Tag Archives: learning

Correlation does not imply causation

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Data Science

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Watching different Data Science & Statistics training videos one statement that comes up often is “Correlation does not imply causation”.

Wikipedia defines this as:

Correlation does not imply causation is a phrase used in science and statistics to emphasize that a correlation between two variables does not necessarily imply that one causes the other.

The xkcd comic site has a great strip on the subject

correlation

To illustrate this further, there are a number of Graphs that have been put together that visualise why Correlation does not imply causation.

graph

If however Mozzarella Cheese is ever found as a link to Engineering Doctorates it will be time to by shares in the cheese manufacturing companies as sales would soar!

Course on Data Analysis and Statistical Inference

06 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Data Science

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Scanning my daily feeds from feedly I came across this post about a new Data Analysis and Statistical Inference course on Coursera that has just started this week. looks to be a good grounding on the subject.

The course is split into 7 modules

  • Unit 1 – Introduction to data
  • Unit 2 – Probability and distributions
  • Unit 3 – Foundations for inference
  • Unit 4 – Inference for numerical variables
  • Unit 5 – Inference for categorical variables
  • Unit 6 – Introduction to linear regression
  • Unit 7 – Multiple linear regression

The timetable of work over 10 weeks

Week 1: Introduction to Data, March 2 – 9

Review the START HERE! pages
Review Learning Objectives for Unit 1
Watch the videos for Unit 1 Introduction to Data
Start Quiz 1 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 16
Begin Lab 0 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 16, this lab is not graded (for practice)
Begin Lab 1 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 16
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Week 2: Probability and Distributions, March 9 – 16

Review Learning Objectives for Unit 2
View videos for Unit 2 Probability and Distributions
Start Quiz 2 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 23
Begin Lab 2 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 23
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Begin your Project Proposal — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 23
Complete Quiz 1 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 16
Complete Lab 0 and Lab 1 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), March 16
Week 3: Foundations for Inference, March 16 – 23

Review Learning Objectives for Unit 3
View videos for Unit 3 Foundations for Inference
Start Quiz 3 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 30
Begin Labs 3A and 3B — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 30
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Submit your Project Proposal before 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 23
Complete Quiz 2 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 23
Complete Lab 2 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 23
Week 4: Foundations for Inference and Midterm, March 23 – 30

No new materials
Review Learning Objectives for Unit 3
Complete videos for Unit 3 Foundations for Inference
Complete Quiz 3 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 30
Complete Lab 3A and 3B — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, March 30
Begin assessing Project Proposals — due 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 6
Begin Midterm — due 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 6
Week 5: Statistical Inference for Numerical Variables, March 30 – April 6

Review Learning Objectives for Unit 4
View videos for Unit 4 Statistical Inference for Numerical Variables
Start Quiz 4 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 13
Begin Lab 4 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 13
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Complete Project Proposal assessments — due 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 6
Complete Midterm — due 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 6
Please submit at least 3 hours before the deadline
Week 6: Statistical Inference for Categorical Variables, April 6 – 13

Review Learning Objectives for Unit 5
View videos for Unit 5 Statistical Inference for Categorical Variables
Start Quiz 5 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 20
Begin Lab 5 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 20
Begin Data Analysis Project — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 20
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Complete Quiz 4 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 13
Complete Lab 4 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 13
Week 7: Simple Linear Regression, April 13 – 20

Review Learning Objectives for Unit 6
View videos for Unit 6 Simple Linear Regression
Start Quiz 6 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 27
Begin Lab 6 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 27
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Complete Quiz 5 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 20
Complete Lab 5 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 20
Complete Data Analysis Project — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 20
Week 8: Multiple Linear Regression, April 20 – 27

Review Learning Objectives for Unit 7
View videos for Unit 7 Multiple Linear Regression
Start Quiz 7 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 4
Begin Lab 7 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 4
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Begin review of Data Analysis Project due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 4
Complete Quiz 6 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 27
Complete Lab 6 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, April 27
Week 9: Review and catch up, April 27 – May 4

Note that all assignment due times are now in Eastern Standard Time (EST)
View review videos
Complete Quiz 7 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 4
Complete Lab 7 — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 4
Explore the Discussion Forums and contribute
Complete review of Data Analysis Project — due at 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 4
Final exam is available this week — due 13:00 EST (-5:00), Monday, May 11
Week 10: Final Exam, May 4 – 11

(Source: https://www.coursera.org/course/statistics)

Recording your CPD

02 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by in Productivity

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There are many methods for recording your CPD (Continuous Professional Development) plans available on the internet and through various professional bodies.

