Above is an image related to one of the news stories we followed these past two weeks. Do you know what it shows? At the bottom of this quiz, you’ll find the answer.
Have you been paying attention to the news recently? See how many of these 10 questions you can get right.
Think of a recent experience that you or your friends video-recorded and then watched later.
Close your eyes and try to remember as much as you can from that moment.
What do you remember? What do you see?
Can you recall the actual experience? Can you remember what it looked like and felt like to be present in that moment? Or can you remember only the photograph or video you had recorded and then seen?
What does this tell you about the impact of digital recordings on your memories in general: How distinct is your memory? How much of what you can recall is from the time of your experience? How much of your memory is based on watching and rewatching it later?
Do you think videos enhance or detract from your memories?
In “Is the Immediate Playback of Events Changing Children’s Memories?,” Julia Cho writes that looking at a video right after an event can alter the actual memory of the experience:
The night of the elementary school talent show, we came home to celebrate with ice cream when my mother took out her iPhone to show a video she’d taken of my 10-year-old daughter’s performance. My daughter had played Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” on the piano by ear and sang along. Despite her nerves, she got out there in the middle of the stage in a new dress with scattered sequins and sang her best, bowing to an audience of clapping parents before she walked off stage — an expression of relief and pride on her face.
When I saw my mother’s finger hovering over “play” on her phone, my daughter leaning over her shoulder, I stopped her: “You know what … let’s just let her enjoy the moment.”
I’ve seen the way my daughter’s facial expression changes, her eyes squint slightly, and her neck pulls her head back just a little when she watches videos of herself. I knew that in my daughter’s mind she’d felt like a rock star up there, and that seeing the video might surprise her and change the way she remembered the experience. It’s not that her performance wasn’t good — just that it might be slightly different on video than the way she experienced it, the way we all feel when we hear ourselves on a recording and say “Wait — that’s what I sound like?”
I wanted to keep her experience sacred for at least a little bit longer. I wanted to keep it her experience.
It turns out that my hesitancy has a genuine scientific basis. Daniel Schacter, a psychology professor at Harvard whose books include “The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers,” told me, “We know from research that reactivating an experience after it occurs can have large effects on subsequent memory for that experience, and depending on what elements of an experience are reactivated, can even change the original memory.”
Many studies have been done on how a person taking a photograph reinforces or reshapes their memory, but what about our children — the subject of our constant documentation? Does seeing themselves in the third person change or even falsify their memories? Instead of remembering the experience of singing up there on the stage looking out at the audience from her own eyes, my daughter’s memory becomes entangled with the videographer’s perspective from the audience looking up at the stage.
The article continues:
What would have happened if I let my daughter watch the video right after her experience? According to Dr. Siegel she would have quickly moved from being a participant to being a more distant observer.
“A half-hour after the show, instead of being able to languish and enjoy the rich bodily sensations and emotions that accompany autobiographical experience and memory and narrative, she’s now being thrust into the observer autobiographical experience because she’s watching herself on the screen,” he said.
I have no videos of my elementary school performances, ballet recitals or birthday mornings from my early ’80s childhood. Videos were not sent via phone for instant viewing. Even film had to be developed when I was growing up; vacation pictures would be viewed a week or so after the experience. We got to linger in the experience for a while, from our own perspective, not the camera’s. Even though many of my childhood memories are hazy, they’re mine.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
— Are digital memories ruining our real ones? Why or why not? How difficult is it for you to separate your actual experiences from your videos and photographs of them? How have digital recordings of you affected your self-image?
— The article concludes:
It’s been a week since my daughter’s performance. “I can’t believe it’s over!” she says twirling around the kitchen. She knows I have a video of the performance, but, interestingly enough, she hasn’t asked to see it, and I haven’t volunteered it. I think I’ll let us both remember it just as it was that night for now: raw and unfiltered, and from our own perspectives, perfect.
Do you think Ms. Cho made the right decision to withhold the video from her daughter? If you were her daughter, would you have demanded to see it? Do you agree with Dr. Daniel Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, that videos can “rob our moments of their ephemeral power”?
