Certificate in Human Services Foundations

at Algonquin College - Ottawa Campus Canada

This one-year General Arts and Science - Pre-Trades Ontario College Certificate program lets you see what area of the trades you may decide to pursue as a career.
Explore six trades including:

• General machinist
• Building construction
• Cabinetmaking and furniture
• Sheet metal work
• Automotive
• Plumbing

The program provides hands-on experience, demonstrations and a basic understanding of the trades. Explore your interests and develop your skills. Clarify your career options and pathways, all in a post-secondary setting.

Completion of this program provides you with an Ontario College Certificate in General Arts and Science - One Year, with a concentration in Pre-Trades. The goal of the program is to prepare you for further study and success in other trade programs, rather than enabling you to move directly into your chosen industry.

When entering the workforce, you can demonstrate that you have well-developed skills and a general understanding in a variety of topics. Completion of this certificate confirms to potential employers that you have the ability to learn at a post-secondary level.

Learning Outcomes
The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

• Develop, through general knowledge gained in a wide range of subjects, insight into both self and society.
• Develop flexibility and clarity of both thought and expression in order to develop communications competence to a level required by business and industry.
• Understand and utilize critical thinking processes and problem-solving techniques.
• Examine and evaluate various aspects of our changing society to assist in developing a sense of personal and social responsibility as a citizen in society.
• Employ basic vocational skills drawn from the areas of the Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences of Vocational Studies (Business, Technology).

The General Arts and Science Concept Art Foundations is a one year Ontario College Certificate with the graduates receiving a certificate in general Arts and Science-One year with a concentration in Concept Art Foundations and revolves around the students exploring a blend of traditional theory and digital image creation techniques to create concepts, characters and environments for the entertainment industry. 

The course is delivered via a mix of online video tutorials and classroom training in smaller groups to allow the students a chance of receiving the required hands-on training. The curriculum of the program makes sure that the students get the necessary individualized feedback and support in the production of a professional portfolio in concept art and digital imaging.
 

The Building Information Modeling - Lifecycle Management (BIM-LM) Ontario College Graduate Certificate program is a fast and effective way to increase your career options. Expanding your skills to include how to manage data and process the lifecycle of a building in the architecture, construction, building owner or operator industry areas.

This one-year program is tailored to develop your skills in BIM management techniques, which support productivity improvements in construction and facilities management. Recognized by both the Canada BIM Council (CanBIM) and building SMART Canada (bSC), this program is taught by industry professionals who have specialized Building Information Modelling expertise.

Through a series of theory courses and extensive practical labs, you learn:

• The history and development of the BIM field and how it is being used in the core (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner and Operator (AECOO) industry
• The tools and technologies used, and the appropriate applications of them
• Planning and collaboration skills and techniques
• Project management, including contract language, project delivery methods, information exchange standards and the requirements and legal matters that need to be considered
• Ongoing standards and guidelines

You also participate each semester in a week-long project called BIM Blitz, where you demonstrate your accumulated knowledge in a simulation of a real-world project.

BIM is a rapidly-emerging field, and demand is increasing for those who have specialized in this sector. Graduates of this program may work in all levels of government, including municipal, provincial and federal - as well as within the construction, architecture and interior design industries.

The one-year Mechanical Techniques - Plumbing Ontario College Certificate program equips you with the knowledge and skills needed to pursue a career in plumbing or other construction fields.

This program gives you entry-level skills that you can use to seek a recognized plumbing apprenticeship. You may also discover a career in a construction-related field.

Throughout the program, you learn a broad overview of the plumbing trade. Using both theory and hands-on practice, you learn:

• Principles of design
• Health and safety requirements
• Soldering techniques
• Inter-professional communications
• Practical installation practices

If you are new to design, plumbing, and construction, this program will help develop your skills. You learn the skills and knowledge needed for a career in the trade.

Graduates of this program may find employment in fields related to plumbing. These can include:

• Construction labour
• Retail and wholesale sales
• Marketing of plumbing-related products

If you are looking for advancement in the field of plumbing, this program gives you the credentials to pursue a certified apprenticeship and become a licensed plumbing journeyman.

Advance your skillsets for a career in construction and civil engineering

The Civil Engineering Technology Ontario College Advanced Diploma is a continuation of the Construction Engineering Technician program and is open to students who already have an Algonquin College Construction Engineering Technician Ontario College Diploma and meet the admission requirements. This third year of study explores in-depth areas of civil engineering technology such as:

• Project scheduling and cost control
• Surveying
• Design of steel structures
• Foundations
• Water and wastewater technology
• Soils analysis
• Reinforced concrete design 

Students also have the option to gain real-world experience through a paid co-operative education (co-op) work term (see Additional Information for more details). Please note that places in the co-op version of the program are subject to availability.

During the final two terms of the program you take on a year-long project in collaboration with external industry partners that gives you real-world experience and may help you develop networks within a specific industry. As part of a project team, you participate in leadership events, analyze and solve problems, create deliverables and present the results of your project to the college community and the industry through demonstrations and presentations.

OACETT (Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists) recognizes this program as meeting all of the academic requirements for certification in the Certified Engineering Technologist (CET) or Applied Science Technologist (AScT) category. Graduates and final-year students are immediately eligible to be registered as Associate members of OACETT upon submission of the Graduate Application form available through the Placement Office or OACETT.