For me I prefer a Spreadsheet with a few column headings. Its what goes into those headings that makes the record though:

Date

Date the training took place

Training

This is the title of the training and any course number/reference

Category

I split the training up into various categories such as:

  • Architecture Training
  • Finance
  • Innovation
  • Leadership
  • Security
  • Strategy
  • Technical Training
  • Vendor Training

Sub Category

Under each of the Categories I then divide into a number of Sub Categories so I can view how much training I have undertaken on a particular subject. These can vary as each Category can have many Sub Categories, however I do not split more than around 5 per one Category.

For example I split Leadership into:

  • Communication
  • Emotional & Business Intelligence
  • Engagement
  • Leadership
  • Staff Management

Source

This is normally a URL or name of site/book

Training Type

This is the type of training such as:

  • MOOC
  • Online Class
  • Replay
  • Webinar

Time

This is the length of time that you spend learning. Even a 5 minute video here and there on a subject you are learning adds up.

Key Learning

Under this heading I list the key points from the training as a reminder as to the learning points. Bit like a flash card. This is normally a list of the key points.

Using a CPD Cycle reminds me to reflect on what I have learnt and how I will apply it. Also what I need to relearn or expand on in future training.

CPD Cycle

The Nature and Cycle of CPD

20 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Development, Social Media

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Following on from my series of posts on the CPD and Learning Survey, another comment I want to look at is:

The nature of CPD in the IT industry is such that professionals must invest their time in a range of activities, some narrow and focused on specific skills and others quite broad, keeping up with trends and developments in business and technology in general. I also believe that in today’s environment professionals must be actively engaged as both producers and consumers of content in social networks as a means to learn and help others to do so.

– Anon (CPD and Learning Survey)

Personally I found this comment positive and hits on not only the importance of learning and CPD but also on what to do following learning something.

Using a typical learning cycle, this comment calls out an additional step that should be included around communicate.

The cycle may look something like this:

CPD Cycle

Identify

Identify your need for learning and what you need to do your job. Put this into your CPD Plan.

Learn

Carry out your learning event and record it into your CPD Plan.

Reflect

Look back on what you have learnt. Was it useful and how you can use this learning.

Communicate

Following reflecting consider what you can communicate to others in your role, job, company, Social Media. Even if this is just recommending the learning you have just completed.

Impact

Its important to measure the impact of your learning on your job and also following the communicate stage. Look at how you have used this learning and how it has impacted what you do.

TechDays 2015 Replays

17 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Architecture

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Following another set of great and useful Techdays 2015 online days hosted by Microsoft, the replay is now available for those who could not attend.

The three days covered:

  • Day one: Devices and Managing a Mobile-First World
  • Day one evening: An evening with Office 365
  • Day two: The Journey to the Cloud-first World
  • Day three: Multi-device, Cross-platform Development

Techdays 2015 Replay

Walking and Thinking

06 Friday Feb 2015

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Having read two interesting articles recently-“Thought experiment walking conference calls sitting is killing me” and “Hiking makes you happier“, I have been thinking about how much as slave to the keyboard I have become recently and need to break away from it. Unfortunately there is the need to still sit at my desk and type lots of documents and architect pictures, however there is a need to move round more frequently.

Have you summed up how long you sit or use a device?

I combine walking and hiking (outside of my normal work hours of course, mainly at the weekends) with one of my other outdoor pursuits of bushcraft where I can spend time outdoors getting exercise and away from a keyboard.

