Novel Educational Source for Data Science

Data Camp is a novel educational resource primarily established in order to provide a diverse range of Data Science education. With such diverse aim it inevitably provides excellent programming or mathematical/statistical resource as well. Courses about programming languages like R and Python include breadth of information levels, from initial learning of the language to specific applications in Statistics or Data Science. Users of this resource are not just assumed to be well educated in Mathematics to just dive in, range of courses are there to introduce students to a range of Mathematical and Statistical basics needed for Data Science applications as well as higher concepts like Machine Learning. As Danny Kaplan states in paraphrased quote from the Data Camp Blog - algorithms, statistical modeling, programming,... are all now fundamental base of modern work just a the Algebra and Trigonometry were not just that long ago in the pre-Data World. Hence, these courses are widely useful for the STEM field in general.

There are free and paid (at a very reasonable rate compared with general technical online learning staples like Lynda or ItPro) courses. Also, there is a "Community" section which consists of completely free materials produced by the site users themselves. Not any less useful, just the opposite. Typical courses, to quote Danny Kaplan yet again, are like what one expects from Hogwarts textbooks: they are multimedia resources. Structure of these courses is what I'd call retro-novel: modern education have drifted away from teaching students how to do things, not at the Data Camp. How-to is the core of the material but it doesn't end there. Practice problems are not "PISA-like" thrown at the student/user. There are typically hints and directions, helpful nudges toward the correct path. You learn on that journey. Something one could have received in Eastern European engineering classes of the yore - training aimed at developing capabilities, not just understanding. After you are done with a course you will be able to do something new.

Data Camp group in Belgium Offices

Data Camp group in Belgium Offices

Invaluable LaTeX resource

LaTeX is document editing and typesetting system particularly prevalent in STEM fields and applicable to any complex manuscript production needs. LaTeX have been created by Professor Emeritus Donald Knuth . I have recently discovered a brilliant multimedia resource about LaTeX applicable both to the beginnersand LaTeX users who need either a quick refresher course or reference: Free & Interactive Online Introduction to LaTeX by Dr John Lees-Miller . This course starts from the very introduction to LaTeX to clear and concise instructions with plentiful examples about how to create complex structured documents with figures, tables and automatic bibliographies, including professional presentations with beamer and advanced drawings with TikZ . Despite decades worth of working in LaTeX which included editing of books and conference proceedings I find this resource invaluable. If you are just starting in some STEM field, definitely beef-up on LaTeX as it is long established standard in STEM publications. This resource is free and open source.

 

Dr John Lees-Miller presenting Interactive Online Introduction to LaTeX

Dr John Lees-Miller presenting Interactive Online Introduction to LaTeX