Schedule

Below is a roadmap for the semester. Note that this will inevitably change from the first day you access this course. However, whatever is listed below should be considered canon. Accordingly, you should visit this page frequently throughout the term.

As mentioned in the syllabus, the course is structured by topics; each week introduces a new topic. Moreover, every week is divided into four important sections that you should engage with: principles, applications, weekly writings, and assignments.

Overview

The class is structured in the following way: each week, you will have two readings - generally a “principles” first, then an “applications” second (though this couse has drifted from this paradigm). Read the first reading for the Week under Course Content before our first meeting, and the second before our second meeting of the week. In either Tuesday or Thursday class, you’ll be given a prompt for your weekly writing, which is due at 11:59pm on Saturday (see assignments and the syllabus for more info.

  • Tuesdays (): This page the material that we will discuss in Tuesday classes.

  • Thursdays (): This page the material that we will discuss in Thursday classes.

  • Weekly Writings (): Weekly writings are due each week on Saturday at 11:59PM (eastern). Each week’s writing prompt is given during lecture either Tuesday or Thursday

  • Lab Assignments (): This page contains the instructions for the weekly lab (1–4 brief tasks) and for the three projects + final project. Labs are due by 11:59 PM (Eastern) on the following Monday. Labs are in addition to weekly writings and projects.

NoteYou should follow this general process (in order) each week:
  • Do everything on the principles () page before Tuesday
  • Come to the lecture on Tuesday.
  • While “in class” on Thursday, work through the applications () page
  • Complete the weekly writing by Saturday - topic assigned in class, see assignments for details and template
  • Complete the lab () by Monday.
  • As needed, come to office hours or ask on Slack

Course Calendar

Week Dates Programming Foundations Tuesdays Thursdays Lab Assignment
1 Sep 1 & Sep 3 (Re-)introduction to R
2 Sep 8 & Sep 10 Tidyverse & (Re-)introduction to ggplot
3 Sep 15 & Sep 17 Effective visualization in theory and practice
4 Sep 22 & Sep 24 Advanced Visualization & Data Wrangling
Data Analysis Foundations
5 Sep 29 & Oct 1 Data Hunting & Geospatial in R
Sat Oct 3 Project 1 Due
6 Oct 6 & Oct 8 Uncertainty and Probability in R
7 Oct 13 & Oct 15 Linear Regression I
8 Oct 20 & Oct 22 Linear Regression II
Sun Oct 25 Project 2 Due
Oct 26 & Oct 27 Fall Break – no class Tuesday
9 Thu Oct 29 only In-class Presentation of Project 2
10 Nov 3 & Nov 5 Linear Regression III
11 Nov 10 & Nov 12 Nonlinear Regression
12 Nov 17 & Nov 19 Feature Selection and the Bias Variance Tradeoff
Sat Nov 21 Project 3 Due
Further Extensions
13 Tue Nov 24 only Text as Data
Nov 26 & Nov 27 Thanksgiving – no class Thursday
14 Dec 1 & Dec 3 Classification
Conclusions
15 Dec 8 & Dec 10 Census Data in R & final project work
Thurs Dec 17 Final Project Due

Due dates listed here are the actual due dates. On occasion, due dates in D2L are incorrectly set when porting from previous semesters. In all cases of conflicts, the due dates listed here prevail.