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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Predictive Modeling and Analytics by University of Colorado Boulder

3.6
stars
590 ratings

About the Course

Welcome to the second course in the Data Analytics for Business specialization! This course will introduce you to some of the most widely used predictive modeling techniques and their core principles. By taking this course, you will form a solid foundation of predictive analytics, which refers to tools and techniques for building statistical or machine learning models to make predictions based on data. You will learn how to carry out exploratory data analysis to gain insights and prepare data for predictive modeling, an essential skill valued in the business. You’ll also learn how to summarize and visualize datasets using plots so that you can present your results in a compelling and meaningful way. We will use a practical predictive modeling software, XLMiner, which is a popular Excel plug-in. This course is designed for anyone who is interested in using data to gain insights and make better business decisions. The techniques discussed are applied in all functional areas within business organizations including accounting, finance, human resource management, marketing, operations, and strategic planning. The expected prerequisites for this course include a prior working knowledge of Excel, introductory level algebra, and basic statistics....

Top reviews

TN

Apr 14, 2020

Good course to give a basic understanding of predictive modelling and analytics. Good assignments and opportunity to review peer submissions help reinforce the learnings.

HA

Nov 19, 2017

this course teach you about the technical of using tools for predictive modeling. very useful for you who want to learn the fundamental of analytics.

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151 - 175 of 213 Reviews for Predictive Modeling and Analytics

By Hilary L

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Jul 16, 2020

This is a very difficult context to learn how to use a computer program--it's outdated, since XLminer is now called Analytics Solver, and it's very hard if you are having an issue with the program and can't get any help.

By Amani E T

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Sep 6, 2020

That was hard for me to understand as I am new in this field and I think I needed a simple basic or a better way to interpret things than that. Also, I encounter some difficulty in understanding the English language.

By Maria E M

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Sep 3, 2020

The content the course is really relevant for my professional career but using Excel to perform modelling is out-of-date. Most companies required a combination between this content and tools like Python and R.

By Himanshu K

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Jun 21, 2020

Although the teaching method is wonderful. A little bit more content will go a long way. Little more clarity in video lectures is required.

By Martin C

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Jun 2, 2020

EL profesor no es muy didáctico y su dicción no es fácil de seguir.

Preferentemente mayor uso de las herramientas de predicicon de excel

By Kanishka P

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May 16, 2020

Using XLminer in the course created a problem for a while. Otherwise, the course is good.

By Brindrajsinh C

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Sep 17, 2020

Was not as happy as early as I am not able to use the taught software as it is paid

By Aditya G R

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Sep 18, 2020

Answers must be open for all kinds of software used

By Omkar K

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Jul 18, 2020

XL Miner too cumbersome to handle

By CESAR O

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Sep 16, 2021

xlminer is very complicated

By Raj M

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Jul 1, 2020

It was a good course

By Mridul S

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Jul 19, 2020

Very fast paced

By Richard F

•

Mar 31, 2018

instruct

By mark w

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Apr 29, 2017

T

By Diego R S

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Jan 18, 2023

The course shows how to use a specific application, instead of focusing on teaching processes and rationales that can be generalized to whatever tools that the students will actually have available.

Further, the lecturer's diction can be very hard to understand at times. Even when they can be understood, the lectures are structured in a way that can make it difficult to follow, as the content jumps from topic to topic unexpectedly and without a good order.

The subjects touched are rarely handled with depth. Most of the content is introductory, and further profundization is necessary if one intends to actually understand or apply the viewed techniques. This would be an efficient teaching technique if the target audience were people who only wanted to understand the basics of the concepts, like for a non-analyst role who wants to understand the basics. However, as the course spends a lot of time explaining exactly how to use ASP, these people would not be served well.

I can only recommend this course if one intends to use the application that is taught (Analytics Solver Platform), or if one is pursuing the related Specialization and is willing to put extra work.

By David N

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Jun 26, 2020

This is an important class in data science general and very important in the Data Science curriculum. The class was covering very important concepts and eventually was able to deliver.

However, There were two major issues in this class in particular. One, the instructor’s English was very hard to follow, even with Closed Capturing that sometimes could not convert. As someone that English is not his first language, I can empathize, however there should have been better editing to the videos.

Two, the XLMiner Software we had to use in this class was only available for 15 days trial. This is a 4 week class and by week 3, the trial has expired. I did not plan to buy a license, and they will not extend it by a couple of weeks ( I tried calling both Coursera and Solver.com). And even though any other free tool (Python, R, MS Studios, etc) could have been used they gave different results and was not good for this class. This was frustrating. I ended up signing up for another 15 day trial with another account but that should have never been an issue.

