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There are 5 modules in this course
This Machine Learning Capstone course uses various Python-based machine learning libraries, such as Pandas, sci-kit-learn, and Tensorflow/Keras. You will also learn to apply your machine-learning skills and demonstrate your proficiency in them. Before taking this course, you must complete all the previous courses in the IBM Machine Learning Professional Certificate.
In this course, you will also learn to build a course recommender system, analyze course-related datasets, calculate cosine similarity, and create a similarity matrix. Additionally, you will generate recommendation systems by applying your knowledge of KNN, PCA, and non-negative matrix collaborative filtering.
Finally, you will share your work with peers and have them evaluate it, facilitating a collaborative learning experience.
In this module, you will be introduced to the idea of recommender systems. All labs in subsequent modules are based on this concept. You will also be provided with an overview of the capstone project. You will perform exploratory data analysis to find preliminary insights such as data patterns. You will also use it to check assumptions with the help of summary statistics and graphical representations of online course-related data sets such as course titles, course genres, and course enrollments. Next, you will extract a word-count vector called a “bag of words” (BoW) from course titles and descriptions. The BoW feature is probably the simplest but most effective feature characterizing textual data. It is widely used in many textual machine learning tasks. Finally, you will apply the cosine similarity measurement to calculate the course similarity using the extracted BoW feature vectors.
What's included
2 videos2 assignments3 app items5 plugins
Show info about module content
2 videos•Total 8 minutes
Introduction to Machine Learning Capstone•3 minutes
Introduction to Recommender Systems•5 minutes
2 assignments•Total 57 minutes
Graded: Exploratory Data Analysis and Feature Engineering•30 minutes
Checkpoints: Exploratory Data Analysis on Online Course Enrollment Data•27 minutes
3 app items•Total 150 minutes
Exploratory Data Analysis on Online Course Enrollment Data•45 minutes
Extract Bag of Words (BoW) Features from Course Textual Content•60 minutes
Calculate Course Similarity using BoW Features•45 minutes
5 plugins•Total 85 minutes
Capstone Overview•15 minutes
Reading: Text Analysis•25 minutes
Reading: Stopwords and WordCloud•15 minutes
Reading: Sparse and Dense Bag of Words (BOW) Vectors•15 minutes
Reading: Similarity Measures in Recommender Systems•15 minutes
Unsupervised-Learning Based Recommender System
Module 2•5 hours to complete
Module details
In this module, you will create three course recommendation systems using different methods. In lab 1, you will create a course recommendation system based on user profile and course genre matrices by computing an interest score for each course and recommend the courses with the highest interest scores. In the second lab, you will generate a course similarity matrix to create the recommendation system. In the third lab, you will implement a clustering-based recommender system algorithm using K-means clustering and principal component analysis based on group members’ course enrollment history. In labs four and five you will use collaborative filtering to make predictions about a user’s interest based on a collection of other users’ similar preferences. In lab 4, you will perform KNN-based collaborative filtering and in lab 5, you will use non-negative matrix factorization.
What's included
1 video2 assignments3 app items2 plugins
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 5 minutes
Content-based Recommender Systems•5 minutes
2 assignments•Total 60 minutes
Graded: Unsupervised-Learning Based Recommendation Systems•30 minutes
Checkpoints: Unsupervised-Learning Based Recommender System•30 minutes
3 app items•Total 195 minutes
Content-based Course Recommender System using User Profile and Course Genres•60 minutes
Content-based Course Recommender System using Course Similarities•45 minutes
Reading: Evaluation Metrics of Recommender Systems•15 minutes
Reading: Heatmaps
•20 minutes
Supervised-Learning Based Recommender Systems
Module 3•6 hours to complete
Module details
In this module, you will predict course ratings using neural networks. In the first lab, you will train neural networks to predict course ratings while simultaneously extracting users' and items' latent features. In lab 2, you will be given course interaction feature vectors as input data. Using regression analysis, you will calculate numerical rating scores that predict whether a student will audit or complete a course. Lab 3 is similar to lab 2 but instead of using regression you will use a classification model. You will extract user and item embedding feature vectors from a neural network. With those embedding feature vectors, you will create an interaction feature vector and use that to build a classification model. The model maps the interaction feature vector to a rating mode that predicts whether a learner will audit or complete a course.
