Introduction to Data Science

I was initially nervous about this class since I was unfamiliar with R, but Professor Malcolm White made the class super engaging, fun, and easy to follow! I think that everything I learned in class was super useful and I have been able to apply what I have learned to some of my other classes and research. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who is curious about data science or just wants to pick up on a new and useful skill because this was a fun and easy class!

I was initially nervous about this class since I was unfamiliar with R, but Professor Malcolm White made the class super engaging, fun, and easy to follow! I think that everything I learned in class was super useful and I have been able to apply what I have learned to some of my other classes and research. I would definitely recommen …Read more

Prof Malcolm-White is wonderful. Approachable and easygoing. I took this course because I wanted to learn a bit of R. I have no CS background and found the material very accessible. At times, I felt like the course was narrow and too focused on data visualization . I enjoyed the course but would have appreciated more data science topics and challenging R scripts.

I took this course particularly because I was interested in taking a data science course. This class helped me learn the fundamental tools in using the software r for data science. I learned how to tidy data and create visualizations and then communicating the results. It does require a lot of coding because it is using a software. The material was new to me, but the instructor was great at explaining the topics through organized presentation slides. Also, after each class students were assigned apex assignments which are small assignments that enable you to practice the things students learned during the class that day. These apex assignments helped the students be more prepared for exams and final projects.

I took this course particularly because I was interested in taking a data science course. This class helped me learn the fundamental tools in using the software r for data science. I learned how to tidy data and create visualizations and then communicating the results. It does require a lot of coding because it is using a software. T …Read more

Alex is one of the finest professors I've had (if not, the best). He is very clear and does not let people fall behind, and all the work is reasonable. He's incredibly approachable and knowledgeable, and I felt that I could ask him anything. This was a super fascinating course that dealt with R-Studio and taught me a lot of fundamentals that I have been able to use in other courses; it was cool to make graphs and see trends in data based on coding, and as someone that had never taken a coding class before, I felt like this one was perfect. Once you get the hang of it, this class is fun and the assignments are almost like puzzles/games, where you can choose how you answer/approach questions.

Alex is one of the finest professors I've had (if not, the best). He is very clear and does not let people fall behind, and all the work is reasonable. He's incredibly approachable and knowledgeable, and I felt that I could ask him anything. This was a super fascinating course that dealt with R-Studio and taught me a lot of fundament …Read more

Really great course! My only regret was taking it after already completing MATH 211 and MATH 311. Unfortunately, this course overlapped significantly with the material from those two. However, the review was still useful, and all of the material I hadn't already seen was extremely helpful. I feel like a much more competent R user after this course. I have already put many of the techniques we learned in this class to use in a final project for another course.

Really great course! My only regret was taking it after already completing MATH 211 and MATH 311. Unfortunately, this course overlapped significantly with the material from those two. However, the review was still useful, and all of the material I hadn't already seen was extremely helpful. I feel like a much more competent R user aft …Read more

This course covers a good deal about wrangling and visualizing data. By the end of the course, you are able to apply these skills to a project of your own interest which you should feel proud about. Becky is enthusiastic and clear with her teaching. It takes very little effort to keep up with the classwork; that is until the end when the project seems like a bit too much work for such little time.

This course covers a good deal about wrangling and visualizing data. By the end of the course, you are able to apply these skills to a project of your own interest which you should feel proud about. Becky is enthusiastic and clear with her teaching. It takes very little effort to keep up with the classwork; that is until the end when …Read more

Alex is the absolute best professor I have had here. He is a great professor, and is someone that always cares about his students. I loved learning R with him, and I am pursuing more courses in this major because of the amount that he opened my eyes to. His teaching style is really good, and I have loved doing research with him now.

Professor Lyford was very passionate and he taught us a lot of interesting things and valuable skills about data analysis. He was very engaging in the lectures and I have found so much fun in this class.It was an eye-opening course for me and I benefitted a lot from it!

I found this to be a fun easy class, though I should mention that I am a computer science major so I have plenty of experience with coding. I feel as though I effectively learned how to perform data science in R, and it inspired me to accept a data science internship for next summer. Lectures were live-coding along with the professor, and homeworks -- which tended to be completed in class -- were very similar to the in-class notes. I would recommend this class to anyone interested in data science -- even if you've never done any sort of coding before.

I found this to be a fun easy class, though I should mention that I am a computer science major so I have plenty of experience with coding. I feel as though I effectively learned how to perform data science in R, and it inspired me to accept a data science internship for next summer. Lectures were live-coding along with the professor …Read more

This course teaches you R, lots of data visualization, and a bit of data analysis. The assignments have detailed instructions and are closely related to lecture contents - they are very approachable. However, as a CS major, the coding part is a bit too easy for me. I suggest you take the class if you have a non-CS background or simply wants an easy A.

Favorite class and favorite professor so far. The lectures are super enjoyable and interactive. We often broke out into groups and worked on implementing what we were learning in class and he would help us with any questions we had. Although the exams were difficult and time-consuming, they were open note and open internet. The final group project assignment is very fun and if taken seriously can possibly become a resume piece. In terms of grading, definitely not an easy A, but achievable. I would estimate the average grade in the class was a B+.

Favorite class and favorite professor so far. The lectures are super enjoyable and interactive. We often broke out into groups and worked on implementing what we were learning in class and he would help us with any questions we had. Although the exams were difficult and time-consuming, they were open note and open internet. The final …Read more

Alex is hands down the best instructor at Middlebury. He is explains concepts really well and in a compelling way. He is also incredibly accessible if you run into a coding issue. I would totally recommend this course.

I think that Becky is very knowledgable for her field. She teaches intro R better than Rao does in Econ stats, and I feel like I understand how the code interacts with what we want the end result to be. That being said, there is often a lot of confusion on what the expectations for the homework are so I lost a lot of points due to not a lot of clarity.

Professor Lyford is one of the most enthusiastic and personable professors I have had so far at Middlebury. The class is super rewarding and introduced a new topic in a very manageable way. The HW assignments do take some time to finish.

Alex is great - he put so much effort on teaching and you could tell that he does enjoy interacting w/ students (at least speaking for the class which was when he does not have tenure yet). He structures the course to have very useful materials too.

This class was awesome! I enjoyed the material and felt it was a very manageable amount of work. Alex's enthusiasm for the course made me even more motivated to learn. I would definitely take this course or a similar one again.