— Have you ever thought of recording an experience (through video or photographs) and then decided not to because you felt it would detract from the moment, or from future memories of it? Having read the article, do you think you are more likely now to put your camera away next time?
— How good is your memory? How important are your memories to your identity and life? What do you think of the author’s statement that “Even though many of my childhood memories are hazy, they’re mine”? Is this a convincing argument for putting down the video camera? Or do you think her perspective is somehow outdated or irrelevant to people from your generation who have grown up surrounded by technology?
— Do you have a favorite memory? Was a camera present to record it?
— How much of your life has been recorded digitally? How often do you rewatch these images and videos? Do you think videos enhance or detract from your memories? If you have children of your own, would you want to videotape everything — from their first steps to high school graduation? Or would you ever hold back?
We provide analyst services. I’m an analyst. We are an analyst firm. You may have read or seen such statements on various web sites or information on profiles in Linkedin, but not everyone knows what an analyst is, what role they play in the industry, how vendors see them (for the most part) and how as an analyst and/or analyst firm can provide information to enable consumers to make an informed decision.
Who am I?
Who am I? That is a line from Les Miserables but as an analyst it can be an important foundation when dealing with vendors.
At my firm, we provide advisory (for vendors), consulting (for consumers) and analyst services. As an analyst (one of my hats that I wear), it is very common for vendors to reach out to schedule an analyst briefing. Equally, it is not uncommon for us to reach out to a vendor requesting an analyst briefing when we are seeking additional information, including product details.
Some vendors have an analyst relations department/team, with someone overseeing analyst relations. They handle all analyst requests from talking with the right person or people (depending on what information you are seeking), to scheduling briefings, which depending on the type of briefing could be focused on sales, financials and frequently, product including updates, rollout, functionality, and so on.
Independence
The vendor and analyst relationship one is quite tricky. On one hand there are vendors who feel that your role (as an analyst) is to present only positive information about their product and the company itself. If you find or identify problems or issues with the product or on how the company handles support or other items for example, there are vendors who feel that this is not relevant and therefore should not be provided to the consumer market.
I would like to make it clear that this is not a universal attitude among vendors in the e-learning space, but there are enough out there, that as a consumer you should be aware of, in terms of it existing.
I can’t speak for other analyst firms, but at The Craig Weiss Group, we are always 100% independent and as you know, I will always tell it as it is. If the product is good, then it should be identified and noted as such. If the product has problems or issues, then it should be known as well.
The same applies to the company itself. For example, let’s say you become aware during a briefing that the vendor is cutting their sales and support staff, due to financial constraints. As an analyst you will need decide whether or not this is relevant for people to be aware of, especially if you know the vendor is promoting that they are financially sound and everything is going great.
Or let’s say the vendor is showing on their web site an amazing system with lots of cool capabilities, yet when they show it to you, it is only 50% done and the rest still looks like it did from five years ago. The vendor is hoping as an analyst you present the cool features and user interface and keep the other, quiet. If you tell it as it is, you could face repercussions, if you gloss it over, the less likely the vendor is offended.
Repercussions
I have been very fortunate that the “we won’t show you anything” attitude is limited among all the vendors I come in contact with on a yearly basis. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. I can count on one hand, the vendors who feel that I am not presenting them in either a positive light or I did not present information accurately, when in fact I did.
This is part of where the expectation that you will write something positive about the vendor rears its ugly head. As mentioned early, there are vendors who, if they do not get what they want, will “blackball” the analyst.
Thus the analyst needs to make a decision on what they want or choose to do. As a firm, we never play that game, i.e. write only positive if we know there are also minuses. And as an individual analyst, equally, if there is something wrong with the system or the vendor, it is noted on the blog, my newsletter, reports, etc.
My personal feeling is that there are no perfect systems out there. Just as there isn’t a perfect person. We can all improve. Make enhancements, updates, tweaks, business direction and so forth to be better.
I’d rather have a vendor say, “yes, we are aware of that, ” or “we will investigate that”. My hope is in turn they will investigate that and get if fixed or have it on their roadmap to fix it at a later date (depending on the severity of the issue).
