Ratings and Reviews for Introduction to Data Science in Python

It's a really good course for those who start working with data, but I must warn you that for those who has a beginner level in programming that can be a tough one. I really like the approach when you are given the basics and algorithms but you have to investigate the topic yourself to solve tasks - it's the most effective way to learn something. However I understand why some people may not like it. I would like to mention the forum support - all the questions are solved very-very quickly, thanks a lot to the teachers! The thing I didn't really like was the last assignment - 4 Qs out of 5 are the same... So if you manage to solve Q1 - others just require some boring data preparation, I understand that it happes in real life, but why here, it only takes time and annoys you? I would recommend this course for those who has already worked with Python and knows all the basic classes and structures. If not - it's better to take some introductory course (it will be useful anyway, better to start with the fundamentals) . PS: I really don't understand the comments here of people wh0 complain that they had to go to stackoverflow or read documentation - that's what you do when you code

Very useful.

Assignment 4 is worded so badly and the code that was placed by the course author is so misleading (the return function the course author wrote in themselves returns two numbers only for the hidden test to come back and tell you need just one). That it is the reason I am knocking a star of its course.

Really challenging and interesting

A lot of interesting, mind-changing ideas and approaches to processing data. Very suitable for beginners in Python

Excellent course! Christopher is an amazing professor!

Very tough question asked without proper teaching. Course should be made learning oriented.

The course was undoubtedly challenging (which in itself is a good thing), but at times it was more challenging than it had to be because of some little errors, inconsistecies, wording in the assignment, etc. Sometimes some files wouldn't be where they were supposed to be. Sometimes it took me more time to actually understand what I was supposed to do than actually doing it, because it wasn't really clear what was required. Ok, English is not my first language but I am quite good. Besides, lots of other students complained about confusing wording, so it's not just me. Sometimes some instructions were missing and you'd only realise that after digging through the discussion forums for hours. So, basically there were a few things that made the whole experience more difficult than it had to be, and they weren't about knowledge or skils but about the course "infrastructure". Before I started this course I'd already taken a few courses on Python programming (on a different platform), including numpy and pandas, but the assinments in this course were still qute difficult for me. You have to do a lot of searching online to get to the solution. In general, I'm all for the idea of having to do more self-learning but the online format is already more challenging than face-to-face learning, so I think it would help to have a few guided exercises between the lectures to understand the material better. Maybe if I had more experience with Python and programming, it would be easier. One thing that disappointed me was that they recommended a book (optional reading), but you would have to purchase it. Now, if we were studying on campus then we would have access to the university library where we could borrow this book (probably), but as online students we don't have that option. I understand that they can't just upload copywrited books for anyone to access but maybe they could come up with a system that would allow students to somehow access the books temporarily, or make just a few necessary chapters available. I think that's for Coursera to manage, not for the University of Michigan though, because the university can only take advantage of whatever technology coursera can offer (at least that's my understanding). On a positive note, the discussion forums were quite helpful, and the teaching staff were quick to answer most of the time. I suggest, if you take this course, then take full advantage of the discussion forums. I also liked that there were two types of assignments (multiple choice quiz and programming). I think that's a great idea. So, overall, if they made a few improvements to the course, it would be a great one.

Excellent class. I went from being a novice python user to actually being comfortable using it.

Excellent Course, I struggled with the assignments a bit but after doing some extra research I managed to complete them and learned a lot in the process. Great Course to get started in Data Science using Python!