Coursera Data Scientist's Toolbox, round 1

I've only ever once signed up for a MOOC. I participated in the AI course presented by Thrun and Norvig. It was a blast -- but I had to end the affair after it became apparent that my workload wouldn't allow me to complete the module.

Yes. I am one of those people who make MOOCs look bad -- I've already passed a module in AI. Yes. I quit early on because I simply did not have time to see it through.

All that aside, I thought I'd give the Coursera Data Science Track a go. I foolishly thought that the basics module would teach me cool stuff. I spent week 1 installing R and R studio. (It was fun). It is only after this that I realised I will need to return for the other modules in the track. Sneaky.

Anyhow, I am getting tonnes of ideas for my personal approaches to ODeL (Open Distance e-Learning). What I really liked about the approach is the short vids explaining the course (not the material). I am forever thinking that distance and eLearning students miss the point of their modules in the curriculum. I've already started to prepare podcasts talking about the module in general. I'll do some polls to see how the students like it.

Field journal, day 1, supplemental

Oh great -- this means http://runtugen.wordpress.com will have to be migrated...

Field journal, day 1.

Got handed a chromebook. In order to understand the beast, I'll have to fully immerse myself. This may be my field-journal to my experiences. Then again, I may not post anything. But so far, the thing is sleek, sexy, and pretty useful.

I'll provide some context on the environment in which I operate as we go along.