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GIS Certificate Program

What is the GIS Certificate Program?

The Elmhurst College Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Certificate Program provides professionals, students, faculty, administrators, staff and any interested parties with the latest in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), and remote sensing & image processing (RS/IP) technology. The GIS Certificate Program, which was established in 2005, includes all necessary instruction on how to work with highly sophisticated spatial analysis tools that are regularly used to solve "real-world" problems in variety of environmental, biological, and geological fields, among others. The Program includes a unique Professional Track which caters to both working professionals and those relatively new to GIS. The Program has received generous support from software companies and has been featured on the ESRI Virtual Campus website as one of only 45 organizations nationally. This site provides information regarding the details of the GIS Certificate Program, including a detailed summary of the software and hardware tools available to the GIS community.

The unique design of the Program has been tailored to meet the needs of working professionals and non-traditional students in both the surrounding communities and beyond. Although the Program is a non-degree program, it does carry college credit, and may be applied towards a future degree program of the student's choice at Elmhurst College.

Because the working professional normally does not have the means or the desire to undertake a full-fledged degree program, a suitable format was designed to accommodate the needs of the working professional. Those who have some knowledge of GIS, but want to increase their abilities in this area, as well as those who believe learning GIS techniques could increase their marketability, are among the makeup of the program’s students.

While all technical information, theoretical aspects, and online lectures (in the form of PowerPoint^TM lectures stressing active learning techniques) is presented through an online course management system, the emphasis of the classes are on "hands on" learning and assistance with software and computer challenges. Instructors are available for individual sessions and group assistance.

The focus of the curriculum in the Professional Track of the Program is to align the outcomes with the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) educational requirements for national certification leading to an eventual Certified GIS Professional (GISP). Feedback from the spatial modeling community has been that a number of GIS professionals and spatial modelers have been using the spatial techniques and spatial software for a number of years, but lack the official educational points to qualify for the GISP. The GIS Certificate Program is designed with this in mind.

Professional Track was designed exclusively for the working professional. This completely online and asynchronous track can be completed in nine months and includes a total of four courses, including new topics concerning geodatabase construction, model builder applications, and python programming applications. It also includes advanced remote sensing techniques and a capstone course addressing applications of GIS in society. A free, fully functional version of ArcGIS 9.x Desktop (ArcView level including all extensions), and AEJEE (ArcExplorer JAVA Edition for Educators) is included.
Introductory/Educator Track is presented in a hybrid format and includes an introductory course on the use of ESRI state-of-the-art GIS software.

Admission Requirements:

No prerequisites
Some previous GIS experience; at the discretion of the Program Coordinator
No degree or college credit required
Must meet Elmhurst College minimum requirements if taking for credit
At-large student (non-degree study)
Courses may be applied towards a future degree

Elmhurst College GIS Certificate Program is aligned with the GISCI curriculum and supported by ESRI.