Data Science

New Resource to Provide Starter Kit for Teaching Data Science

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/23/19

The University of Pennsylvania, IBM and the Linux Foundation are developing an open source starter kit to help any institution in the world launch its own data science program.

According to a blog post by Ana Echeverri, who works in IBM's data science business, the curriculum kit will consist of "a set of open source building blocks" that will help instructors teach the basic concepts of data science for both undergraduate and graduate programs. The coding is based on Python and open source tools and frameworks. The curriculum will include slides, documentation, code and data sets that can be adopted and used as-is or modified by anyone.

The timing is apt. Interest in data science is at an all-time high, coming in at the top of the list in Glass Door's latest "Best Jobs in America" ranking for the fourth year in a row. Likewise, in a recent report on salaries, recruitment firm Harnham said that data science jobs on the East Coast of the United States have grown at a rate of 273 percent year over year, and the West Coast has seen growth of 174 percent. "The data and analytics market is showing no signs of slowing, and a lack of high-level candidates means there are huge opportunities for those working in this space," said Harnham Partner Sam Jones in a statement.

The joint curriculum project is currently in development. Launch is expected to take place early in 2020. Those interested in learning more can sign up to be kept informed on the IBM website.