RIT offers Data Analysis for Decision-Making Professional Certificate program on edX

People looking to become data literate in their professional and personal lives can now do it online with Rochester Institute of Technology’s Data Analysis for Decision-Making Professional Certificate program on edX. 

Complex jobs that require data analysis skills are growing at twice the rate of the overall job market and they’re up to 40 percent higher paying, according to a Burning Glass report. With an RITx professional certificate, learners can gain and showcase newly earned data analysis skills to employers.

Registration is now open for the online data analysis program. The program’s three offerings are self-paced and cover about 12 weeks of material.

The program will transform learners into “data citizens,” allowing them to make decisions based on facts and communicate findings with confidence. In addition, they will learn how to validate data to ensure it was gathered from appropriate, reliable and nonbiased sources. These offerings were developed by RIT Online with subject matter expert Beth Prince-Bradbury, associate director for RIT Institutional Research, Data and Analytics. 

“People don’t realize how often they create and consume data in their every-day lives,” said Prince-Bradbury. “Everyone can benefit from data literacy — to assess the use of data in news stories, marketing materials, financial statements, and to better understand the basics of interpreting it.”

Enrollment for the program is open. The three offerings include:

• Data Literacy Foundations
• Data Processing and Analysis with Excel
• Data Representation and Visualization in Tableau

“This professional certificate program goes beyond the use of software to analyze data,” said Prince-Bradbury. “It’s unique because it teaches practical knowledge that learners can use — irrespective of the technology they have.”

Throughout the program, learners will focus on using critical thinking skills to assess and validate the data being used. They will look at the context of how, why and who gathered the data, along with comparing it to other reliable sources. Learners will also gain skills to tell and present a compelling “data story,” based on their analysis. 

“We also emphasize that professionals who use data in their jobs have ethical responsibilities toward protecting individuals’ information,” said Prince-Bradbury. “Not only is it the right thing to do, it also protects professionals and their organizations from exposure.”

Within each offering, learners will have access to videos from the instructor, readings, and will interact with other learners around the globe using discussion boards.

The offerings in this program may be audited for free. For a fee, the program also allows learners to earn a verified Data Analysis for Decision-Making Professional Certificate upon successful completion of all the offerings.

The Professional Certificate programs on edX are a series of in-demand offerings designed to build or advance critical skills for working professionals. Created by industry leaders and top universities, Professional Certificate programs offer a flexible, affordable way to develop the essential skills and actionable knowledge needed for today’s top jobs.

RIT offers free and reduced-cost education as part of its partnership with edX, the leading nonprofit online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT. These RITx offerings are massive open online courses (MOOCs), containing high-quality curriculum developed by RIT faculty, staff and instructors. RIT Online supports new program development by providing demand research, marketing, instructional design, media production and consultative partnership with subject matter experts

Enrollment information and more details are available on RITx’s Data Analysis for Decision-Making Professional Certificate program webpage.