Class 5 is now available

The lessons for Class 5, the last in our course, are now available on the course website:

https://weka.waikato.ac.nz/dataminingwithweka/course

Class 5 broadens out to consider some more general issues. It's a short week, with just four topics: 

• 5.1: The data mining process
• 5.2: Pitfalls and pratfalls
• 5.3: Data mining and ethics
• 5.4: Summary

 

The post-course assessment is also now open. Everything will remain open until 11th August, when the course will be closed.

 

There is also a post-course survey for your opinions of the MOOC. 

 

We will probably run the follow-up MOOC ("More Data Mining with Weka") in September/October. That course covers topics we couldn't fit into this course. Follow the announcements group, blog or Twitter for updates on that course.

cheers, and enjoy the remainder of the course!

Ian

Class 4 is now available

The six lessons for Class 4 are now available on the course website:

https://weka.waikato.ac.nz/dataminingwithweka

This class introduces some more advanced methods and techniques. The topics are:

• 4.1: Classification boundaries
• 4.2: Linear regression
• 4.3: Classification by regression
• 4.4: Logistic regression
• 4.5: Support vector machines
• 4.6: Ensemble learning

The last three are high-performance contemporary algorithms. I aim to give you a conceptual understanding of what they do and how they work, but not the gory details. You have to learn to live and work in a world where you don't understand everything. You will see some mathematics in Lessons 4.2, 4.3 and 4.5. But don't worry: I'll explain it, and anyway you don't have to fully understand the math. 

Next week is the last. And it's short: Class 5 has only 4 lessons, not the usual 6. And it's more relaxed: no math at all.

 

cheers, and keep going!

 

Ian

Class 3 is now available

The six lessons for Class 3 are now available on the course website:

        https://weka.waikato.ac.nz/dataminingwithweka

After this week there are 2 weeks to go (classes 4 and 5).

The mid-course assessment is also now available. Do it when you have finished Class 2 (although it will remain open for the rest of the course). The final assessment will appear during week 5.
My goal is to enable you to learn as much as possible from this course, and I recognize that doing the assessments may not be a priority for you. However, our ability to mount follow-up MOOCs will depend on the success of this one as perceived by my University -- and the number of people who complete it successfully will be a key metric. Thus I urge you to do the assessments for my sake, if not your own :-)

cheers, and keep going! Weeks 3 and 4 are the central part of this course.
Ian

Class 2 is now available

The six lessons for Class 2 are now available on the course website:

https://weka.waikato.ac.nz/dataminingwithweka

Following that, there are 3 weeks to go (classes 3, 4 and 5).

The activities are a crucial part of the course: they're where most people will do their actual learning! However, they do not form part of the assessment, so don't be scared to get wrong answers.

"Data Mining with Weka" has been designed so that participants at many different levels can learn as much as possible – and complete the course successfully. You don't have to do the reading. All you must do to succeed

are the mid-course and final assessments -- which you can try as often as you like. The mid-course assessment will become available this week (9 July) and remain open for the rest of the course. The final assessment will appear during week 5.


cheers, and keep going!

Ian