Certificate in Personal Support Worker

at Humber College North Campus Canada

Humber’s Electrical Engineering Technology – Control Systems advanced diploma program blends in-class, academic learning with hands-on laboratory work to prepare you for a career in electrical power and control systems engineering. In the third year of this program, you’ll learn advanced skills for a thorough academic and practical approach to the control of electrical equipment and industrial process instrumentation in automated manufacturing, processing, power systems and utilities industries.

Our curriculum, designed in collaboration with industry, focuses on programming software, feed-back control system and motor control, instrumentation and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), power electronics, power generation, transmission and distribution, power system design, human machine interface (HMI) design, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). Superior mathematics, physics and critical thinking skills will be es

Humber’s Electrical Engineering Technology – Control Systems advanced diploma program is designed in collaboration with an industry advisory panel ensuring you learn fundamental concepts and experience the latest technologies in this field. The program blends classroom theory with laboratory work on subjects such as electric devices, circuits, digital fundamentals, power generation and distribution, electrical computer-aided design (CAD), electrical codes, programming PLCs and industrial communications.

During the third year of this program, you’ll learn advanced skills to design, operate and maintain electrical equipment and instruments in automated manufacturing, environmental and power systems.

Our curriculum focuses on programming software, feed-back control systems, motor control, instrumentation, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), power electronics, power generation, transmission, distribution, power system design, human machine interface (HMI), and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). 

The program builds upon the solid technical foundation of our diploma program, providing broader career options. The skills learned in this program are enhanced through project-based learning in a hands-on teaching and learning environment.

Optional Co-op
This program offers an optional co-op opportunity. Co-op work terms enable you to apply your skills and knowledge in a work environment and gain valuable and practical experience related to your program of study. You will improve personal and technical skills while expanding your professional network.

For students who are accepted into the program, three co-op work terms will take place. The first four-month work term is between Semesters 2 and 3, and then two consecutive four-month work terms occur between Semesters 4 and 5. While co-op work opportunities are not guaranteed, participating students will receive a wide range of services to help them find a co-op placement.

sential to your success. The program builds upon the solid technical foundation of our technician program, ensuring wider career options. The skills learned in the technical program are enhanced through project-based learning and increased hands-on practice in the labs.

Humber’s Exercise Science and Lifestyle Management graduate certificate program is designed to build on the knowledge you have acquired in your undergraduate degree by providing in-depth, hands-on instruction in the areas of fitness assessment, health and lifestyle counselling, exercise prescription and delivery, health promotion, group exercise leadership, health and fitness management, marketing and entrepreneurship, ergonomic assessment, and functional abilities assessment. Students learn in small groups instructed by expert faculty currently employed in the fitness and health industry.
Our advisory committee provides regular review and input into our curriculum, ensuring our program is always on the cutting edge of industry developments.
Please note that certain courses in the Exercise Science and Lifestyle Management program require students to participate in fitness classes that will involve physical activity, which may at times be vigorous. Questions about fitness classes and accomodations may be directed to the program co-ordinator at [email protected] or at 416.675.6622 ext. 5188.

Work Placement
Experiential learning is an integral part of this program. The program features three unpaid internship courses, two of which take place on campus and the third of which takes place off campus. During the on-campus courses, students provide fitness assessments and testing, physical activity counselling and prescription services to Humber and partner employees as part of the Humber Centre for Healthy Living (Humber CHL). Students have the opportunity to run workshops for the Humber CHL and its partners, as well as providing healthy tips and videos for the Humber CHL website. Throughout the on-campus internship courses, students participate in seminars with their professors and classmates to critically analyze their experiences and develop the skills required for professional work.
The final work placement is a four-week block placement off campus with one of Humber’s industry partners.

Humber’s Bachelor of Engineering program begins with a common platform of first year courses which provide foundational engineering knowledge and skills. Following the first year, the curriculum branches into three different discipline areas: Information Systems Engineering, Mechatronics, and The Built Environment.  

The Bachelor of Engineering – The Built Environment discipline gives you hands-on experience with industry-standard advanced technology. In upper years students choose from focused study in either sustainable building or built environment information systems. They solve real industry and community problems and gain knowledge and skills in civil, architectural, structural, and environmental engineering. These abilities are in high demand as industry explores the use of innovative and resilient technologies and processes to make the construction of buildings and communities safer, more efficient and sustainable.     

Students use digital design applications and data capture technologies such as 3D scanning and mapping to integrate new and sustainable elements of the built environment into existing buildings, communities and cities. Virtual and augmented reality complement a design thinking approach to solving real world problems. 