Quid Pro Quo
It may be a term you have heard or at least heard whispers of it. Another way to phrase it, is pay for play. Pay for play means that in return for a fee or amount of money, the analyst and/or analyst firm will repeatedly push out positive only information about the vendor’s product. Everything published by the analyst firm/analyst smells of fresh roses and happy land.
The vendor in turn, presents this information as proof positive that the product rocks and there is nothing to see here in terms of challenges, etc.
While I cannot speak for other analyst firms, I can state unequivocally, we never do quid pro quo or pay for play.
Even systems I love, I will always note the minuses if I find them. And again, there is no perfect system.
Embargo and NDAs
There are vendors who request an NDA prior to an analyst briefing. I never agree to them. An analyst has to remain fair and balanced, and if they hear information that they see as useful and beneficial to consumers, whether it is via a mini-brief or post, etc. then they should be able to provide that.
After all, many vendors seek input from the analyst, during certain briefings – related to the product. Some seek insight into their strategy overall, during briefing calls. Again, it adds to a slippery slope.
I will provide some feedback if asked upon but limit it. Not every analyst will – it just depends on the firm and the analyst themselves.
An embargo in the analyst world means that the information the vendor is providing has been agreed upon, prior to, that it will remain confidential until a certain date and time.
For example, the vendor may be launching a certain type of functionality that will be a difference maker (in their eyes). They tell you about the function and show it to you, but ask that you embargo it until X date. After they publish out on that date, you can, now present it to anyone.
I have no issue with an embargo, if it is agreed upon ahead of time. If a vendor says to me, “this is off-the record”, then I will not publish it, because it is confidential. Otherwise anything they present in a briefing is “on the record”. And I should note this is quite common in the analyst world.
On the record simply means that it can be published or presented to anyone. With an embargo it is delayed.
How to work with an analyst (attention vendors)
In the e-learning industry, the most common analyst briefings are with learning system vendors. Can it be with non learning system? Absolutely, but generally speaking, by far it is learning systems.
As well as I cannot speak for every analyst firm, nor will I try, here are some items that as an analyst, are useful to know and equally, not relevant.
I should note that if the call is covering financials and/or sales information then drilling down to the numbers and asking questions around that is a necessity. Vagueness is not what an analyst wants to hear.
For example, if you say, our year to year growth is 22%, then my expectation is you will give me the client numbers previous and current, so that it can be ascertained really how great or poor that growth is.
On the product side, a briefing should include
If the briefing is on the system itself, then a demo is a necessity, and because a demo can take time, having a slide deck that goes on for 20 minutes is not something an analyst wants to spend a lot of time on, especially if there is information that isn’t necessary for that call.
Just the other day I had a briefing with a demo, and the vendor knew I was interested in metrics, so they focused their call on those new metrics they had in the system. Then, with time remaining, we were able to cover two other areas of interest. That is a strong use of time.
Pass..
Most analysts do not care who your clients are in a product briefing. Vendors love to show you because well, it shows who is using their system. While I can see that as useful information for a potential buyer, as an analyst, I don’t care.
Now, if we are in sales briefing, that is a different story, and that is why vendors know I will always ask them if they are the “exclusive vendor” for that client (which means they are the only learning system being used by that client).
Another I have no desire to care is where you have offices located. I can always find out that information on your web site or in a separate call. I’m happy for you that you have an office in Topeka, Kansas and a new one in Bournemouth, England, but from a product briefing, let alone a sales one, not needed.
What is your NPS?
I can tell you that vendors love to tell me their NPS (Net Promoter Score). NPS is a customer loyalty metric. I should note it should not be the only one you use, but that is for another time.
NPS scale is 0 to 100, with the ideal being as close as you can get to 100. Some vendors provide NPS with not only the system, but also their support too.
One of the items vendors never like to provide is the percentage of detractors (these are folks who will NEVER recommend the product, etc.). In NPS you have promoters (they score either a 9 or 10 on a scale which usually goes to 11), passives (score 7 or 8) and detractors (6 and below).
An NPS is an actual number on a range from -100 to 100. It is not a percentile.
