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Positive Comments
Negative Comments
"I believe Data Mining
is already beginning to pay off for me. I've accepted a position
in my company's Enterprise Data Management group."
"The course has helped me in applying data
mining to marketing efforts. By better understanding the
technical aspect, I can now make better client recommendations."
"Although intense, this course
mirrored how I would learn in a real world job more than any
other course that I have ever taken."
"A prevailing factor in
taking this course is its online availability. Given my work
load, travel and schedule, this format allows me the flexibility
to study the material when the time is available. It would be
very difficult to attend a class 1-2 times/week and get job
deliverables done on time. The online medium also fits into
today’s business climate of using the internet to effectively
and efficiently communicate its ideas."
"This course has helped me to
participate effectively in a segmentation project in my company."
"Another thing I like about the course is Prof Larose. In
addition to providing the structure and content, I think Prof
Larose has injected humanity into taking the class and created a
feeling of we’re all in this together."
"What E. said about Dr.
Larose injecting humanity into the class is right on! It truly
makes the difference between just reading something on the
screen and feeling part of a
community with a common goal."
"Prof. Larose's feedback on
this course was highly productive and greatly appreciated."
"The Clementine software has demonstrated to be robust and
extremely adaptable to supporting presentations."
"The other prevailing factor is Prof Larose’s depth of work
putting this course material together and finding challenging
problems. The chapter tests are almost fun and the Powerpoint
material that accompanies each chapter helps to fill in some
gaps."
"Dr Larose's notes were fantastic! I usually found them more
explanatory than the books."
"Based on the two data mining
courses I have taken, Professor Larose did a great job for the
data mining program. The Clementine assignment is well designed for
both the data mining theory and know-how too. I will
definitely sign up another data mining course online in the fall
of 2002."
"I enjoyed the
classes very much, especially the Clementine assignments. I see
the words data mining more often in the literature,
seminar and other occasions. Every time I saw it, I feel good
because not only do I know what data mining means, but
also now I know how to do it. I will continue taking Professor
Larose's data mining classes." "I
appreciated the
feedback that Dr. Larose provided about assignments."
"Prof Larose has not only
given us the benefit of learning something new, but made it easy
for us to follow through, with his lecture notes and sense of
humor." "I also liked the different
opportunities for interacting with my classmates that this class
provided. In a regular classroom, I feel more inhibited about
speaking up during a discussion but with the threaded
discussions and the water cooler, I felt more comfortable
putting in my two cents worth. It
was helpful for me to have some time to think things over before
I posted something or replied to someone’s posting."
"I agree with you that
Dr. Larose's wonderful course planning ( quizzes, threaded
discussions, projects etc.) made this course a positive
experience. The Professor's
quick response to my questions were very helpful."
"My overall experience about this online course was a
definitely a POSITIVE one. Most important feature of this
course is that it gives me flexibility. While maintaining two
jobs I was able to finish two courses only because they are
online."
"My experience about this course is not positive only
because of flexibility. I think it has lot to do with Dr.
Larose’s interesting course design / game plan." "I
like (a) the concept of weekly quizzes and the fair distribution of
course load throughout the semester, (b) the equal emphasis on business knowledge and methodology, algorithmic details, and practical implementation using
Clementine, (c) Professor's enthusiasm and timely responses to any questions
I had, and (d) the online experience and the freedom to learn when ever I
felt like learning."
"I had a 100% positive
experience with the reliability and availability of the course
web site." "As someone who
never even heard of data mining until a few months before the
course started, I think the course content was an excellent
introduction to data mining (Stat 521)." "Overall,
I regard Stat 521 as a very positive experience. I learned a
lot, with a reasonable balance of practical and more theoretical
subject matter. The course was structured in a very logical
manner."
"I appreciated the expeditious grading of assignments.
I was also
glad to have access to widely used industrial-strength data
mining software."
"The slides covering the reading materials helped me pick up points that I might have
otherwise missed."
"I found the discussion about data mining and privacy
particularly interesting. Prof Larose has a sense of humour that
I like!"