Work Placement
A co-op work program (three consecutive work terms, 420 hour each) ensures that work-integrated learning experiences are woven into the curriculum. This provides students with a contextual understanding of the industry and specific sectors they are training for, as well as recognition of the importance of hands-on experience.

Industrial designers design products for consumers.  Examples include sports footwear, headphones, wearables and automobiles. Graduates of the program are in high demand for the practical skills gained through the program’s hands-on learning environment. These skills include sketching, digital graphic rendering, model-making and computer-aided design (CAD).  The program is project driven, and many of the design projects will involve industry collaboration to ensure real-world relevance.

Students elect a design specialization in Year 3 in one of:

• Automotive design
• Product design or
• Interaction design

Automotive designers design the appearance (styling) of motor vehicles including automobiles, motorcycles and off-road vehicles. Humber is the only industrial design program in Canada that offers an automotive design specialization. 
In product design, there is more emphasis on the method of finding a solution to a user’s problem in order to make doing a task easier or make the user experience with the product more satisfying.
Interaction design is a new offering in the program which recognizes that more and more physical products are integrating a digital component, including touch screens or voice activation.

Learning Outcomes

• Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:
  • Meet the professional criteria as established by the ACIDO Charter (The Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario), demonstrating core competencies in skills, knowledge and design methodology in industrial design meeting.
  • Design, document and communicate high quality interior design propositions of varying size, scope and complexity employing principles of evidence-based design methodology.
  • Explain how products work; how products can be made to work better for people; what makes a product useful, usable, and desirable; and how products are manufactured and serviced.
  • Select and employ appropriate visual languages to investigate, analyze, interpret, develop and articulate ideas for two and three-dimensional projects.
  • Produce sophisticated design proposals emphasizing three-dimensional quality of space achieved through architectural detailing.
  • Communicate concepts and requirements to other designers and colleagues who work with them, and to clients and employers. This need to communicate draws upon: verbal and written forms, two-dimensional and three-dimensional media, and levels of detailing ranging from sketching to engineering drawings.
  • Employ computer-aided drafting (CAD), computer-aided industrial design (CAID), and appropriate 2D and 3D graphic software to create graphic presentations and marketing materials.
  • Integrate sustainable practices in the design process and demonstrate leadership by educating users in these principles.
  • Analyze the complexity of forces – economic, political, physiological, sociological and technological – which influence the design of the physical environment.
  • Incorporate principles of user-centered design, human factors and ergonomics in design solutions.
  • Select appropriate methods and materials to achieve the technical functionality and aesthetically pleasing built environment.
  • Select the appropriate process(es) and materials for manufacture for a given production volume.
  • Support the marketing function with design strategy supported by graphic/3D materials.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between human behaviour and the built environment and the implications in preparing design solutions.
  • Assess the implications for interior design presented by key developments in current and emerging materials, media and technologies and in interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary design practice.
  • Source information on copyright, mechanical patents, and protection of intellectual property, as applied and practiced in the professional field of industrial design.
  • Develop a business case for and present design solutions to a variety of stakeholder in keeping with professional standards and practices.
  • Employ effective and professional communication skills and techniques to interact, negotiate and undertake collaborative efforts including meaningful discussion of one’s work in an open studio environment, with audiences, clients, markets, end-users and team members.
  • Work collaboratively with clients to develop an understanding of the product requirements, leading to a design brief.
  • Confidently employ appropriate professional accountability, personal and business ethics demonstrating competency of industry practices.
  • Work in a team effectively, utilizing skills of collaboration, negotiation, compromise and conflict resolution.
  • Employ appropriate conventions of measurement, scale, site measuring, drafting and volumetric manipulation through a variety of manual and digital modeling techniques.
  • Design to exceed the minimum standards of applicable laws, codes, regulations, and practices that protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.
  • Speak clearly and persuasively for design concepts and resources.
  • Plan and manage projects, demonstrate good time management skills, be a self-starter, and show resourcefulness.
  • Employ both convergent and divergent thinking in the process of observation, investigation, speculative enquiry, ideation, rationalization and implementation of design solutions.
  • Source, navigate, select, retrieve, evaluate, manipulate and manage information from a variety of sources, both primary and secondary.
  • Conduct themselves with honesty and integrity, demonstrating professional accountability.
  • Employ a variety of methods of design to develop design solutions.
  • Analyze information and experiences in order to articulate an academically structured, sustained and well-supported argument supporting a design issue or creative interior design solution.
  • Identify and analyze the customer needs of an identified target market.
  • Find relevant information that informs the design process, employing a number of techniques and skills including: observation, expert interviews, market information, and various digital search techniques.
  • Employ a variety of ideation techniques, including: sketching, brainstorming, rapid sketching, analogy, metaphors, symbols, and form exploration/sketch modeling
  • Develop a design solution which meets users’ needs, derived from concept development, product aesthetics (form, color, texture, haptics) that reflects market trends, human factors (including ergonomics, user interaction, and safety), model making, materials and technology, sustainable design, manufacturing feasibility and design validation, and cost.
  • Demonstrate good problem solving abilities.
  • Develop creative and innovative solutions.
  • Demonstrate a strong aesthetic sensibility and style, resulting in design solutions with visual appeal.
  • Articulate a well-supported argument justifying a design concept or creative design solution.
  • Articulate the difference and relationship between a product’s form and function and the emotional and experiential needs it fulfills.
  • Articulate design strategy in the context of business strategy.