Lugging a laptop or tablet up a hill detracts from looking at the view, and not the best thing safety wise. Using my own computer “Brain” which is portable within the bounds of my body I can at least use it to process information from the week and gather my thoughts

Taking some inspiration from The Hike Guy and my Personal Journals, I have created a Hike Journal/Log Book. The page below is from a walk I have done around “Hanging Stone” and “Luds Church”. The page describes some of the history about the Hanging Stone and the plaques on it. Hopefully will add many more walks into the Journal.

Walking Journal

Where will your feet take you this weekend?

Architecture in Practice

05 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by in Architecture, Cloud, Enterprise Architecture

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Having worked as an Architect for many years its always good to look at different methodologies and practices as they come up and to refresh your thinking on today’s Architecture practices.

One of the recent additions to the Microsoft Virtual Academy is the  “Architecture in Practice” course which brings Microsoft’s latest views on Architecture using their products as a base for some of the demonstrations and topics. Whilst this centers around Microsoft products and standard practices, (to a seasoned architect may not teach them anything new in Architecture practices), taking a course such as this certainly refreshes that thinking in today’s challenging market place of cloud, visualisation and mobile.

One of the underlying foundations that makes a great architect is their willingness to refreshing and renew skills and thinking when ever the opportunity arises.

The diagram below shows the 7 areas that are covered in this course:

Architecture+in+Practice

Further breakdown of the course with topic areas:

arch2

Source of pictures and link to the training: Architecture in Practice.

Rocking your skills in February

02 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by in Development, Programming

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Microsoft have set out a challenge for February through the Microsoft Virtual Academy to Rock your skills over the month through a series of Challenges based on 8 different tracks:

  • Cloud Development
  • Game Development
  • Mobile Development
  • Web Development
  • Hybrid Cloud
  • Identity & Access Management
  • Office 365
  • Sharepoint

I have decided to opt for the Identity & Access Management stream which is 38 Hours of learning and challenges;

Take the challenge to effectively implement identity and access management solutions across diverse devices and hybrid environments that require a strong foundation of skills from enabling single sign-on to extending your domain with Azure AD

This is a good initiative from Microsoft showing how you can group the training available in MVA to a set of identifiable skills in the industry instead of the single courses.

Ready for Technet Online 2015

27 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Cloud, DevOps/OpsDev, Programming

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I am looking forward to this years TechDays Online 2015 which is being run between the 3rd and 5th February 2015. If you cant make the sessions then they normally appear on Microsoft Virtual Academy a few weeks later.

This is being done over 3 days with a packed agenda that you can dip in and out of as needed.

Day One Theme: Client, Devices and Mobility :

  • Day one: Devices and Managing a Mobile-First World

09:30-09:40 Overview of the Day
09:40-10:15 Delighting your business with EMS
10:30-11:05 Devices, Devices Everywhere
11:20-11:55 Windows 10 Client Innovations
12:10-12:45 KEYNOTE: What IT Pros and Devs Need to Know About the New Microsoft
13:30-14:05 Building IoT solutions today
14:20-14:55 Microsoft Azure Remote App
15:10-15:45 Microsoft Azure RMS
16:00-16:35 Azure Active Directory: Much more than a user store
16:50-17:25 Microsoft Intune/SCCM
17:25-17:30 Wrap up of day 1 – Part 1

  • Day one evening: An evening with Office 365

18:30-19:05 Migration of your mailboxes to Office 365
19:15-19:50 Keeping in touch with the online world
20:00-20:35 Building online collaboration inside Office 365
20:35-20:45 Final thoughts for the day

Day Two Theme: Server and Cloud:

  • Day two: The Journey to the Cloud-first World

09:30-09:40 Overview of the Day
09:40-10:15 What’s new Windows Server /Hyper –V – a technical preview
10:30-11:05 How to find out what’s happening in your datacentre with Azure Insights
11:20-11:55 Host your own cloud with the Windows Azure Pack
12:10-12:45 Taking scripting to the next level with Service Management / Azure Automation
13:30-14:05 A new home for your old applications ↓
14:20-14:55 20% + of Azure runs on Linux – why is this important and how to do it well?
15:10-15:45 DevOps in Microsoft Azure with Chef and Puppet for heterogeneous cloud environments
16:00-16:35 Make Azure your DMZ
16:50-17:25 Microsoft Corporate Keynote
17:25-17:35 Wrap up of Day 2

