Professional development logjam
October 29, 2020 2:00 PM Subscribe
I have some professional development funding to use up, and would like to use it for courses related to data analytics and visualization, but there are a few catches that are making this harder than it should be...
Can you recommend any virtual English-language courses that:
- actually cost money but are not subscription-based (does not need to earn degree credits, though)
- are less than 5k total? (so no second master's etc.)
Can be synchronous or not, and length of course not extremely important. Conferences are *ok* but would rather focus on long term knowledge.
Seems like many of the Coursera-style models are moving to monthly fees and yes there are free versions but this money needs to be spent! If you know of a hack to revert pricing in the Coursera model to pay for a discrete certificate, I'm all ears.
I'm an experienced information professional who is very comfortable with tech just don't know what I don't know, and I'd like to pivot (table, har har) and strengthen these skills. Very interested in applications of stats and data science in the non-economic sector but formal educational background is in liberal and fine arts.
Thanks for any recommendations you have to share!
Can you recommend any virtual English-language courses that:
- actually cost money but are not subscription-based (does not need to earn degree credits, though)
- are less than 5k total? (so no second master's etc.)
Can be synchronous or not, and length of course not extremely important. Conferences are *ok* but would rather focus on long term knowledge.
Seems like many of the Coursera-style models are moving to monthly fees and yes there are free versions but this money needs to be spent! If you know of a hack to revert pricing in the Coursera model to pay for a discrete certificate, I'm all ears.
I'm an experienced information professional who is very comfortable with tech just don't know what I don't know, and I'd like to pivot (table, har har) and strengthen these skills. Very interested in applications of stats and data science in the non-economic sector but formal educational background is in liberal and fine arts.
Thanks for any recommendations you have to share!
I haven't taken her online courses*, but I've found Stephanie Evergreen's books to be very helpful.
*some are a yearly subscription, but I think the goal is that someone can complete the course within one year.
posted by oceano at 6:00 PM on October 29, 2020
*some are a yearly subscription, but I think the goal is that someone can complete the course within one year.
posted by oceano at 6:00 PM on October 29, 2020
you don't mention a deadline for spending. if this money needs to be spent by end of year, disregard the rest of my comment. otherwise...
seconding what @phlox says above about university courses and adding a personal rec: my alma mater does "open courses" from their mlis curriculum, and i took and would recommend the data viz course with dr chen. they also do a special certificate specialization in data analysis, but i couldn't see clearly from their website what the requirements are for admission. if you're interested, i'd encourage you to reach out to the university- but you're welcome to dm me either!
posted by tamarack at 10:22 PM on October 29, 2020
seconding what @phlox says above about university courses and adding a personal rec: my alma mater does "open courses" from their mlis curriculum, and i took and would recommend the data viz course with dr chen. they also do a special certificate specialization in data analysis, but i couldn't see clearly from their website what the requirements are for admission. if you're interested, i'd encourage you to reach out to the university- but you're welcome to dm me either!
posted by tamarack at 10:22 PM on October 29, 2020
Seconding Stephanie Evergreen; she's really great. I was lucky enough to get to attend one of her workshops! She has a data visualization academy that you can subscribe to for a year (price tag 1k) where you have access to data code and templates (including in R), how-to videos for a ton of different data visualizations, and maybe the best thing of all: access to consultation/1 on 1 coaching about whatever data questions you have.
Alternatively if you're looking more for higher-level analysis skills and less for data vis skills, I can also recommend Todd Little's stats camps. They're short and intense (3-5 full days of statistics!) and focus on different things like multi-level modeling, meta-analysis, Bayesian statistics. I don't think of myself as a stats person (I do mostly qual research), yet found them accessible and very helpful. You get access to recordings of the workshop and you get consulting time if needed, so you can get 1 on 1 help with any projects you're doing or planning. Normally they're in person but they are now online because of Covid.
posted by DTMFA at 11:46 PM on October 29, 2020
Alternatively if you're looking more for higher-level analysis skills and less for data vis skills, I can also recommend Todd Little's stats camps. They're short and intense (3-5 full days of statistics!) and focus on different things like multi-level modeling, meta-analysis, Bayesian statistics. I don't think of myself as a stats person (I do mostly qual research), yet found them accessible and very helpful. You get access to recordings of the workshop and you get consulting time if needed, so you can get 1 on 1 help with any projects you're doing or planning. Normally they're in person but they are now online because of Covid.
posted by DTMFA at 11:46 PM on October 29, 2020
Response by poster: Apologies, deadline is June 30 2021.
Good info so far, thank you!
posted by PaulaSchultz at 1:16 PM on October 30, 2020
Good info so far, thank you!
posted by PaulaSchultz at 1:16 PM on October 30, 2020
Oh in that case, I'd recommend an actual course from a university (rather than a micro-credential or continuing ed course). Spring enrollment should open soon and a lot of schools will be sticking with online teaching. One course, perhaps even two if your schedule permits, should fall under your price cap. So the world is your oyster.
UW has a certificate (next start date January, all online, $4k) in data viz. A bunch of other schools have certificates or specializations (ignore the bit about degrees, just scroll down to the table and see who has certificates or who offers single courses you could audit or otherwise enroll in).
posted by librarylis at 9:09 PM on October 30, 2020
UW has a certificate (next start date January, all online, $4k) in data viz. A bunch of other schools have certificates or specializations (ignore the bit about degrees, just scroll down to the table and see who has certificates or who offers single courses you could audit or otherwise enroll in).
posted by librarylis at 9:09 PM on October 30, 2020
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posted by phlox at 2:18 PM on October 29, 2020