丁香园AV

School of Interactive Arts and Technology | Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology
丁香园AV Calendar 2013 Summer

The graduate certificate in visual analytics (VA) is an interdisciplinary graduate program consisting of technology and theory courses along with courses on applications of this new field from the Schools of Interactive Arts and Technology and Computing Science, from the Faculty of Business, Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology.

The graduate certificate combines the four key aspects of visual analytics:  cognition, technology, society, and integration.  Integration is realized in a practical sense through completion of a substantial research project using visual analytics methods, typically the student鈥檚 thesis work or a separate significant research project.  This falls under the jurisdiction of the student鈥檚 department or school, and is thus outside of the scope of requirements for the VA Certificate.  Support for integration is provided by the VA Certificate program however, through facilitating participation of the Certificate Management Committee members on supervisory committees and through the Visual Analytics seminar series.

The program is offered at the Burnaby and Surrey campuses.

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丁香园AV Requirements

Prospective students must apply to 丁香园AV for admission and meet the normal admission requirements for a graduate degree prior to undertaking the VA Graduate Certificate Program. The VA Certificate program does not allow direct admission.

Certificate students must be enrolled and in good standing in a graduate degree program at 丁香园AV, and must graduate in order to receive the Certificate. Qualified students should submit their registration information to the VA Certificate Program Steering Committee as early as possible. Upon registration they will be classified as a VA Certificate Student and placed on the mailing list for announcements of VA events such as lectures and special courses.

Program Requirements

Students complete a total of five courses, including

• IAT 856 Visual Analytics Graduate Seminar (1)

and four additional courses from at least two different Schools and must include at least one from each of the following three lists of courses.

Cognitive Processes

Courses fulfilling this requirement must cover the cognitive processes that underlie analytic practice, grounded in the practical application of VA technologies to support human cognitive processes.

• BUS 601 Data and Decision-Making (2)
• EDUC 892 Cognitive Tools and Multimedia Learning (4)
• IAT 812 Cognition, Learning and Collaboration (3)
• IAT 854 Visually Enabled Reasoning (3)

Visual Analytics Technology

Courses fulfilling this requirement examine the creation, selection, and customization of information systems in the student's discipline or area of interest. This includes data processing and modeling as well as interactive visualization.

• BUS 709 Managing Information (3)
• CMPT 721 Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (3)
• CMPT 767 Visualization (3)
• IAT 813 Artificial Intelligence in Computational Art and Design (3)
• IAT 814 Knowledge, Visualization and Communication (3)

Social Systems

Courses fulfilling this requirement examine the impact of advanced visual analytic technology on individuals, organizations, and society in order to determine how it can best be designed and introduced to support social and collaborative processes.

• BUS 621 Information Technology and Organizational Transformation (4)
• CMNS 815 Social Construction of Communication Technologies (5)
• EDUC 893 Organizational and Social Aspects of Learning Technology Design (4)

Course Lists

Other courses that achieve the same goals, e.g. special topics courses, can be proposed by departments or schools to the VA Certificate Committee.

Students may also petition for approval of a course by the committee. Upon approval by the committee the course will be added to the list of approved courses in the appropriate category. A maximum of two courses can be from the student鈥檚 home department.

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