The University’s Graduate Professional Studies division will launch a Learning Analytics online graduate certificate program next fall semester, according to an April 14 BrandeisNOW article.

The certificate program is five courses long and worth 15 credits and is part of Brandeis’ expanding online course offerings. It is influenced by two existing masters degrees in the GPS division—Instructional Design and Technology and Strategic Analytics. According to the article, the online program is “designed to be completed in 1.5 years or less” and is for professionals with “strong backgrounds in education, instructional design, or institutional research.”

The article states that the certificate program will provide students with the “foundational tool sets and theory of business intelligence and data analysis.”

Brian Salerno, the director of Online Learning and Instructional Design within the Graduate Professional Studies division, said that the new program will provide students with important skills to enter the job market. “As the learning analytics field continues to evolve, it is more important than ever before to use the technology and data we have available to us to understand and, ultimately, enhance the learning experience,” he told BrandeisNOW.

According to the article, Brandeis GPS currently offers eight other online “part-time” master’s degrees in addition to the new Learning Analytics certificate. These include Strategic Analytics, Bioinformatics, Health and Medical Informatics, Instructional Design and Technology and Software Engineering.