Dive into Data Science with these 7 Free Ivy League Courses

Many of us are approaching our fourth week of socially-distanced/quarantined/work-from-home lives, and even if you’re not composing a masterpiece or writing your magnum opus, now might be the perfect time to dive into the wild world of data science.

Whether you’re into business, research, or just curious about the behind-the-scenes of all the Coronavirus graphs and charts floating around, these seven data science courses from Ivy League universities are a good use of your time.

All of the below are free to audit, with the option to pay a fee and receive an official certificate.

1. Columbia University: Statistical Thinking for Data Science & Analytics

If you’re looking to just dip your toes into the field, you only need to have passed high school math and have some exposure to basic programming to take this introductory course.

2. Harvard University: Principles, Statistical and Computational Tools for Reproducible Data Science

“No one wants to do research that can’t be reproduced,” as this course’s description says. Learn the skills and tools to trust your own results, reproduce them yourself, and communicate them to others.

3. University of Pennsylvania: People Analytics

“For the first time in history, business leaders can make decisions about their people based on deep analysis of data rather than the traditional methods of personal relationships.” In this leadership game-changer, three of Wharton School of Business’s top professors explore the data-driven techniques to recruit and retain great people.

4. Harvard University: Data Science: Visualising

Data visualisation is perhaps currently the most famous (and fun) aspect of data science, with a myriad of data journalists and artists helping communicate the current crisis in digestible creations. Learn the basics of data visualisation, how to communicate data-driven findings, and how to avoid weak data communication.

5. Harvard University: Data Science: Machine Learning

As part of the same series by Harvard, you can choose to focus instead on machine learning in this course, where you’ll build your own movie recommendation system and learn the science behind one of the most popular and successful data science techniques.

6. Harvard University: Causal Diagrams: Draw Your Assumptions Before Your Conclusions

“Humans are causal animals,” argues the premise of this course, where you can learn simple rules of causal graphs that allow you to use intuitive pictures to improve study design and data analysis.

7. Columbia University: Enabling Technologies for Data Science and Analytics: The Internet of Things

In 2019, there were 14.2 billion connected devices. It’s estimated that by 2021, that number will grow to 25 billion. Learn the ins-and-outs of the Internet of Things and the masses of data these connected devices produce in this course.