Work Placement

• This program includes a work placement of 420 hours in the summer between Year three and four.

The Systems Navigator graduate certificate program will prepare you to work in an emerging profession helping individuals manage and co-ordinate their care within the health and social services fields. Systems navigators assist with navigating complicated and interrelated systems and are the primary source of communication between the inter-disciplinary team and individuals, acting as an advocate and guide.

You will acquire skills to assess diverse clients’ service priorities and to develop personalized care plans. Building on your current professional knowledge and practice, you will learn about the complex systems in which support services are provided to patients and clients. In addition, you will learn the business and economics of service delivery systems and how professionals’ roles and responsibilities intersect.

This program will prepare you for an exciting career in the emerging field of systems navigation. Graduates will be prepared to work across various health and community service systems and will also have the skills to take on client leadership roles specific to seamless service delivery for patients and clients, often acting as the single point of contact. Career opportunities exist in the fields of nursing, occupational/physical therapy, social services, mental health and addictions, and child and youth care. 

Humber’s Civil Engineering Technology advanced diploma program provides you with the skills needed for a career in the growing field of civil infrastructure. Infrastructure encompasses all of the essential elements necessary for society to operate including buildings, transportation (highways and transit), municipal services (water, wastewater) and green spaces.

The curriculum, designed in collaboration with industry, covers all aspects of infrastructure, from the inception of an idea to the completion of construction, and blends in-class academic learning with hands-on laboratory work. You will learn how to design structural steel, reinforced concrete and timber structures. Municipal services (water, wastewater) and water supply management will be explored. Transportation infrastructure and highway design will be studied using design codes and standards. Additionally, you will learn all the skills necessary to support design and construction including surveying, geomatics, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), drafting (AutoCAD and Building Information Modelling (BIM)), soils and materials testing, project administration and management, and environmental protection and remediation. Our courses are taught by experienced faculty and industry experts many of whom work with Greater Toronto Area construction and engineering firms. Humber’s strong reputation in the civil engineering industry can give graduates an edge in the employment market.

Humber’s Architectural Technology advanced diploma program will train you to use your logical and critical thinking skills as you apply architectural technology to construction and building design. You’ll learn from full-time, award-winning professors and licensed architects who bring real-life perspective and valuable industry contacts to you. The curriculum is designed with industry collaboration, ensuring you are learning current and relevant material. In the program, you will learn:

• Computer-aided drawing, building methods and project management using the most current computer programs such as AutoCAD and Revit (Building Information Modelling)
• Construction technologies for materials such as wood frame, steel, masonry and precast concrete, and project management skills
• Hands-on skills including building code, building specifications, estimating, and structural and mechanical knowledge
• Sustainable design skills needed in today’s eco-friendly architectural technology field

Courses include instruction in freehand sketching, history of architecture, renovation and restoration, site planning, and technical communications. Architectural Technology electives include bath and kitchen, interior detailing, building code (legal), small building residential design and more.

Get hands-on experience in the architectural technology industry during an optional architectural field placement. The placement normally takes place from May through August following semester four (minimum 400 hours). Humber provides a range of services to support students including working with business, industry and government to identify work placement opportunities.

Build a strong future for yourself with a career in architectural technology. Building construction continues to grow, and contractors expect the number of skilled laborers to decline, providing a need for new graduates to enter the architectural technology field. Our graduates work:

• In producing design and construction documents for architectural offices
• As project co-ordinators, estimators and project inspectors for contracting firms
• As housing specialists for design firms
• As sales representatives for construction equipment manufacturers
• As building inspectors and plan examiners for municipalities

The rapid growth in construction and building in Toronto and southern Ontario, combined with Humber’s strong reputation in the industry, provides graduates with strong employment opportunities.

