Course Title Data Science and Machine Learning using Python
Course Length 14 sessions
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, the students should be able to:
LO1: Learners will be able to understand the foundations of machine learning, including supervised, unsupervised, and basic model evaluation.
LO2: Learners will be able to write Python code to preprocess data, train models, and evaluate results using popular ML libraries.
LO3: Learners will be able to apply appropriate ML techniques to solve beginner-level problems and interpret outcomes
Course Summary
Lecture Module Name Key Concepts/Topics Covered Activities/Assessments
1 Introduction to • What is Data Science? Key concepts, domains, and workflow An assessment of real
Data Science & • Difference between Data Science, AI, ML, and Deep Learning world applications
Machine leveraging machine
• Overview of real-world applications (business, healthcare, finance, etc.)
Learning learning.
• The role of Python in Data Science and ML
2 Python for Data • Python essentials: data types, functions, and control structures Setting up Python
Science • Working with libraries: NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn natively. Introduction
to Google Colab.
• Google Colab Notebook environment for interactive coding
• Best practices in writing clean and reusable code
3 Data Collection • Importing data from CSV, Excel, APIs, and databases Hands-on practice with
& Exploration • Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) with Pandas real world datasets for
EDA.
• Visualizing distributions, trends, and correlations
4 Data • Handling missing values and outliers Working with
Preprocessing • Encoding categorical variables (label encoding, one-hot encoding) universally available
& Feature datasets.
• Feature scaling (normalization, standardization)
Engineering
• Feature creation and dimensionality reduction basics
5 Probability, • Descriptive statistics: mean, median, variance, skewness Leveraging
Statistics & • Probability concepts relevant to ML fundamental descriptive
Data Insights statistics for insights.
• Data-driven insights for decision-making
6 Evaluation • Train-valid-test split and k-fold cross-validation What do the metrics
Metrics & • Bias-variance tradeoff mean? Using Python for
Model computing evaluation
• Classification metrics: accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score
Validation metrics and interpreting
• Regression metrics: RMSE, MAE, R² them.
7 Linear & • Understanding regression concepts Applying Linear and
Logistic • Implementing linear regression in Python (scikit-learn) Logistic Regression
Regression with using Python on real
• Logistic regression for classification problems
Python world datasets to derive
• Interpreting coefficients and model outputs key conclusions.
8 Decision Trees • Fundamentals of decision tree learning Applying Decision Tree
& Random • Overfitting and pruning techniques and Random Forest
Forests models on real world
• Ensemble learning: bagging and Random Forests
datasets using Python to
• Feature importance and interpretability derive key conclusions.
Comparing results
across models.
9 Unsupervised • K-Means clustering: concept and implementation Applying K-means
Learning: • Hierarchical clustering basics clustering using Python.
Clustering & Visualizing PCA and
• Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction
Dimensionality recognizing its
Reduction • Applications of unsupervised learning in real-world scenarios importance in improved
results.
10 Data • Effective data visualization principles Leveraging Python for
Visualization & • Advanced visualization with Seaborn communicating results.
Storytelling • Communicating insights through data storytelling Presenting data.
11 Hands-on Case • Framing a real-world classification problem Case Study: utilize
Study: • Data cleaning, preprocessing, and splitting Python skills learnt to
Classification • Training models (Logistic Regression, Random Forest) implement given
ML Project models and present
• Model evaluation and comparison
your findings
12 Hands-on Case • Defining a regression use case Case Study: utilize
Study: • Feature engineering and selection Python skills learnt to
Regression ML • Training models (Linear Regression, Decision Tree) implement given
Project models and present
• Evaluating and interpreting regression results
your findings
13 Advanced • Introduction to Support Vector Machines (SVMs) What’s next? Advanced
Topics in ML & • Gradient Boosting (XGBoost, LightGBM) basics Machine Learning
Data Science • Introduction to Deep Learning (ANN basics with Keras) concepts. Introduction
to Deep Learning.
• Current trends in ML and Data Science
14 Course Recap, • Summary of key concepts and techniques
Best Practices • Building a data science portfolio
& Career • Future learning paths and career opportunities
Pathways
Supplementary Material/Reading Material
- Data Science from Scratch – Joel Grus
- Introduction to Machine Learning – Ethem Alpaydin
- Introduction to Machine Learning with Python – Andreas Muller
- Machine Learning – Paul Wilmott