate, analyze, administer and manage human, physical and operational resources, as well as complex strategic and practical management issues. In particular, you will gain skills in strategic decision-making, and conducting operational and marketing analysis for business firms on a global scale. Graduates of this program often work on cross-functional and global project teams in order to serve their clients.

Durham College is a Platinum Accredited Partner of the Forum for International Trade Training (FITT – www.FITTforTrade.com). This partnership means that Durham College offers an international business program that has been validated by FITT as meeting their high standard of industry excellence. Students registered in our FITT-accredited program have a direct link to FITT and its full range of global trade credentials.

An education in journalism provides excellent training in critical thinking, writing and presenting ideas while preparing students for one of the most interesting careers imaginable. Armed with very transferable knowledge, skills and experience, journalism graduates go on to write and deliver stories on all written and broadcast platforms. Students also develop an array of social media skills and undergo experiential learning through the program’s ‘working newsroom’, before moving on to a seven-week field placement, applying their skills in a professional environment. Students taking the Journalism advanced diploma program will have an additional four-week field placement at the end of the sixth semester.

This program embraces the broad changes occurring in the media landscape and offers a progressive curriculum that will allow you to focus on development of journalism, social media skills and content creation on all platforms – online, print and broadcast. Students in the Journalism – Mass Media program will develop the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviours required to work in this progressive, critical profession. In their first year, students are introduced to the core journalism skills and learn how society functions both locally and globally. In their second year, students focus on creating content for all media platforms and undergoing experiential learning through our ‘working newsroom’'.

Due to the constant evolution of technology and the increasing development of new platforms of communication, traditional media professions such as journalism are facing new opportunities, as well as new challenges. Changes in the delivery methods of traditional news have forced journalists and others within the journalism industry to change how they do their jobs. For instance, journalists can now collect information with their phones and deliver stories directly to multiple platforms.

Graduates will have developed skills in: broadcasting, reporting, interviewing, editing, writing, content creation and media production, teamwork and critical thinking. You will have knowledge of applicable legislation, standards and professional ethics, and recognize the importance of continuous learning. More specifically, you will gain a clear understanding of the impact of digital technology on journalism and will be able to respond and adapt effectively and efficiently to technological changes.

Upon successful completion of this program you will have opportunities at an entry-level in a wide variety of news organizations and as content creators for a variety of private companies and public organizations, such as school boards, hospitals and governments. Graduates will have the skills to perform a range of tasks, including:
Writing local, national and international news through interviews and research

• Writing news stories for publication and/or broadcast
• Editing, analyzing and verifying information for accuracy
• Researching and conducting interviews for broadcast, online and print
• Applying production skills and using equipment to create content for a range of platforms
• Using social media platforms to engage audiences
• Planning and designing editorial content to meet a mass communications strategy for a client

Durham’s Journalism – Mass Media program has successfully covered the campus and community since 1974. It has an ongoing history of excellence, winning Ontario Community Newspaper Association honours on a regular basis. Our graduates have a track record of producing quality work across Canada – for news organizations such as CBC, CTV and TSN and in communities from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. Grads have also earned careers as content creators and social media coordinators for companies, agencies and institutions.

NOTE: Students enrolling in this program are required to purchase their own laptop. 

The Fitness and Health Promotion program will prepare you for a meaningful career that goes beyond the walls of a gym, with a focus on supporting a diverse range of populations, including clients of all ages and abilities. Fitness and health promotion professionals are invested in providing clients with a full-range of services – from research and design to implementation and execution of programs, facilities and activities. Offering a program of study that both balances and connects theory with practice, graduates enter the workforce with a broad skill set that includes supporting motivation, behaviour change as well as an introduction to entrepreneurship for those interested in pursuing their own business.

You will participate in hands-on learning experiences in state-of-the-art lab facilities practising the skills that you will apply during your work-integrated learning opportunities. Curriculum focuses on wellness, behaviour change, business practices, and exercise science. Courses include exercise physiology, nutrition, functional anatomy, injury management and exercise prescription. The Fitness and Health Promotion program will prepare you for an exciting and engaging career in a dynamic field that will positively influence the lives of your clients.

Designed for students with previous post-secondary education, this program is a fast-track to the sport industry. Sport business management is recognized as a distinct enterprise that requires specific skills, knowledge, attitudes and experience.

Students gain advanced, intensive training through one semester of academics and one semester of field placement.

With a commitment to personal and professional achievement, the program also offers a student-led sport conference, numerous networking opportunities and variety of experiential learning options to prepare you for your chosen career.