Data Analytics I_X
What is data analytics?
In a world in which we are creating and storing vast amounts of data – information – all the time, data analytics is the art and science of analysing that data, extracting patterns, and turning them into insights that can be used by businesses to drive decision-making.
What will we learn?
This course teaches students how to:
- Conduct exploratory data analysis including how to clean and pre-process data for visualisation.
- Learn to visualise different types of data and how to create impactful charts and graphs.
- Implement the principles of data storytelling through the micro-internship project.
- Develop insights from the analysis of the data, and create practical takeaways for organizational decision-makers.
Who will be teaching this class?
Dr Claire Davis-Reddy is a data product specialist who focuses on the design and development of open data products, atlas portals, and visualisation tools to facilitate effective data- and evidence-driven decision-making. She is a passionate data storyteller and has written several guidebooks on how local governments can start tackling climate change. Claire has a PhD from the University of Stellenbosch specialising in the fields of remote sensing, vegetation modelling and climate change. Her PhD research investigated the dynamics of vegetation phenology and productivity over Sub-Saharan Africa in response to climate variability and change and how this information can be used to strengthen the ability of Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) to predict vegetation change.
How does the online course work?
Students will join their US-based classmates in online classes, live-taught via Zoom. They will work with students from all over the world, ones that have travelled to US college campuses, and others dialling in from elsewhere. Learning and doing teamwork online teaches them incredibly valuable skills, such as effective communication, teamwork, and working with people in different time zones. All of these are especially valuable in our modern, often remote-first working world.
What is a micro-internship?
Each programme takes part in a group micro-internship project, in which they tackle a real-world business problem using the skills they have learned in their course. This is a great chance to get real-world work experience within the safety of a learning environment. This is the first year we are doing Data Analytics with Summer Springboard, however, previous Data Analytics students have done their micro-internships with Global Forest Watch, an online platform providing data and tools to climate scientists to monitor the world’s forests. Students analysed a research problem, processed data, and analysed it using Tableau Public, before translating their analysis into a data visualisation. Their experience gave them a great advantage in college applications and gave them a clear idea of what it could be like working in the field of data analytics.