University of Toronto Faculty of Information
Bachelor of Information
Toronto, Canada
Bachelor's degree
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
About: The Bachelor of Information (BI) is a second-entry undergraduate programme requiring at least 20 half university-level courses for admission. The BI explores interactions between information technologies and social worlds, combining design thinking, critical scholarship and experiential learning to help you understand and influence data-intensive societies. Topics cover data management, privacy, user experience, archives and knowledge management.
Career Outcomes: Business Analyst, Data Scientist, User Experience Designer, Knowledge Management Specialist, Privacy Analyst, Archives Assistant, Policy Analyst. The BI’s integrative humanities- and social science-based training prepares you for roles in technology, information management, digital curation, interactive media, policy, research and organizational information strategy.
The BI is a second-entry professional undergraduate program. Students must have completed at least 20 half university-level courses to be considered for admission.
The Bachelor of Information (BI) considers the interactions between information technologies and social worlds, providing you with the conceptual tools and practical techniques necessary to understand and effect change in a data-intensive society. The BI program integrates design thinking, critical scholarship, and experiential learning.
Have you ever wondered?
- How does a database work?
- How Google ads seem to reflect what you have been thinking and talking about?
- How we will manage the growing pile of data, pictures, and records we are creating every day?
- How organizations are able to manage what they know?
- Why some companies have a hard time getting people to share information effectively?
- Whether AI will turn out to be dangerous?
- Why it’s sometimes really hard to find what you’re looking for on a website?
- Who owns your data on social media sites like Facebook & Instagram?
- What is “big data” and why is it so hot right now?
- What the impact of information technologies is on the environment?
- How your gender, age, religious affiliation, sexual orientation race or education impact your perspectives on privacy, both your own and those around you?
You will learn to:
- Understand and assess the social, political, economic, and ethical entailments of information creation, ownership, stewardship, and circulation;
- Understand, critique, and use multiple techniques of data creation, manipulation, and interpretation;
- Use current information and computing tools and strive to understand what similar tools may be developed in the future;
- Use the design process to understand, analyze and engage with complex questions of information practice;
- Work collaboratively and professionally to analyze, address emerging problems relating to information technologies and practices;
- Apply your knowledge and skills in a manner that demonstrates ethical, cultural, and legal awareness.
The BI consists of 11 full courses over 5 terms (fall/winter/summer/fall/winter)
You can apply during year 2 of your undergraduate degree.
Suggested timetable
Incredible Hands-on Experience
Work Integrated Learning built into the program:
- Practicum
- Capstone Project
- Studio-based courses: The six studio-based courses use hands-on and experiential learning to engage and elaborate the intellectual content of the program’s lecture-based courses while providing students with familiarity and expertise in common types of software and hardware suites.
Sample Careers
- Business Analyst
- Data Scientist
- Design Researcher
- Digital Archives Assistant
- Information Specialist
- Interactive Media Designer
- Knowledge Management Specialist
- Privacy Analyst
- Policy Analyst
- Social Media Strategist
- User Experience Designer
- Archives Assistant
- Information Management Coordinator
- Web Publisher
- Research Analyst
- Records & Systems Manager
The BI’s integrative, critical, humanities, and social science-based approach to information technologies and practices will prepare you for vital and enriching careers in three areas: Products & Systems, Policy & Research, Information Management & Cultural Stewardship.