Graduates may pursue careers in a number of sectors of the construction industry, including:

• Cost estimating for residential, commercial and civil projects
• Surveying
• Project management
• Building inspection
• Materials testing
• Quality control
• Construction

Build your architectural career within the construction industry

The two-year Architectural Technician Ontario College Diploma program teaches you the skills and techniques to enter a career in the architecture and construction fields.

Your professors are industry professionals who provide you with a learning experience from the construction industry and the architectural profession, enabling you to be successful in your academic and professional ventures.

Begin the program with a focus on residential construction, and progress to studying commercial construction, as defined in the Ontario Building Code. Develop skills related to all facets of building construction, including design and technical resolution with the integration of building and material detailing.

As a student in this program, you have the opportunity to study and learn in a variety of practical topics, using both applied and theoretical learning, and a project-based, integrated studies approach. Courses include:

• Working Drawings
• Methods and Materials of Construction
• Codes and Standards
• AutoCAD
• Revit
• Visual Communications
• Design
• Environmental Systems

The one-year Victimology Ontario College Graduate Certificate program prepares you for work in a variety of fields, providing services to victims of crime. This one-year program provides specialized knowledge and skills in victimology and in the provision of victim services. You also explore the history and theories of victimization, with applied victim-centred focus.

Combining theoretical and applied learning, it includes a field placement of more than 140 hours. It is in this setting where you learn about victims` issues and perspectives first-hand from experts in the field.

Practicum options include:

• Victim crisis units
• Police services
• Victim advocacy centres
• Indigenous healing centres
• Government agencies
• Women`s shelters
• Community action groups

Overall, you develop knowledge of crisis response, sudden and traumatic loss, and victim populations. Learn about crime and its effects on victims in the criminal justice system. In your practicum, you integrate theory with practice and contribute to victim service initiatives within your community.

The Victimology program offers you the means to pursue a unique career. This program is the first graduate certificate program offered by a Canadian college specializing in victimology. More than just theory, this program puts you in the field, allowing you to learn how to look at issues from the victim`s perspective.

You may find work in a wide variety of fields helping victims of crime. Work opportunities may exist in:

• Social services
• Child protection
• Crisis response
• The criminal justice system, and
• In other areas related to victimization

Accredited by the Canadian Medical Association, the Medical Radiation Technology offered by Algonquin College is a three year Ontario College Advanced Diploma that prepares graduates with the technical skills and the theoretical knowledge required to carry out diagnostic procedures under the role of a medical radiation technologist as mentioned by the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists Radiological Technology competency profile.

Problem-solving skills and critical thinking is developed in the students so that they can quickly adapt the knowledge into clinical practices to provide safe patient assessment and therapeutic and diagnostic skills in consistency with the best standards of practice for the medical radiation technology. With the simulation, extensive clinical experiences, theoretical courses and laboratory practice, the students acquire sufficient ability to produce quality images of the internal structures of the human body.

The Digital Health Ontario College Graduate Certificate program helps you understand the ever-changing realities of the healthcare system, shifting towards a digital health ecosystem. This program provides you with the skills to lead and implement projects and contribute to their effectiveness and ultimately, to patient safety.

Through online, in-class and simulation activities, you gain both theoretical and practical knowledge. Your experience is also enhanced through exposure to broad information technology contexts in health care. These may include First Nations and Inuit, rural and remote settings, hospitals and other large healthcare organizations, as well as community-based health care and consumer health. This program provides you with opportunities to access research and development experiences in collaboration with digital health community partners by applying your skills in a hands-on, technology and research-rich learning environment.

By graduation, you understand how to assess, manage and put projects in place in today`s dynamic healthcare system. You may find work leading and managing digital health projects and programs in:

• Healthcare institutions
• consulting firms
• Government, and
• Other private sector health providers

The two-year Office Administration - Legal Ontario College Diploma program prepares you for a rewarding career in a variety of legal office environments.
Develop essential legal theoretical and applied skills by engaging in extensive learning in a simulated office in the areas of:

• Wills and estates
• Real estate
• Corporate law
• Litigation and family law

Apply your knowledge by preparing client files, producing documents using specialized legal software and Microsoft Office applications, transcribing, citing, applying accounting practices, and learning how to manage a legal office. You also have the opportunity to participate in a legal environment work placement allowing you to practice your skills.

Learning Outcomes
The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

• Conduct oneself professionally and adhere to relevant legislation, standards and codes of ethics.
• Manage the scheduling, coordination and organization of administrative tasks and workflow within specific deadlines and according to set priorities and procedures.
• Coordinate the collection, analysis, distribution and response to communications in the workplace to facilitate the flow of information.
• Operate and provide support to others related to the use of office equipment and technologies.
• Evaluate, establish and administer legal records management systems* to ensure confidential, secure, accessible and organized electronic and paper records*.
• Produce client account and billing records for legal services by compiling relevant information and using accounting software.
• Produce legal documentation for corporate, civil, family, real estate and wills and estates law using available technologies and applying industry standards.
• Use interpersonal and client service skills to respond to diversity and to support the goals of the organization.
• Identify and apply discipline-specific practices that contribute to the local and global community through social responsibility, economic commitment and environmental stewardship.