Some Concerns
An NPS only takes into account, current- active customers, and assumes that as a promoter they will actually recommend the system/product to others, which may or may not be the case. How many times do you go to a hotel, they ask you if you would recommend them to others, you say yes, then never do?
Secondly, with recommendations it depends on who is presenting that information, for some people they seek experts i.e. in our case analysts, others it is Steve who runs the butcher shop at your grocery store.
Now Steve may know everything there is to know about a lamb shank, but do you want Steve to be your key recommender for a learning system? Most likely, you will thank Steve and then, ask where is the mustard aisle?
Bottom Line
As you can tell, being an analyst, in e-learning, isn’t the easiest job in the world. There is always something to consider. Something to ascertain. Something to question.
But when you do, and you do it independently, fair and without any quid pro quo, then it can be a very useful way to present findings in a manner that matters.
When an analyst says this is a top tier product or system or company, it should be your expectation that what they are providing is accurate, fair, independent and without any misleading information.
The only way to truly know is to ascertain the trustworthiness of the analyst and the analyst firm, thru previous insight and current knowledge on their focused market/industry.
If you are unsure, well, look for an analyst you can trust
Or ask Steve, the next time you are wanting to buy
a Roast.
E-Learning 24/7
In a 2016 Google technical conference keynote, Eric Schmidt, who is now chairman of Google’s parent Alphabet, said he has seen the future of wealth creation from the IT industry, and its name is machine learning. And earlier this year, in a Newsweek opinion piece, Schmidt wrote about the significant impact he sees machine learning having on the world. He said, “We are now entering a decade in which machine learning will come to define how we interact with technology and the world around us – and how technology helps humanity thrive.”
I agree with Schmidt’s assessment and believe that digital technologies such as machine learning have the power to change how the world creates innovative value. This powerful technology is bringing companies unprecedented insights, more accurate predictions, and the automation of routine tasks, all of which allows them to focus on higher value opportunities.
No longer are programmers defining rules for computers – with machine learning, we now give them problems to solve and they learn how to accomplish this on their own. Imagine software that can observe human actions and learn how to perform them autonomously without being explicitly programmed. Imagine machines that can access, analyze, and find patterns in Big Data that is beyond human understanding. Imagine machines that can spot patterns and make connections through exposure to massive amounts of data so they become intelligent advisors and help people make better decisions.
Machine learning is doing all of this and it’s helping companies become exponential – where they have an impact that is at least 10 times greater than their competitors.’ And it’s creating intelligent enterprises where businesses are more empowered than ever before.
You may wonder why there is so much in the news about machine learning now. Why now, when artificial intelligence, the parent technology to machine learning, has been around for more than 50 years? The reason is because there is an extraordinary convergence of large volumes of Big Data, unprecedented computing power, and sophisticated self-learning algorithms taking place. The affordability, viability, and feasibility of these three technologies are the driving forces behind why machine learning is becoming more and more prevalent today.
Let’s look at Big Data first.
The amount of data available today – we are currently creating around five exabytes a day roughly equivalent to 500 million songs – is giving machines the possibility to become super-intelligent. Nonetheless, the amount of computing power required to process all this data takes far more computing power than that available in everyday central processing units (CPUs).
Not long ago, researchers found that instead of stacking traditional computers with CPUs in the cloud, another approach could be more effective. The graphics processing units (GPUs), which were developed to speed up the graphics in our everyday computers and especially in the gaming world, had faced a similar problem: the growing sophistication, data volume, and data speed in computer graphics. They solved the challenge by stacking a very large number of simpler computing units that would work in parallel to render the graphics.
Researchers realized the same approach could be a way to accelerate ML computations, and their talent made it work. As an indication of the power unleashed, I’ve been told that it would take 2,000 CPUs to match the power of 10 GPUs. With the ability to execute in-memory data management and their tremendous parallel processing capabilities, GPUs have given machine learning a good part of its current thrust.
If you now add to this the network effect provided by the open availability of highly sophisticated shared algorithms for ML, it’s should be easier to understand why now machines can think more accurately and independently, recognize contexts, and make better decisions on their own. What these machines will do for us is already going well beyond what predictive analytics and Big Data analytics have done for us in the past – and well beyond what any human can do in may domains!
