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This course is for everyday people looking for an intuitive, beginner-friendly introduction to the world of machine learning and data science.

Instead of memorizing complex math or writing code, we'll use simple, visual examples and Excel-based models to break down foundational machine learning concepts and help you build an intuition for exactly how they work.

PART 1: QA & Data Profiling

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This course is for everyday people looking for an intuitive, beginner-friendly introduction to the world of machine learning and data science.

Instead of memorizing complex math or writing code, we'll use simple, visual examples and Excel-based models to break down foundational machine learning concepts and help you build an intuition for exactly how they work.

PART 1: QA & Data Profiling

In Part 1 we’ll introduce the machine learning workflow and common techniques for cleaning and preparing raw data for analysis. We’ll explore univariate analysis with frequency tables, histograms, kernel densities, and profiling metrics, then dive into multivariate profiling tools like heat maps, violin & box plots, scatter plots, and correlation matrices.

PART 2: Classification Modeling

In Part 2 we’ll introduce the supervised learning landscape, review the classification workflow, and address key topics like dependent vs. independent variables, feature engineering, data splitting and overfitting. From there we'll review common classification models like K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Naïve Bayes, Decision Trees, Random Forests, Logistic Regression and Sentiment Analysis, and share tips for model scoring, selection, and optimization.

PART 3: Regression & Forecasting

In Part 3 we’ll introduce core building blocks like linear relationships and least squared error, and practice applying them to univariate, multivariate, and non-linear regression models. We'll review diagnostic metrics like R-squared, mean error, F-significance, and P-Values, then use time-series forecasting techniques to identify seasonality, predict nonlinear trends, and measure the impact of key business decisions using intervention analysis.

PART 4: Unsupervised Learning

In Part 4 we’ll explore the differences between supervised and unsupervised machine learning and introduce several common unsupervised techniques, including cluster analysis, association mining, outlier detection and dimensionality reduction. We'll break down each model in simple terms, from K-means and apriori to outlier detection, principal component analysis, and more.

Throughout the course, we’ll introduce real-world scenarios and to solidify key concepts and simulate actual data science use cases. You’ll visualize Olympic athlete demographics and traffic accident rates, use regression to estimate property prices and predict product sales, apply clustering models to identify customer segments, and even measure the business impact of a new website design.

If you're an analyst or aspiring data professional looking to build the foundation for a successful career in machine learning or data science, this is the course for you!

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What's inside

Syllabus

Intro to Machine Learning
In this module we'll introduce the course curriculum, set expectations, and provide the resource files you'll need to follow along from home. We'll discuss how machine learning is used in practice, introduce the types of problems these models are designed to solve, and review the broader ML workflow and landscape.
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Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Uses Excel-based models, which can help learners grasp machine learning concepts without needing to learn programming languages like Python or R
Covers data profiling, which is a critical step in the machine learning workflow and helps ensure data quality for accurate model building
Explores both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques, providing a broad understanding of different machine learning approaches
Introduces real-world scenarios, which helps learners apply machine learning concepts to practical data science use cases
Teaches techniques for assessing and tuning models using confusion matrices and diagnostic metrics, which are essential for model optimization
Requires learners to use Excel, which may require a license or subscription that some learners may not have access to