By Grigory S

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Feb 19, 2022

2 out of 5 stars refer to the quality of this course as a whole. I have much of respect to Prof. Zhang and things he tries to explain in this course. They are really useful and important. Unfortunately terrible pronounciation of Prof. Zhang is making learning process a torture, especially when some of the subtitles are translated incorrectly.

I had problems with Solver software and their technical support was not able to provide any meaningful reply neither in case of desktop or in case of online versions of MS Excel.

It's pity to see many omissions in the course and in tests, like the one who did it didn't even bother to check what's being written. Take as an example this question from Week 3 quiz: 'A soccer team is believed to have a 8 to 2 odds of winning the election. What is the probability of winning for the candidate?' Are you serious? It is the first course I was not able to finish in time and to enjoy. I am much disappointed.

By Joshua D

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Jul 13, 2020

Compared to the first course I felt this one was hard to follow. Information came at a furious pace with little explanation. It reminded me of a business algebra class I took once that had a stand in teacher. The stand in usually taught theoretical match and ended up talking over all of the student's heads. We had to bring him back down to earth. Also the XLMiner tool is only good for two weeks. I verified this with the help desk for the tool. You need better directions and/or a better tool that can be used throughout the 4 week course. Even your translator had issues with some of the annunciations by the instructor. Due to that you need better visuals, explanations of concepts and how he comes around to some of the answers he gets. I really hope the other courses are more like the first and less like this one or I will drop this specialization and go for another. Also I will no longer consider CU Boulder for my Masters.

By Steve R

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Sep 28, 2020

The professor is clearly an expert on the topic, but I don't believe this was an effective learning experience for me. Several reasons for this: (1) The professor was extremely difficult to understand, and this is exacerbated when trying to learn some more complex topics that involve equations and visualization. (2) Most of the lectures seemed to be rushed. For me, it seemed like we jumped from an introduction of the topic to expert level concepts without much transition or explanation.

Overall, I found that I didn't learn much in this course. I simply did the best I could to pass the quizzes and complete the assignments. This would have been fine for me 20 years ago, but these days I am taking courses to learn and better myself. I do not feel like this course helped me.

By Chetan S

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Jul 19, 2020

Not satisfied with the course structure. As you progress in the course, the course seems to be rushed with little detailing. For example the concept of calculating Gini Index. The calculations were not explained and the students are expected to figure it out basis the formula shared in the earlier slide. Had a hard time figuring out the calculation when a problem around Gini index calculation appeared in the Assignment. The accent of the instructor is also hard to understand. Had to refer to transcripts many a times to understand what was been said.

By Yodchanon N

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Jun 28, 2020

Really good content but the lecturer speaks really fast like reading script ,unnaturally and not communicative but I understand what he speaks, even if the subtitle sometimes goes wrong, however. Peer-Graded system is not productive. I found someone has copied my final assignment, at least should have reviewed my assignment back but did not, really shameless and uneducated. XL Miner on the cloud, for Mac, is free for 31 days with student license, however its interface and process is really time-consuming, perhaps lots of users.

By Aaron W

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Jul 7, 2020

I found the instructor did a very poor job of explaining the concepts he was trying to get across. He read the material as fast as he could and it was obvious. Also, it requires software that has a 2 week license unless you want to pay for it (and this is a 4 week class) or can find ways around it by having multiple email addresses and other ways to trick their system. I don't recommend this course if there are any other options.

By jaiyant

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Dec 24, 2019

Very Poor experience, the instructor was very bad, could not understand anything which he said , this can be seen by the number of [INAUDIBLE] present in the subtitles text. The number of application assignments and the questions were very good , with practice I understood all the concepts and I really think that was very helpful.If the instructor is changed and course content increased , this would be a very good course

By DMW

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Dec 7, 2020

All around a pretty horrible course. I am not sure who is giving it 4 or 5 stars. Yes the instructor is knowledgeable but he is not a teacher. Additionally he speaks very fast with an accent which makes it difficult to follow along. I would have preferred we spent more time learning about regressions and less time learning how to use an odd Excel Addon that you have to pay for.

By Agnieszka P

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Jul 1, 2020

I've been struggling horribly with this course. Quite difficult knowledge presented with too little explanation. Much more visual graphs, summaries are needed to explain these data while in the course it is mostly a speech. If pictures are presented, they are without proper description. Whats more the course focus on showing how to do the models, but not how to interpret them.