For enterprises, machine learning can automate and prioritize routine decisions, making processes leaner and faster. Machine learning can also change traditional rules-based processes into intelligent processes by discovering and exploiting new patterns in large, unstructured data sets, making predictions about them, and adapting the processes accordingly.
In practical terms, what does this all mean? Well, for instance, when machine learning is coupled with technologies such as the Internet of Things, a machine can decide on what’s optimal to fix in the first place in a manufacturing plant. In a human resources department, machines can intelligently match resumes to open positions and recommend career paths by matching skills to future enterprise needs.
In finance, machine learning can take over lightweight finance operations and some of its highly repetitive tasks, such as checking inter-company reconciliations, invoices, or travel expenses for accuracy. It can as well interact with suppliers and provide optimal procurement recommendations to the purchasing department. Machine learning can also facilitate self-driving customer service where tickets can be created intelligently—i.e., they are created if ML thinks they are needed, even if the customer did not open them—and they can be handled by the customer care personnel guided by accurate step-by-step recommendations from the ML system.
This technology is clearly transforming applications throughout the enterprise – at exponential speed.
 |
Author : Felipe Gomez |
Self-care. It may seem like another trending phrase, but it’s more important now than ever, in a world constantly on the go.
But it’s not just the occasional bubble bath, or a
hearty pat on the back from you to yourself – self-care can take many forms,
and involves a bit of discipline and routine to ensure you don’t drop your
newly established good habits.
Feeling worn out? Here are some ways to set yourself up for better mental health, and have you feeling on top of the world – not scrambling beneath its weight.
Are you one of the billions who are addicted to
their phones, constantly craving a quick dopamine hit only a cat meme can
provide? Next time you put down your phone after
scanning social media, online shopping, reading the news, or whatever you’ve
been compelled into doing, ask yourself – do you actually feel any happier? If
not, all you need to do is create a few boundaries between you and your hand-held
friend.
Establish more control by restricting
your phone use until you have a good reason to, which will free your mind to contemplate
other things. While it’s tempting to Google every question that pops into your
head, try to hold off by writing them down on a notepad, to answer later in an isolated
block of ‘phone time’. Letting your phone use bleed into every aspect of your
day is the easiest way to lose control.
For some great advice, be sure to check out ‘How to break up with your phone’by Catherine Price.
Maybe you’ve contemplated starting a new
hobby that taps into a skill, or unleashes your creative spirit? Well, now’s
the time to make a start. Investing time in a specific activity can enrich the
soul and boost your confidence – it could even lead to an exciting career change.
You could start with something small and simple, or just launch fearlessly into something left of field, which could become a talking point with friends and colleagues. To kill multiple birds with one stone, try something that gets you physically active, socially active, or creates something physical that can become a part of your home. It could be anything from sourdough bread baking to galaxy water painting, or Maneki-Neko making.
Leisure time doesn’t have to mean low
productivity – productivity offers satisfaction, and feeling satisfied is key
to good mental health. Setting goals (outside of your work life) gives you something
enriching to think about, plan towards, and look back on with pride.
Everyone gets in a low mood every now
and then, and understanding how to cope with these emotions is a very important
aspect of self-care.
Booking an appointment with a
psychologist or counsellor might sound a bit excessive, but just like getting regular
medical or dental examinations, checking in with a mental health professional can
be a great way to gain some perspective. Therapy can help you analyse and
reframe your thinking so you can better appreciate what is important, and how
you can work towards a better version of yourself.
Some businesses and institutions have
these services available free of charge, you’ll just need to ask around or do
some research. For those who are having an especially hard time and think they
may need on-going support, ask your local GP about setting up a mental health care plan.
Finally, ask yourself honestly – is there is anything you can do to improve your wellbeing overall? Is it more sleep that you need? A holiday? More family time? If you can build better habits, and invest more time in fruitful activities, you’ll be stronger and better equipped to deal with challenges down the track.
