Overview of Course Tool Usage:
Click on any part to read more details.
Course Email
The main communication point for this course will be the weekly/daily email updates. These regular updates will contain the direction, goals, and updates for the course. Please make sure to read the updates and add the email address they are sent form to you address book to make sure they aren’t sent to your spam folder.
Please note: for those using ProSolo, you might receive duplicate emails. We apologize for this inconvenience.
ProSolo
ProSolo is self-directed social learning tool. You will use this tool to set goals, connect with other learners, and submit proof of accomplishing your goals. Please visit this page to begin using ProSolo:
When you sign up for ProSolo, the system will take you through a guided tour of the new functions.
Assignment Bank
Once you have set goals and started connecting with other learners in ProSolo, you will go to the Assignment Bank to find some assignments to work on. These will be assignments that go beyond the basic assignments in the EdX course content, specifically designed for those that want alternative assignments or those that dig deeper into the weekly content.
Crossing Over
At any time you wish, you can partake of any aspect of the course that you feel you need. We don’t want you to think that you are locked into any one path once you start on it. Feel free to cross over at any moment, or mix elements of both, or stay strictly in one or the other. Please see the Course Overview for more details.
EdX
EdX is the main content area of this course. You can view content, videos, and other activities here. You can also access all other tools through EdX. If you are not viewing this page inside of EdX, you can see the EdX front page for this MOOC here:
www.edx.org/course/utarlingtonx/utarlingtonx-link5-10x-data-analytics-2186.
Quick Helper Tool
You will end up with many questions as you move through the EdX portion of the course. Look for the “Quick Helper” section on the page where you are having problems
The Quick Helper tool will help you connect with others in the course that are most likely able to help you with your question. This tool is designed to start a new discussion thread and identify three other learners that will most likely be able to help. The ones that you choose will be notified of the thread where your question is.
Bazaar
Bazaar is a collaborative reflection tool that will place you in small groups learners to work on specific assignments while working through the EdX content. Just look for this button when you are ready to work in a group:
Red Pill
This pathway is designed to be more like a social, non-structured, self-guided pathway that may be new to many of you. You will work through creating your own goals and connecting with other learners to think through various assignments. This is a good pathway for more advanced learners or those that prefer more interactive learning experiences. See the Course Overview for more details.
Blue Pill
This pathway is designed to be more like the linear, guided knowledge pathway that most of you are used to in a typical online course. You will work through a pre-determined set of videos, content, and assignments. This is a good pathway for new learners or those that prefer more structured, guided learning experiences. See the Course Overview for more details.
Repeat
At any point in the course of learning, you are free to go back and repeat anything you would like to. This could be to catch something you may have missed or to repeat previous material at a deeper level.
Ready for Social Learning?
For those that are ready to engage with the “outside the classroom box” side of things, this page is the guide to getting started.
Learning Analytics Tool Map:
Click on any tool to read more details.
Tableau
“Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click.”
tableausoftware.com/edxanalytics
See the Tableau section on the All Course Tools Page for instructions on how to download and install your free trial of Tableau.
Gephi
“Gephi is an interactive visualization and exploration platform for all kinds of networks and complex systems, dynamic and hierarchical graphs. Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Gephi is open-source and free.”
RapidMiner 5.3
“RapidMiner provides software, solutions, and services in the field of advanced analytics, including predictive analytics, data mining, and text mining. We automatically and intelligently analyze data – including databases and text – on a large scale.”
sourceforge.net/projects/rapidminer/files/1.%20RapidMiner/5.3/
LightSide
“The open-source LightSide platform, including the machine-learning and feature-extraction core as well as the researcher’s workbench UI, has been and continues to be funded in part through Carnegie Mellon University, in particular by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. We make the LightSide research platform freely available for research and education.”
LightSide Java version
LightSide non-Java version
Social Learning
After working through the content or connecting with other learners and choosing an assignment to work on, you will take your work to your blog, twitter account, or any other site you would like to use. Please see the Social Learning Handbook to see how to set up a personal learning network.
Even if you are in the guided (blue) pathway or a lurker, you can still participate in the social dialogue at any time. See Social Learning Handbook and choose which avenues you would like to engage with.