Here are Harvard’s 9 free courses to master data science skills
In today’s work market, data science has emerged as one of the most in-demand talents. The ability to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of data has become crucial in various industries, from finance to healthcare and beyond. Harvard University, one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, has recognized the importance of data science and offers a collection of free courses that can help you master this field. In this article, we will explore Harvard’s nine free courses that can equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in data science.
Programming
The first step in studying data science should be to learn to code. You can accomplish this using your preferred programming language —Python or R are ideal.
If you want to study R, Harvard University offers Data Science: R Basics, an introductory R course designed exclusively for data science students.
This course will introduce you to R topics such as variables, vector arithmetic, data types, and indexing. You will also learn how to manipulate data using tools such as dplyr and how to make charts to visualize data.
If you prefer Python, you may take Harvard’s free CS50 Introduction to Programming with Python course. Functions, variables, arguments, data types, conditional statements, loops, methods, objects, and other concepts will be covered in this course.
Both of the aforementioned programmes are self-paced. The Python course, on the other hand, is more thorough than the R programme and takes a larger time commitment to finish. Also, the remainder of the courses in this roadmap are taught in R, so learning R may be worthwhile if you want to follow along quickly.
Data Visualization
Visualization is one of the most powerful strategies for communicating your data results to another individual.
You will learn to create visualizations in R using the ggplot2 package, as well as the concepts of conveying data-driven insights, as part of Harvard’s Data Visualization programme.
Probability
This course will teach you important probability principles that are necessary for performing statistical tests on data. Random variables, Monte Carlo simulations, independence, expected values, standard errors, and the Central Limit Theorem are among the subjects covered.
The topics discussed above will be taught through a case study, which means you will be able to apply what you’ve learned to a real-world dataset.
Statistics
You can take this course after understanding probability to master the principles of statistical inference and modelling.
This program will teach you how to define population estimates and margins of error, as well as introduce you to Bayesian statistics and predictive modelling basics.
Productivity Tools
This project management course is optional because it has nothing to do with studying data science. Instead, you’ll learn how to utilize Unix/Linux for file management, GitHub for version control, and R to create reports.
The ability to perform the following will save you a lot of time and will help you handle end-to-end data science projects more effectively.
Data Pre-Processing
The following course on this list is called Data Wrangling, and it will teach you how to prepare data and put it into a format that machine learning models can readily absorb.
Import data into R, handle string data, clean data, parse HTML, interact with date-time objects, and mine text are all covered.
As a data scientist, you frequently need to extract data from publicly available sources on the Internet, such as a PDF document, an HTML webpage, or a Tweet. In a CSV file or Excel sheet, you will not always be presented with nice, structured data.
By the end of this course, you will understand how to wrangle and clean data in order to extract key insights from it.
Linear Regression
Linear regression is a machine learning approach for modelling the linear connection between two or more variables. It may also be used to discover and correct for confounding factors.
This course will teach you the theory behind linear regression models, how to investigate the relationship between two variables, and how to find and eliminate confounding variables before developing a machine learning algorithm.
Machine Learning
Finally, the course you’ve most likely been looking forward to! The machine learning program at Harvard will teach you the fundamentals of machine learning, as well as strategies for mitigating overfitting, supervised and unsupervised modelling approaches, and recommendation systems.
Capstone Project
After completing all of the preceding courses, you will be able to complete Harvard’s data science capstone project, which will examine your abilities in data visualization, probability, statistics, data wrangling, data organization, regression, and machine learning.
With this final project, you will be able to use what you learned in the preceding courses and finish a hands-on data science project from scratch.