If you’re ever in need of help – don’t hesitate to get in touch with an OUA student advisor, who can help you find ways to better balance study, work and life.
19 years and counting – that’s how long Kerrie has been working for ‘nib Health Funds’. She hopes to stay with them until retirement, as she continues to protect the integrity of the health sector.
“We look at claims leakage, so we do things like fraud investigations, audits, and clinical coding as well” explains Kerrie. A big component of her job is solving problems, which she likens to a game of sudoku. The challenge is stimulating, and more importantly, the outcome is meaningful.
What originally got Kerrie in the door at nib was her bachelor and honours degree in social science, which she gained in the 90s. But as decades went by, and the industry evolved, Kerrie found herself yearning for new knowledge. She was ready to step up to postgraduate study, to gain more industry-specific knowledge that she could put to use right away. While researching online, Kerrie came across Curtin University’s Master of Health Industry Management, online through Open Universities Australia. “I loved the content of this [course], it has great subjects that I was really interested in such as population health.”
“I had concerns about doing an online degree. I guess the age perspective – I was like, can I do this at my age?”
“I had concerns about doing an online degree,” recalls Kerrie “I guess the age perspective – I was like, can I do this at my age?”After calling up a student advisor with a few different health courses in mind, Kerrie made her decision, got her study underway, and her concerns were quick to disappear.
Now, with a process for study that flows smoothly, Kerrie feels at ease, and chooses to study at a minimum of 15 hours a week to get the most out of her experience. If she ever falls behind, she feels comfortable to contact her course coordinators. “I find that they’re very supportive – nobody’s judging you if you’re not coping” says Kerrie. “Nobody should ever hesitate to reach out for help, and that’s what I’ve always done”.
With the knowledge gained from work experience and postgraduate study, Kerrie hopes to make big changes in the health industry to ensure the safety of patients all over Australia. “I would love to come up with best practice fraud or audit framework, which was, you know, held to high esteem,” Kerrie visualises with glee. “That would be my ultimate career goal”.
Whether you’re looking to start your career, revamp it, or simply get up to date with the latest knowledge – making a start is easy through OUA. Not only do we have degrees, but we’ve got a vast number of single subjects to get you in the right frame of mind for your next career challenge.
Through
Open Universities Australia (OUA) you can:
To express your interest in this course, or any that we offer – fill out the form on this page, and we’ll put you in touch with a friendly student advisor.
If you’re keen to explore on your own, simply head over to our website to browse the extensive catalogue of courses from universities across Australia.
Master of Advanced Nursing Practice – Griffith University
Master of Public Health – Griffith University
Master of Infection Prevention and Control – Griffith University
Master of Health Care Management – Murdoch University
Bachelor of International Public Health – University of New South Wales
Bachelor of Community Health – University of South Australia
There is a massive shortage of data scientists in the U.S. as companies compete for the talent necessary to unlock the benefits of big data. The University of Illinois and University of Michigan’s data science degrees provide their students with the tools necessary to take advantage of these lucrative opportunities.
Despite growing interest in data science courses across campuses nationwide, the data science pipeline is still too small to fill industries’ needs. While this is an issue for companies, it’s very clearly an opportunity for aspiring data scientists.
“There are as many as 250,000 jobs in the data sciences that will need to be filled by 2024.”
“There are as many as 250,000 jobs in the data sciences that will need to be filled by 2024,” says Professor John Hart, Director of Online and Professional Programs in the Computer Science Department at the University of Illinois. “Our Master of Computer Science in Data Science degree unlocks these career opportunities.”
Thomas A. Finholt, the dean of the School of Information at the University of Michigan, sees his role as preparing students for both the immediate next step and all those that follow. “Whether their goal is professional development in a current position or a gateway to a career in this high-demand field, students will gain real-world, practical knowledge from top-ranked faculty and a degree from one of the world’s most respected educational institutions.”
To take advantage of the increase in data science jobs requires a data science degree that goes beyond quick tricks. A degree program must teach the underlying fundamentals that help students pursue a long-term career, no matter how their field changes over the years. Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng, an early pioneer and an influential member of the data science community, says Coursera degree program partners establish a high bar and set their graduates up for meaningful and durable careers.
