When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
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There are 6 modules in this course
‘Megatrends’ heavily influence today’s organisations, industries and societies, and your ability to generate insights in this area is crucial to your organisation’s success into the future. This course will introduce you to analytical tools and skills you can use to understand, analyse and evaluate the challenges and opportunities ‘megatrends’ will inevitably bring to your organisation. Via structured learning activities you will explore how these trends can be addressed through sustainability-oriented innovation. You will be introduced to key data analytics concepts such as systems thinking, multi-level perspectives and multidisciplinary methods for envisioning futures, and apply them to specific real-world challenges you and your organisation may face. And there’ll be a focus on future-proofing skills such as teamwork, collaboration with diverse stakeholders and accounting for judgements made within ethical decision-making frameworks.
Organisations and governments everywhere want to exploit data to predict behaviors and extract valuable real-world insights. Billions of devices and social media conversations are fueling the rate at which humanity is producing data. Therefore, we need more skills to understand data and make our systems, policies and governance models more efficient. This week we will highlight the potential of generating insights with the help of data in allowing individuals, businesses, and governments to make effective decisions.
What's included
6 videos5 readings2 assignments1 app item
Show info about module content
6 videos•Total 26 minutes
Course welcome and introduction•6 minutes
Week 1 outline•2 minutes
1.1 The importance of data in the information age•5 minutes
1.2 The data value chain•4 minutes
1.3 Tools for generating insights•4 minutes
1.4 Job roles available in the data insights market•5 minutes
5 readings•Total 60 minutes
Course overview•10 minutes
Learning activities and assessment•10 minutes
Software requirements•20 minutes
Explore further resources 1•10 minutes
Practice task 1•10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Recall 1 •30 minutes
Quiz 1•30 minutes
1 app item•Total 60 minutes
SAS Viya for Learners•60 minutes
Basic statistics: Foundations of quantitative insights
Module 2•2 hours to complete
Module details
In week 2, we’ll focus on basic statistics. It’s one of the most important components of Data Analytics and it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of all the related concepts to be successful in the data industry. Statistics provide us with a set of tools that offer ways to convert quantitative data and qualitative data into information that we can use to generate insights.
What's included
5 videos2 readings2 assignments
Show info about module content
5 videos•Total 43 minutes
Week 2 outline•2 minutes
2.1 Basic statistics•8 minutes
2.2 Variables•10 minutes
2.3 Measures of central tendency•9 minutes
2.4 Measures of dispersion•15 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
Explore further resources 2•10 minutes
Week 2 - Practice tasks•10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Recall 2•30 minutes
Quiz 2•30 minutes
The normal distribution and histograms
Module 3•2 hours to complete
Module details
Businesses must constantly strive to offer “better” products and services than their competitors. One of the oldest and time-proven techniques by which we can visualise and think about quality in a methodological way is via normal distributions or bell curves. So in week 3, we’ll start by learning about histograms and the normal curve and then have a look at empirical rule which gives us a quick rough estimate about the spread of the given data. Finally, we’ll learn about the measures that quantify the interrelationships between two data variables. Correlation and covariance are two important measures that quantify the relationship between variables and we’ll study both.
What's included
4 videos3 readings2 assignments
Show info about module content
4 videos•Total 28 minutes
Week 3 outline•2 minutes
3.1 Normal distribution and histograms•11 minutes
3.2 The empirical rule•4 minutes
3.3 Covariance and correlation•9 minutes
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
Become a Global MBA learner•10 minutes
Explore further resources 3•10 minutes
Week 3 - Practice tasks •10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Recall 3•30 minutes
Quiz 3•30 minutes
Data visualisation
Module 4•2 hours to complete
Module details
Visualisation is a key technique which can provide answers hidden in data. In this week, you will explore various data visualisations available and how to use them for analysis. These techniques will empower you to create compelling stories and dashboards from your data that the non-analyst community can also understand easily. As a person working in the data industry, you don’t just need to deal with data and solve data-driven problems but the incumbent also needs to convince company executives and government officials of the right decisions to make. These executives/officials may not be well versed in data science, so the incumbent must but be able to present and visualise the data’s story in a way they will understand. And this module will help you achieve that.
What's included
4 videos2 readings2 assignments
Show info about module content
4 videos•Total 25 minutes
Week 4 outline•2 minutes
4.1 Data visualisation and Anscombe’s Quartet•7 minutes
4.2 Data cleaning using SAS Data Studio•10 minutes
4.3 Bar and Pie Charts•6 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
Explore further resources 4•10 minutes
Week 4 - Practice tasks •10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Recall 4•30 minutes
Quiz 4•30 minutes
Advanced charts and dashboards
Module 5•2 hours to complete
Module details
This week we learn how to create bar and bullet charts, and dashboards. Data visualization helps to tell stories by curating data into a form easier to understand. A good visualisation tells a story, by removing the noise from data and highlighting the useful information.
What's included
5 videos2 readings2 assignments
Show info about module content
5 videos•Total 28 minutes
Week 5 outline•2 minutes
5.1 Multi variation correlation matrix and bar + line chart•6 minutes
5.2 SAS Visual Analytics filtering and controls•8 minutes
5.3 KPIs and targeted bar charts•7 minutes
5.4 Dashboard theory•4 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
Explore further resources 5•10 minutes
Week 5 - Practice tasks•10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Recall 5•30 minutes
Quiz 5•30 minutes
Demand forecasting
Module 6•2 hours to complete
Module details
This week we’ll look at how, by using predictive modelling, we can generate actionable insights that when implemented will provide businesses with a predictable future outcome. Predictive modeling is a group of methods and algorithms that you can employ to forecast an outcome. Utilising basic predictive modelling techniques, we will also explore consumer demand forecasting.
What's included
4 videos2 readings2 assignments
Show info about module content
4 videos•Total 34 minutes
Week 6 outline•2 minutes
6.1 Linear regression analysis•10 minutes
6.2 Forecasting•9 minutes
6.3 Forecasting and smoothing methods•13 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
Explore further resources 6•10 minutes
Week 6 - Practice tasks •10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Recall 6•30 minutes
Quiz 6•30 minutes
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Macquarie is ranked among the top one per cent of universities in the world, and with a 5-star QS rating, we are recognised for producing graduates who are among the most sought-after professionals in the world. Since our foundation 54 years ago, we have aspired to be a different type of university: one focused on fostering collaboration between students, academics, industry and society.
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Learner reviews
4.6
465 reviews
5 stars
70.10%
4 stars
21.93%
3 stars
4.51%
2 stars
1.50%
1 star
1.93%
Showing 3 of 465
M
MA
5·
Reviewed on Apr 5, 2022
A wonderful journey i had with prof conor stead really a calm teacher with the right easy and understandable choose of words he made me do this thankyou very much to each and every contributer
P
PT
4·
Reviewed on Jan 31, 2021
The course is good to understand the basis to Tableau software and also mapping it with real business problems.
W
WA
5·
Reviewed on Feb 23, 2020
Very nice for starting up on Data Visualization and basic statistics.
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What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.