University Leaders & Faculty:
Need Online Content for Your Next Term? Online Campus Can Help
To attract and engage more students in this high-impact subject area, academic institutions are turning to ready-made online content where high levels of faculty facilitation are not required. Since the onset of the pandemic, data science courses are one of the most high-demand subject areas universities are adding to their curriculum through edX Online Campus.
Learn more about the value of diversifying and scaling your academic institution’s data science curriculum and how colleges and universities are already using Online Campus to immediately add high-quality online content in in-demand subjects like python programming and predictive analytics.
Why Expand Data Science Curricula With Online Content?
Data scientist is one of the fastest growing job titles.
We have more computer power and data available than ever before that organizations across industries are keen to leverage. The need for data scientists is so strong that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that future job growth in the field will be three times faster than for all jobs.
“As more and more organizations attempt using data for the first time, there will be plenty of new opportunities that only a person trained in data science will be able to leverage,” said Rafael Irizarry, Professor of Applied Statistics at Harvard University.
Data science is becoming a must-have 21st century job skill.
Beyond the growth of data science job titles, the skill set alone is fast becoming a must-have. In fact, in addition to its popular data science major, UC Berkeley data science staff predict that data science will become the school’s biggest minor over the next few years.
“The undergraduate market here at Berkeley is very unique because it’s becoming a culture where data science is ubiquitous for everybody. It’s not just some additional skills that you learn and specialize in. It is the baseline level for an increasingly huge amount of students. Five years from now, I think 90% of undergraduate students at Berkeley will have taken our Data 8 course. And that will shape their framework of how to do other data or technical work in their other disciplines,” said Anthony Suen, program analyst for the UC Berkeley Data Science Education Program and Berkeley Institute of Data Science (BDIS) fellow.
Online education offers the unique ability to partition learning into modular units that allow students to learn in smaller chunks and explore and build customized skill sets that can increase job prospects and career mobility. Modular learning is the foundation of all learning programs available on edX, allowing learners at every stage of their academic and professional careers to quickly focus on the skills and credentials they need to be job-ready.
The market for data science skills goes far beyond students and graduates preparing to enter the workforce.
At the graduate and professional level, there’s a growing need to catch up, and an opportunity to strengthen career paths and job prospects by adding data science skills.
“I do see a lot of people that have been trained in other fields and have some quantitative background, but they want to be retooled with data science skill sets. Maybe you’re not going to be [the data science] person, but you still need to have these skills to succeed in the next generation of jobs,” Van Dusen said.
Skills in fast-growing areas like data science are critical not just for students, but for faculty, staff, alumni, and professionals as well. For instance, in the face of downward trending economies, many governments are beginning to partner with universities to offer professional learning opportunities for citizens to quickly develop new skills to bridge a knowledge gap, make a career change, or better position themselves on the job market.
How IT University Pakistan Uses edX Data Science Courses
Information Technology (IT) University Pakistan created a Master’s in Data Science program by augmenting its Computer Science Master’s with a MicroMasters® Program in Data Science from UCSanDiegoX. Employing a blended learning format, the university awards credit upon earning the program certificate.
"Since our students on campus were using online data science courses from edX and UCSD in their degree program, they were able to seamlessly transition to home-based learning," said Umar Saif, founder of Pakistan's first IT university, Information Technology University.
Build Your Custom Catalogue With Online Content You Can Trust
Technical skills in fields such as computer science, data science, and analytics are pathways to some of the highest paying, most resilient jobs, but change so quickly that curricula must be agile enough to keep up and provide real value.
Learn more about leveraging edX Online Campus’ robust course catalog to create impactful, accessible opportunities for students to learn these subjects and more. Work with Online Campus curriculum experts to map edX courses to your institution’s content needs and digital transformation goals.