That’s what sets the University of Michigan Master of Applied Data Science (MADS) and the University of Illinois Master of Computer Science in Data Science (MCS-DS) programs apart. The multitude of available boot camps and short courses often teach toolkits and languages that will be out of date in the short term. “We are trying to future-proof the students we are training so they can work in the way the world is right now, but also in the way the world will be in the next five to ten years,” says Professor Robert Brunner, the key driver of the effort to integrate data science across curricula at the University of Illinois.
Both Michigan and Illinois start with a strong cross-disciplinary approach, because data science by nature touches nearly all aspects of a business. It requires a T-shaped skill profile, in which you have general knowledge of a lot of fields and then specialize based on the specific applications needed for your job. “We give learners a broad understanding of data science approaches, and use this to understand modern techniques, as well as develop the computational skills to apply these techniques to real-world problems,” says Professor Chris Brooks, in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. “[The degree] helps students situate these new skills in the areas of work or study that are important to them.”
In addition to learning how to use data skills in the context of their profession, both Illinois and Michigan students also benefit from the diversity of peers with whom they interact. “We have to work with so many classmates from so many places—from China, from Thailand, from Canada, from here,” says Gitika Jain, a MCS-DS graduate. “Everyone has their own perspectives and we get to learn from each other. That’s really unique.”
“Everyone has their own perspectives and we get to learn from each other. That’s really unique.”
To develop such a skillset, it is key that learners receive instruction from experts in each of the disciplines. With the University of Illinois online MCS-DS, for example, data mining is taught by Professor Jiawei Han, a Michael Aiken Endowed Chair, who is a well-recognized authority in data mining and an author of the well-known textbook “Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques.”
At Michigan, too, the program is taught by core professors and is no different than what students would take on-campus.
“The curriculum was developed by our own outstanding, educators with extensive experience in designing and teaching critically acclaimed online data science courses that have been taken by hundreds of thousands of students around the world,” says Dean Finholt.
Perhaps the most important way to set students up for a durable career, however, is to provide the opportunity to apply theories and fundamentals to the real-world problems and datasets of companies. This is a focus at both Michigan and Illinois. “The main thing we learn from our MCS-DS students is that they value practice,” says Hart. “These students demand more than just fundamentals and theories. They want to see how they apply to the real world.”
Bruno Ferreira, an employee of the Brazilian government who took classes with the University of Michigan through Coursera, says the practical nature of Michigan’s data science classes is what initially attracted him when he was searching for the right machine learning course. “In Brazil, we have many theoretical courses but very few with practical application,” he says. “At Michigan, each course was related to solving real problems.”
Ferreira took what he learned through Coursera and built a machine learning model to catch fraud in the Brazilian government, winning an award for his efforts and impressing his superiors so thoroughly that they funded the Coursera-facilitated education of another 10 employees. “Thanks to Michigan, I gained a data scientist toolbox, and more importantly, I think as a data scientist now,” says Ferreira.
Vinod Bakthavachalam, a senior data scientist at Coursera, says the ability to point at specific projects is key when applying for a job. “You have to demonstrate that you can apply the knowledge you’ve learned, and if you have some projects where you’ve done that before, that’s golden,” he says.
Michigan will accomplish this through its portfolio-based curriculum. “With three capstone projects and two domain application courses, [the MADS degree] enables learners to demonstrate their knowledge of data science to others, such as potential employers or university programs,” says Brooks.
The MADS program at Michigan is taught through one of the nation’s top-ranked Information Sciences schools, and one that features a 99 percent success rate in employment for grads. The program boasts one of the world’s largest and proudest alumni networks, which is helpful to new graduates’ employment prospects. With an alumni network of 500,000 strong and growing, a student is sure to find a Michigan grad to network with, regardless of industry or location.
Illinois’ MCS-DS also offers the opportunity to tap into a sprawling global network. Illinois features a computer science program that is ranked top-five in the nation, with highly regarded faculty teaching online degree seekers from all over the world.