Graded: Supervised-Learning Based Recommendation Methods•30 minutes
Checkpoints: Supervised-Learning Based Recommender Systems•30 minutes
5 app items•Total 285 minutes
Collaborative Filtering-based Recommender System using K Nearest Neighbor•60 minutes
Collaborative Filtering-based Recommender System using Non-negative Matrix Factorization•60 minutes
Course Rating Prediction using Neural Networks•60 minutes
Regression-based Rating Score Prediction Using Embedding Features•45 minutes
Classification-based Rating Mode Prediction using Embedding Features•60 minutes
1 plugin•Total 15 minutes
Reading: Exploring Surprise Library and KNN Model•15 minutes
Share and Present Your Recommender Systems
Module 4•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this module, you will review guidelines and best practices for creating successful reports. As well you may wish to review instructions on creating PowerPoint presentations and how to save a PowerPoint as a PDF.
What's included
2 videos4 plugins
Show info about module content
2 videos•Total 8 minutes
Elements Of A Successful Data Findings Report•5 minutes
Best Practices For Presenting Your Findings•3 minutes
4 plugins•Total 55 minutes
Reading: Structure Of A Report•15 minutes
(Optional) Hands-on Lab: Getting Started With PowerPoint For The Web•20 minutes
(Optional) Hands-on Lab: Basics of PowerPoint•15 minutes
(Optional) Hands-on Lab: Save your PowerPoint Presentation as PDF•5 minutes
Final Submission
Module 5•3 hours to complete
Module details
In this final module, you will be introduced to Streamlit and have the opportunity to build a Streamlit app to showcase your work in previous modules. Finally, you will create the final presentation for this capstone and submit it for evaluation through AI grading or peer review.
What's included
3 readings1 peer review1 app item4 plugins
Show info about module content
3 readings•Total 4 minutes
An Overview of the Streamlit Module•1 minute
Congratulations and Next Steps•2 minutes
Thanks from the Course Team•1 minute
1 peer review•Total 15 minutes
Option 2: Peer Graded - Final Project Submission and Evaluation•15 minutes
1 app item•Total 15 minutes
Option 1: AI Graded - Final Project: Submission and Evaluation•15 minutes
4 plugins•Total 125 minutes
Final Project Overview•5 minutes
Final Project Submission Guidelines and Deliverables•15 minutes
Introduction to Streamlit•45 minutes
Build a Course Recommender App with Streamlit•60 minutes
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K
KK
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Reviewed on Oct 25, 2025
all is good but little diffuclt on seeing the videos and understand
D
DB
5·
Reviewed on Apr 9, 2025
I learned so much by completing the machine learning capstone project. I encourage anyone who decides to take this course to explore the deeper nuances of each type of recommender system.
To take this course you must have completed these five courses: Exploratory Data Analysis for Machine Learning, Supervised Machine Learning: Regression, Supervised Machine Learning: Classification, Unsupervised Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning .
Which software tools are required?
Web browser, PowerPoint (optional), Text editor/IDE (optional), local Python runtime (optional)
What specific recommendation system methodologies will I build in this capstone?
This project requires you to engineer a comprehensive, multi-tiered Course Recommender System using several advanced algorithms. You will build content-based filtering systems using Bag-of-Words (BoW) text features and Cosine Similarity matrices. Additionally, you will implement K-Means clustering combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for group enrollment history, and construct user-item collaborative filtering engines using K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF).
How does the curriculum integrate supervised deep learning and neural networks?
You will move beyond standard statistical modeling to apply neural networks for predictive user analytics. In the supervised learning phase, you will train TensorFlow and Keras-backed neural networks to simultaneously extract user and item embedding feature vectors. You will use these latent feature embeddings to construct interaction vectors, feeding them into both regression and classification models to predict specific user behavior—such as calculating numerical rating scores and predicting whether a learner will audit or fully complete a course.
How will I showcase my finished machine learning models to employers?
A great machine learning pipeline needs an accessible interface. This capstone includes a dedicated module introducing Streamlit, an industry-favorite framework for turning data scripts into shareable web apps. You will build a functional web application to showcase your recommender algorithms in action. The project concludes with a peer-reviewed or AI-graded final presentation, giving you a deployment-ready portfolio piece that proves you can build, evaluate, and productionize machine learning models using Scikit-learn and Python.
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Certificate?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Certificate, 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.