Day Three Theme: Developer

  • Day three: Multi-device, Cross-platform Development

09:30-09:40 Overview of the Day
09:40-10:25 Creating cross-platform apps with Visual Studio
10:40-11:25 How are you going to deploy that?
11:40-12:25 Microsoft Azure Machine Learning without a PhD
13:00-13:45 Debugging and Performance Tuning Web Apps and Sites
14:00-14:45 What is Roslyn and why should you care?
15:00-15:45 Building cross-platform apps with .NET and ASP.NET
16:00-16:45 Creating cross-platform cloud apps for mobile devices
17:00-17:45 Microsoft Corporate Keynote
17:45-17:55 Wrap-up of Tech.Days Online Day 3

Eating a slice of the Training Pie – MicroLearning

26 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in Development

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I have written several blogs now on CPD and have received some good feedback. Following on from my post (How much CPD Training should you be doing)-   and the post with the Survey Results, I received some good feedback from Jerry Overton.

“I noticed a gap between the amount of training IT professionals think they should take and the amount they are actually able to take. I suppose there are many theories about why, but I speculate that it points to a problem with how training is usually structured.

I think there is a huge need for microcourses/microlearning — short (5 min -20 min) focused courses delivered via laptop, tablet, or phone. With microlearning, you can context switcheasier. You can also fit training into the gaps in your life rather than having to make gaps big enough to fit the training. You can take 20 mins while you are waiting for a meeting to start, or 5 minutes while you wait at the doctor’s office.

If training were easier to take and delivered better, we might see an increase in training hours.”

MicroLearning is not a new concept, but is an evolving area of learning and developing that is currently has and is being researched.

Microlearning deals with relatively small learning units and short-term learning activities. Generally, the term “microlearning” refers to micro-perspectives in the context of learning, education and training. More frequently, the term is used in the domain of e-learning and related fields in the sense of a new paradigmatic perspective on learning processes in mediated environments. – wikipedia

A paper called “The Design of MicroLearning Experiences:A Research Agenda(On MicroLearning)” by Silvia Gabrielli, Stephen Kimani, Tiziana Catarci details the main requirements of MicroLearning experiences as:

  • Highly Transferable
  • Easily available and user friendly
  • Persistent
  • Useful
  • Individual as well as shareable
  • Adaptable

The paper also places MicroLearning combining their ubiquitous emergence and life long duration with the ability to consume anywhere through mobile learning.

Types of Learning

(the figure is not the best res in the paper, but you get the point)

Microlearning deals with relatively small learning units and short-term learning activities. Generally, the term “microlearning” refers to micro-perspectives in the context of learning, education and training. More frequently, the term is used in the domain of e-learning and related fields in the sense of a new paradigmatic perspective on learning processes in mediated environments.

Another paper from a study “Micro Learning As Innovative Process of Knowledge Strategy” by Dr. Minimol Anil Job, Dr. Habil Slade Ogalo concludes that ”

Business survival today extensively depends on harvesting, acquiring, retaining and applying fifth or sixth generation knowledge skills and capabilities. In view of these factors micro learning is relied upon to provide strategic solutions which could help enterprise growth through sustained maintenance of knowledge assets by evaluating current and future knowledge gaps. Core knowledge skills achieved under micro learning are intended to enhance organization learning and performance productivity.

Two good examples of MicroLearning are

  • Skillport (Books 24x&)
  • BBC Bitesize

SkillPort have produced a number of 3-7 minute videos on leadership covering a range of topics within this area. each are focused and directed to a particular subject. This method could be applied to a number of subjects and topics.

The BBC has been producing MicroLearning for a while based on its Bitsize series of videos and texts. This platform provides learning and revision for those studying GCSE and School Subjects. Again these method could be applied to a number of subjects and topics.

The term MicroLearning my be new to some, however you may be MicroLearning already and not realising it. People who use Social Media will have carried out a form of MicroLearning reading small chunks of information in 140 Characters in the form of tweets from twitter. Filtering out the “Social Chatter” there are some good nuggets of information and learning tweeted on a daily basis.

How much MicroLearning have you done today?