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ABSTRACT
In this paper we present the evolution of the Business Data Analytics Graduate Certificate (BDA Certificate) at our institution, Loyola University Chicago. This certificate is a successful and expanding program that attracts a diverse group of dynamic professionals from local, national, and international populations. The program evolution described in this paper involves multiple revisions of the curriculum, additions, and subtractions of individual courses, expansions of delivery methods, and program name changes. The core principles of acknowledging the centrality of data, mandating the modeling-based course sequencing, and recognizing the proper role of software tools, are outlined and recognized as the foundation of the program's success.
Keywords: Business analytics, Graduate certificate, Curriculum design & development, Data analytics, Graduate education, Business analytics curriculum
1.INTRODUCTION
This paper will present the evolution of the Business Data Analytics Graduate Certificate (BDA Certificate) at our institution, Loyola University Chicago. Currently, this certificate is a successful and expanding program that attracts a diverse group of dynamic professionals from local, national, and international populations. The program has undergone several changes involving multiple revisions of the curriculum, additions, and subtractions of individual courses, expansions of delivery methods, and name changes of the program. Throughout this evolution, we have learned several valuable lessons, which we outline in this paper. In contextualizing our BDA Certificate, our research also presents the most up-to-date summary of the business analytics (BA) curriculum development and implementation research stream, a valuable resource for our community as we continue to evolve and improve BA-focused education.
There are many different approaches to creating a successful business data analytics program, and we do not present our program as a singular template to be followed. Instead, we intend to make our experiences accessible to the wider community of academics who create and maintain programs with similar objectives and goals.
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a comprehensive literature review of the past and current state of data analytics and business analytics curriculum design and implementation. In Section 3, we define and discuss the founding principles of the BDA Certificate that drove the inception and development of this program at our institution. In Section 4, we outline the evolution of the BDA Certificate. In Section 5, we present and discuss the future...