Illinois MCS-DS students receive a thorough grounding in the tenets of machine learning, data visualization, data mining, and cloud computing. While applicants don’t need to be computer scientists already, they should be familiar with an object-oriented computer programming language (such as C++ or Java), data structures, and algorithms, and college-level calculus and statistics.
Both programs, however, welcome students from a diversity of academic and professional worlds. The goal is to provide everyone an opportunity to pursue a top-level data science degree, and to do so in a way that fits around their schedule and life. “After this course, I changed my mindset. I am now a professional that learns and extracts knowledge in order to solve real problems,” says Ferreira. “It was the turning point of my career.”
4. What is the “Braille literacy crisis?” Why have Braille literacy rates been dropping since the 1970s? How are laws requiring public schools to offer equal education to children with disabilities connected to this decline?
5. How is the process of learning Braille isolating for some visually impaired children? Why do some learners give up before they’ve achieved literacy?
6. The article concludes:
Ms. Cook Walker’s daughter, Anna, is a senior in high school now. But both mother and daughter said having Braille Lego bricks during childhood could have made a huge difference.
Anna recalled an embarrassing episode in kindergarten, when she had her own special bucket of Braille books. “When my classmates wanted to feel them, the teacher ran across the room and said: ‘You can’t touch that. Those are Anna’s,” she said.
Including both Braille and the written alphabet on the bricks would remove the notion of “otherness,” her mother said. And they could also help include sighted siblings and parents, who are often intimidated by the process of learning, said Ms. Cook Walker, who works with other families as part of a national organization for parents of blind children.
“This would be the bridge they need,” she said.
Why do you think this episode was embarrassing for Anna? What does Ms. Cook Walker mean by otherness? Do you think the repurposed Legos can serve as the bridge she talks about?
Finally, tell us more about what you think:
— What’s your reaction to the story? Do you think Legos will be successful? Does the article affect how you understand the idea of literacy?
— Worldwide, there are over 200 million people with moderate to severe vision impairment and 36 million people who are blind. Braille illiteracy contributes to high unemployment rates for blind and visually impaired people, estimated to be 75 percent in Europe (according to the European Blind Union) and 70 percent in the United States (according to Cornell University’s Disability Statistics). Do you or anyone you know have a visual impairment? If yes, tell us more about your or their experiences and challenges — particularly around issues of literacy.
— If you were a parent of a visually impaired child, would you want your child to learn Braille? Why or why not? Would you want your child to use Lego Braille bricks?
— Have you ever used toys and games in school? If yes, how did they impact your learning? Do you believe that more schools should adopt a learning-through-play approach? Should toys and games be used more regularly as educational tools in classrooms? Why or why not?
Further Resources:
Last weekend, “Avengers: Endgame” took in $1.2 billion worldwide, arriving as the No. 1 movie at the box office in at least 54 countries. Did you see the movie in theaters? If so, what did you think? If not, do you plan to?
In the age of digital streaming, do you think movie theaters are still relevant? Why or why not?
How often do you go to see movies in the theater, instead of just waiting for them to come to Netflix or another streaming platform? What’s the last movie you saw in a theater? Was the experience worth it?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to find out why so many people chose to see “Avengers: Endgame” at the theater.
Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.
: formality in bearing and appearance
_________
The word gravitas has appeared in 70 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 31 in the On Comedy column “Instead of Killer Punchlines, Killer Choruses” by Jason Zinoman:
Cohen is part of a resurgence of young comics making jokes you can hum, the latest to join a long tradition that includes stars from Steve Martin to Weird Al Yankovic. These days, comics are singing almost every night of the week at intimate spaces like Union Hall, Caveat and Club Cumming, packed with the kind of 20-something audiences that New York theater has long courted (mostly unsuccessfully).
… While Cohen’s act is more like a musical that breaks into song when the characters need to express something more emotional, Owens is at his best when he quickly jumps right into a song. Of all the comedians who sing, he has the most virtuosic voice, a powerful, nimble instrument that can inject a cover of the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme with an ominous intensity or imbue a ballad to Oprah Winfrey with the kind of gravitas that could make you weep.
_________