"The material presentation was excellent. The material covered
was just enough to get my feet wet in the world of
data mining, without being too cursory or too overwhelming."
"This is my first on-line experience and
I had earlier been afraid about
the whole process. But a whole new world has now opened to me. It is a challenge worth
getting use to."
"I like the quizzes after each chapter. It definitely
tested my reading comprehension as well as forced me to stay
current on my reading. I also like the Power point
presentations. They were useful in helping me summarize
what I had just read."
"I will definitely take another online course, in fact, I just
applied for the Masters program."
"I am very excited to take this course and despite
of the restless nights (and days and weekends), I have no
regret. Every time when I go through the material and am
able to relate it to my working experience - it's
wonderful." "I
liked the quizzes, they tested actual knowledge but were funny
and not pressing. Threaded discussions were great. I
do not always speak up in live discussions for the fear of not
finding the right English word at the right time. On-line
exchange offers an opportunity to better express your thoughts.
It's funny how you can get a feeling that you know people
without ever meeting them face-to-face." "The
threaded discussions were good in getting to know the
backgrounds of fellow classmates. I was relieved that the
discussions were also geared towards students with no experience
in the field."
"I found the course to be a good mix
of practical and theoretical, with just enough reading balanced
with hands on exercises with the data mining software." "Overall,
I enjoyed the course and definitely found it to deliver more
knowledge than the 'technical courses' that I get sent to
through work for staying up on latest technologies. I will
definitely consider pursuing the full master degree program."
"I really enjoyed (am still
enjoying!) the course. I am really interested in
applying data mining to biological information. I think the
applications in biomedical science are unlimited!"
"I appreciated having all the streams and data files that
were used for the Clem manual chapters available for download.
This made it easy to follow along."
"Overall, I thought this course, my
first online course, was fantastic! I am eager to start
Stat 522 next week."
"I am now working as a Data
Warehouse Product Manager for a very large healthcare analytical
data warehouse."
Negative:
"
While online learning has many advantages, there is still added
difficulty by not meeting for class discussions and group
projects. Overall, I prefer learning in the classroom
environment where I can ask questions during the lectures and
discuss class assignments with other students while progressing."
"Throughout my
groundroom education, I believe I have relied heavily on latent
learning. I sit in a classroom, the instructor and other
students talk, and I absorb the information. An online classroom
makes that very difficult."
"The following improvements might be considered: (a) Quizzes could be little more
complex, (b) In Clementine Assignment 3, more specific guidelines could have
helped, (c) Usage of optional video and audio media to deliver the
lecture could have been really helpful."
"One thing that might be helpful as an addition to the format:
assign actual group projects that would force students to
interact via live chat and/or email."
"The
course software supports multimedia (audio and video), but that
didn't seem to get much use in either of the two online courses
that I'm taking."
"I have had problems with Clementine Projects 3 and 4 because I'm
not used to writing reports at all. It's new for me, and
therefore, I find it a bit difficult." "I
did not like the isolation and limited communication that was
unavoidable due to the on line nature of the course."
"I do think that the on-line learning
process/environment takes some getting used to."
"Not asynchronous enough. I'd have preferred to have
had a list up front of objectives of things that I would have
been expected to know and demonstrate familiarity with. That
way, I could self-study and push on when I had free time and
then possibly stop for a while to work on job-related
project/disasters -- i.e., learning objectives are fixed but the
details of the course work are completely asynchronous."
"One think that I think might be helpful,
is perhaps, downloadable mp3 files of class lectures as another
form of reinforcement for people who are more auditory learners."
"The threaded discussion
list is a great idea but still doesn't quite provide the kind of
interaction you get in a regular classroom." "I think I will think twice
before taking an accelerated course (summer or intersession)
online." "I
did not like the process of installation for Clementine
software. I spent nearly two weeks trying to install it on my
computer (Windows XP Home)." [Note: Clementine not
supported yet for Windows XP Home Version].
"Neither textbook was extremely scientific based and I felt
that either one accompanied by another book that actually went
into the statistical / technical explanations of the algorithms
and methods might have been more useful."
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