After doing the self-study described in Data Science: An introduction to neural networks, I looked for an online class to learn about data science in depth. I settled on the Data Science Professional Certificate series sponsored by Harvard University on the edX platform. So far I have completed three of the total of nine classes in the series.

The classes use the R programming language and consist of video lectures, assessments (tests) done via the DataCamp platform, and an online Data Science text. The classes cost $49 each if you take them for credit. So far I am enjoying them a lot and making good progress at learning the subjects.

I work on the classes for a couple of hours a day, several times a week, and I have been taking about a month to complete each class.

The first two classes cover the basics of the R language and the RStudio environment followed by an introduction to the dplyr and ggplot2 packages for R.

The dplyr package adds extensions to the R language that make dealing with the R syntax much less of a burden, and adds pipelines and data transformations as well. The ggplot2 package is a  powerful data visualization  package that lets you plot data in a large number of ways.

The next classes focus on probability,  inference, and modeling.