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Reviews summary

Visual and beginner-friendly machine learning intro

According to students, this course is a largely positive introduction to machine learning, particularly well-suited for complete beginners and newcomers. Learners praise its clear explanations and engaging content, highlighting how the visual approach and practical examples effectively simplify complex concepts and help build intuition. However, a minority of learners noted that the course feels like a high-level overview and lacks the technical depth they expected, particularly regarding mathematical details or practical implementation, making it potentially too basic for those with some prior knowledge.
Real-world examples make concepts relatable.
"practical examples helped me learn a lot."
"engaging content and real-world applications."
"useful visualizations and practical use cases were included."
"The real-world scenarios are helpful to solidify concepts."
Visual approach helps build intuition.
"visually stimulating examples helped me learn a lot."
"helpful visualizations helped build intuition."
"The visual approach is fantastic, makes concepts easy to understand."
"The visual aspects and real-world examples are key to understanding."
Concepts are simplified and easy to follow.
"clear explanations and visually stimulating examples helped me learn a lot."
"content is engaging, explanations are clear."
"makes complex concepts feel easy and simple to grasp."
"The instructors explain concepts really well."
Excellent introduction for newcomers to ML.
"great course for complete beginners."
"Highly recommend this course for beginners interested in the field."
"I recommend for newcomers to the world of ML."
"This course is great for beginners, visually stimulating and easy to understand."
Some find it too basic, lacks depth.
"...it feels like a high-level overview, could use more depth on specifics."
"Too high-level, not enough detail on math or implementation."
"Very basic, doesn't cover enough, feels superficial for me."
"didn't meet expectations for depth needed for practical use."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Complete Visual Guide to Machine Learning with these activities:
Review Basic Statistics Concepts
Reinforce your understanding of fundamental statistical concepts to better grasp the underlying principles of machine learning models.
Browse courses on Hypothesis Testing
Show steps
  • Review key statistical terms and definitions.
  • Work through practice problems involving hypothesis testing.
  • Summarize the different types of distributions.
Read 'Data Science from Scratch'
Supplement the course's visual approach with a deeper understanding of the underlying code and algorithms.
Show steps
  • Read the chapters related to statistics and machine learning.
  • Work through the code examples in Python.
  • Summarize the key concepts from each chapter.
Analyze a Public Dataset
Apply the data profiling and machine learning techniques learned in the course to a real-world dataset.
Show steps
  • Find a publicly available dataset on Kaggle or another repository.
  • Perform data cleaning and QA using techniques from Part 1.
  • Build and evaluate a classification or regression model using Excel or other tools.
  • Document your findings and insights in a report.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Excel Regression Exercises
Reinforce your understanding of regression analysis by working through practical exercises in Excel.
Show steps
  • Find or create datasets suitable for regression analysis.
  • Build linear and non-linear regression models in Excel.
  • Interpret model outputs and diagnostic metrics.
Create a Data Visualization Portfolio
Showcase your data visualization skills by creating a portfolio of compelling and informative visuals.
Show steps
  • Select several datasets that are interesting to you.
  • Create visualizations using tools like Excel, Tableau, or Python.
  • Write a short description of each visualization and its insights.
  • Publish your portfolio on a platform like GitHub or a personal website.
Skim 'The Elements of Statistical Learning'
Deepen your understanding of the mathematical foundations of machine learning.
Show steps
  • Skim the chapters related to the models covered in the course.
  • Focus on the mathematical derivations and explanations.
  • Take notes on key concepts and formulas.
Present a Machine Learning Project
Solidify your understanding of machine learning by presenting a project to an audience.
Show steps
  • Choose a machine learning project you have completed.
  • Prepare a presentation that explains the project's goals, methods, and results.
  • Practice your presentation and get feedback from others.
  • Present your project to a group of peers or colleagues.