Humber’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) diploma prepares you to work with children (birth to 12 years) and their families. Students can expect to attain and exceed the practice-ready knowledge, skills and attitudes employers are seeking from ECE graduates in supporting children, families and the community by engaging in innovative learning and simulation experiences. These experiences take place within Humber's Carol Reid Early Childhood Education Lab, as well as within the Humber Child Development Centre - interacting with our scenic arboretum and nature-inspired playground and exploring responsive inclusive teaching methods and leading edge curriculum.

You will learn about:

• How children learn
• The importance of responsive relationships
• The image of the child and the significance of viewing children from a wide variety of lenses
• How to create responsive, inclusive play-based learning environments and natural play spaces for children, families and the community
• Human development
• Observation and reflection, and the preparation of pedagogical documentation by children, families and the community
• Social justice, advocacy, leadership and the role of the ECE professional
• The importance of collaborating with relevant community agencies
• How ministry and government legislation and guidelines inform practice

The Humber Advantage
Humber’s Early Childhood Education diploma program is a recognized leader in preparing registered early childhood educators who see themselves as global citizens. Students and graduates advocate for the holistic health and well-being of all children, supported by a connection to nature and a stand for social justice.

Global Citizens and Social Justice

• We provide our students with:
  • Experiences and resources that reflect and promote diversity and inclusion
  • Opportunities to develop an understanding and appreciation of all nations and cultures, and a commitment to contributing to the global community
  • Ongoing initiatives guided by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as outlined in the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, in consultation with Humber’s Aboriginal Resource Centre.

Work Placement

• We believe it is necessary for our students to have extensive experience in the profession in order to be successful as registered early childhood educators. Students can expect to have work placement experiences within the program and will be required to complete approximately 450-600 work placement hours over three semesters. During these three semesters, students may have field practicums such as working with families and children (various age groups) in licensed child care or preschool settings, EarlyON Child and Family Centres, various community programs, full day kindergarten, or home based child care programs. A different placement for Semesters 2, 3, and 4 ensures a range of experiences prior to graduation and equips students with a range of networks within the community to explore employment in the future.
• In the ECE program, Field Practicum 1 and Field Seminar 1 begin in Semester 2. Students should plan to complete their prerequisite requirements accordingly. Visit the Work-Integrated Learning web pages > to learn more about placements and requirements. 

This is one of the few Pre-Health Pathway programs with real science lab experience with no prior lab experience/studies necessary. There are a multitude of careers in health sciences, and this program is a pathway to explore your options. You will strengthen your science, writing and math skills, and explore career paths in biotechnology, pharmacy technician, registered or practical nursing, Chinese medicine, paramedicine and more. 

This program will enable you to:  

• Experience learning in a science lab 
• Participate in lab teams and conduct science experiments – starting in your first semester 
• Build your foundational skills in math, critical thinking, problem solving – key skills for every career in the health sciences 
• Gain science credits in Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry, Physics and more 
• Hone your academic skills for future studies 
• Explore many possible careers in health sciences with guest speakers and pathways events 
• You will learn to analyze personal and professional situations from various perspectives to help develop a sense of personal and social responsibility as a citizen and allied health professional.

In Humber’s Animation 3D advanced diploma program, you will develop a well-rounded knowledge base and skillset that includes strong art, animation, modelling and visualization abilities. You will be prepared for the ever-expanding 3D art field with a thorough understanding of the latest 3D digital art technologies in a program developed with the input of industry advisors. Learn to work like the pros do — using the same 3D animation software and tools to render creative thoughts into compelling images and fully-realized design.

This program will allow you to develop a blend of the most relevant digital and analog art skills, as well as an understanding of creative and technological processes. A full understanding of art and design theories will help you draw, visualize and apply colour principles to create appealing work. You will also gain a mastery in adhering to a pipeline, as you develop content across courses; and teamwork, as you collaborate with students from other programs to better simulate a studio/production environment.?

The Humber Advantage

• Usability Lab
  • The Usability Lab is a new facility for students in the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts at Humber College. This “Live Lab” is a full-fledged usability lab where content creators can capture & assess the interaction between user and design.
  • This Usability Lab is specialized, in that it was purposefully built for usability studies to ensure that the environment does not interfere with the testing. Designed with flexibility at its core, it has been equipped with a broad variety of technology, supporting usability testing at many different levels of sophistication.
  • What makes this lab unique is the fact that it is mobile. This one-of-a-kind usability lab can be delivered to those who wish to use and evaluate our designs, as well as their own. For our students, they can participate in, and lead experiments that will truly test the designs they have developed, to make sure they work in the manner they have been designed to work.