Whether you are in finance, health care, marketing, or policy development, technology gives us the opportunity to store and analyze more data than ever before—and it’s big data.
Learn to leverage data science, data analytics, and predictive analytics to accelerate your career, or enable your organization to innovate, compete, and stay agile in our rapidly changing marketplace. Explore WatSPEED’s data-related courses and certificate programs.
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Waterloo’s data-related certificate programs
WatSPEED’s data programs are designed to help professionals in the public and private sectors gain valuable skills to support career advancement, innovation, and decision-making. They offer you an opportunity to gain a competitive edge by learning modern data-based tools and techniques.
| Data Analytics for Behavioural Insights Program | Data Science Program | Modern Analytics for Business Forecasting (NEW) | |
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| Coding experience | No coding experience required | Basic knowledge of python and/or basic programming recommended | No coding or predictive analytics experience required |
| Program length | 24 weeks (this program includes three eight-week courses) | 48 weeks (this program includes four 12-week courses) | 5 weeks (five to seven hours per week) |
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| Powered by | WatSPEED at the University of Waterloo | WatSPEED at the University of Waterloo in collaboration with University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies | WatSPEED at the University of Waterloo |
| Download a brochure for Data Analytics for Behavioural Insights | Download a brochure for Data Science | Download a brochure for Modern Analytics for Business Forecasting |
Data Analytics for Behavioural Insights Certificate Program
As advances in technology and the widespread availability of data rapidly progress, you can leverage data insights like never before. To help inform decisions, you need effective tools and techniques to analyze data, answer important questions about your communities, and inform policy development and decision-making.
This three-course certificate program extends beyond basic methods of coding and analysis, enabling you to interpret data findings from complex statistical analysis and directly apply them to decision-making and policy development. It is specifically designed for individuals who have a limited background in statistics and are interested in acquiring skills that will enable them to analyze data, extract insights, and apply them to decision-making. As part of this program, you will also discover how to understand and interpret data through a comprehensive introduction to statistics, regression analysis, Python, and R, and through unique case studies based on Canadian public data.
Establish the foundational knowledge you need to drive data-based decision-making and better understand how to interpret and leverage complex data for your organization.
What you’ll learn
- Use basic methods of coding to conduct increasingly sophisticated statistical analysis with R and Python.
- Analyze data with the complex statistical methods used by social scientists.
- Draw conclusions that have the power to impact your decision-making and policy development.
- Draw behavioural insights to tell effective stories that support decision-making.
- Review unique case studies, based on publicly available Canadian data, and conduct analysis that can be used to draw behavioural insights.
Data Science Certificate Program
This four-course program, developed in partnership with the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto, will give you the opportunity to learn from experts about advanced statistical modelling, machine learning and big data tools. You’ll cover content essential for the toolbox of a data analytics professional, including neural networks and deep learning, programming languages and software used in data extraction and analysis, and data security, compliance, and privacy issues.
The course content covers the seven domains of INFORMS’ Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) certification. You’ll also learn how to represent data visually to help decision-makers understand your findings. Whether you work in operations, business intelligence or marketing communications, are a recent math or science graduate, or want to change or advance your career, this certificate will open up the in-demand field of big data.
What you’ll learn
- Explore the evolution of data science and predictive analytics.
- Know statistical concepts and techniques including regression, correlation and clustering.
- Apply data management systems and technologies that reflect concern for security and privacy.
- Adopt techniques and technologies including data mining, neural network mapping and machine learning.
- Represent big data findings visually to aid decision-makers.
Modern Analytics for Business Forecasting: An Introduction to Predictive Analytics Certificate Program
Harnessing the power of data is essential for organizations today. It can provide insights that help make better-informed decisions, improve operations, and enable businesses to stay ahead of the curve. For leaders looking to maintain a competitive advantage, the ability to understand and analyze data, forecast future trends, and identify opportunities is critical to success.
This course, designed for organizational or team leaders who make or impact business decisions, enables you to work comfortably and confidently with predictive analytics. It is perfect for individuals who influence teams or analysts responsible for managing large amounts of data. Through exposure to a variety of forecasting models and case studies based on real-world scenarios, you will discover how and when your organization’s own data can be used to make well-informed decisions, take proactive measures, reduce costs, and increase sales and revenue.
Upon completion of the program, you will understand how industry-standard predictive analytics processes can provide you with valuable insights into your operations, customers, and markets. You will also be able to transform business questions into data analytics problems and collaborate with your teams to make data-backed decisions that drive growth and enhance business operations.
What you will learn
- Translate business problems or questions affecting your organization into well-defined, actionable data requests for your team.
- Understand how predictive analytics can be used to draw insights and guide your business decisions and recommendations.
- Plan and organize resources to oversee data analytics projects using the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM).
- Compare and evaluate the insights and reliability of different forecasting models using real-world data.
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