Career center

Learners who complete Complete Visual Guide to Machine Learning will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Data Analyst
A data analyst uses data to identify trends, patterns, and insights, often using statistical methods. This course provides a strong foundation in data profiling, which is crucial for a data analyst to understand the quality and characteristics of their data before analysis. The course's coverage of univariate and multivariate analysis, as well as visualization tools like histograms and heat maps, directly addresses the techniques a data analyst uses daily. Moreover, the introduction to regression and forecasting techniques directly applies to predictive data analysis, a key tool in this role. The course gives the learner a practical understanding of the analysis process.
Business Intelligence Analyst
A business intelligence analyst examines data to help businesses make strategic decisions. A business intelligence analyst will find the introduction to machine learning concepts and techniques in this course to be immensely useful. The course's focus on regression and forecasting prepares a business intelligence analyst to identify trends and predict outcomes, while the coverage of cluster analysis and association mining allows for a deeper understanding of customer segments and product performance. The hands-on approach, using real-world scenarios to solidify key concepts, is also beneficial in this role.
Market Research Analyst
A market research analyst interprets consumer behavior and market trends to advise on product development and marketing strategies. Given that this course covers a variety of machine learning techniques, it is extremely beneficial for a market research analyst. The course's sections on cluster analysis and association mining will especially assist with identifying consumer segments and related preferences. The ability to forecast trends using regression models, which is also covered in the course, is critical to this role. The market research analyst role requires understanding complex data, which this course helps to develop through the use of visualizations.
Marketing Analyst
A marketing analyst interprets marketing data to guide marketing strategy and optimize campaigns. A marketing analyst will find this course very useful due to its focus on data analysis and machine learning. The course's content on cluster analysis and association mining will be extremely helpful in identifying customer segments and understanding consumer preferences. Additionally, using regression models to forecast trends is vital for a marketing analyst. This course will help a marketing analyst to make better data driven decisions. The hands-on exercises are key to making this course a useful experience.
Operations Analyst
An operations analyst improves a company's efficiency and productivity. The tools and techniques in this course are highly applicable to this work. The course's coverage of regression and forecasting is directly applicable to identifying trends, predicting outcomes and optimizing processes. Moreover, the course's data profiling sections assist with evaluating the quality of data used in operations analysis. Through the use of the course, an operations analyst can become much more data driven and effective in their duties. The focus on real-world business scenarios is useful for developing practical insights.
Research Analyst
A research analyst gathers and analyzes data to contribute to research projects. This course will be beneficial for a research analyst, especially given its focus on data profiling techniques. The knowledge of univariate and multivariate analysis, as well as data visualization, will aid in the analyst's data exploration and interpretation. Moreover, the course's discussion of regression and forecasting will assist in understanding the direction of trends and their potential impact. The course will improve the research analyst's analytical skills.
Pricing Analyst
A pricing analyst sets optimal prices for products and services using data-driven methods. This course's regression and forecasting techniques are highly applicable to the pricing analyst role. The course will aid the pricing analyst in predicting demand, understanding pricing trends, and identifying important drivers. The focus on data analysis methods will also help pricing analysts to use large quantities of data to estimate demand and customer behavior. With a strong knowledge of these techniques, a pricing analyst will be better equipped to make the best pricing decisions.
Sales Analyst
A sales analyst examines sales data to identify trends and develop sales strategies. The topics in this course will be highly useful to a sales analyst. The course will provide a solid foundation in data analysis, especially with regard to data profiling. The course will assist the sales analyst in identifying trends, understanding sales patterns, and making data driven decisions regarding sales strategy. The machine learning techniques covered in the course will also help with predicting future sales performance and identifying areas that need attention. The use of real world scenarios helps with practical application.
Risk Analyst
A risk analyst identifies and assesses potential risks to a company. This course provides crucial knowledge for the risk analyst role. The course's emphasis on data analysis and forecasting will especially aid the risk analyst in identifying potential hazards and predicting their likelihood and impact. Furthermore, the coverage of outlier detection techniques will enable analysts to locate unusual data patterns that might point to unexpected risks. These quantitative techniques will help the risk analyst make data-driven decisions. The hands-on nature of the course helps with practical application.
Logistics Analyst
A logistics analyst analyzes data to optimize supply chain operations. The data profiling, regression, and forecasting techniques covered in this course will be useful in optimizing logistics. The course will be valuable for the logistics analyst in gaining practical skills in data-driven decision making. The course will help the logistics analyst to better understand trends, predict demand, and optimize operations for efficiency and effectiveness. The hands-on approach provides a strong grounding in logistics analysis.
Financial Analyst
A financial analyst assesses financial data, gives recommendations on investments, and forecasts financial performance. The techniques and approaches provided in this course are very applicable to this role, especially those related to data profiling and regression modeling. Furthermore, the course's time-series forecasting content assists in identifying seasonality and predicting trends. The ability to analyze financial data and predict future trends are useful for a financial analyst, and this course will help develop these skills. The focus on real-world scenarios is useful to develop practical experience.
Statistician
A statistician collects, analyzes, and interprets quantitative data to provide insights and solutions. While a statistician typically has an advanced degree, this course may be useful in providing an introduction to the field and its applications. The course's coverage of data profiling, regression, and classification models touches on important aspects of statistical analysis. The focus on data visualization and machine learning model interpretation helps build a deeper understanding, which a statistician uses in their work. The course, therefore, serves as an accessible entry point into machine learning for statisticians.
Machine Learning Engineer
A machine learning engineer builds and deploys machine learning models. This course may be useful in providing a foundational understanding of machine learning principles. The supervised and unsupervised learning concepts provided will help to prepare the machine learning engineer. The curriculum's inclusion of model evaluation strategies, such as those utilizing confusion matrices, and model optimization will prepare the machine learning engineer to produce high quality models. Additionally, the use of Excel-based models to explain these foundational concepts is a useful starting point for further study. However, it's worth noting that this role typically requires advanced degrees.
Data Scientist
A data scientist uses advanced analytical techniques to derive meaningful insights from large datasets. Although this course doesn't delve into the complexities of code-based machine learning, it may be useful in building a foundation in the concepts and techniques of machine learning and data science. This course's focus on data preprocessing, supervised and unsupervised machine learning models, and model evaluation methods will be helpful to data scientists. The use of Excel-based models provides a more accessible approach to data science concepts.
Actuary
An actuary analyzes the financial costs of risk and uncertainty. This course may be useful to someone in an actuary role, who typically needs an advanced degree, because it introduces many of the common statistical techniques that actuaries will use. The regression techniques covered in this course, as well as the time series analysis work, will be particularly relevant to their work. Furthermore, the course will build statistical intuition and understanding using Excel-based models. The course provides introductory understanding of the topics used by actuaries.

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Complete Visual Guide to Machine Learning.
Provides a hands-on introduction to the essential tools and techniques of data science. It covers the math, statistics, and programming skills needed to build machine learning models from scratch. While the course focuses on visual and Excel-based approaches, this book offers a deeper dive into the underlying code and algorithms, making it a valuable resource for those who want to understand the 'how' and 'why' behind the models.
Comprehensive resource on statistical learning techniques. It provides a detailed mathematical treatment of many machine learning algorithms. While the course focuses on a more intuitive approach, this book can serve as a valuable reference for those who want to delve deeper into the theoretical foundations of machine learning. It is commonly used as a textbook in graduate-level statistics and machine learning courses.

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