How I Started Teaching Data Science Courses with ThriveDx
Today, data analytics is the most exciting field in the world. Online education companies are cashing in on the combination of online learning during the pandemic and the increase in demand for students wanting to learn data science and analytics. While I have done one-off tutoring on sites like Wyzant where I have built a substantial following — the sessions typically last only 1 hour and there is no repeat engagement.
In January of 2022, I became an associate instructor for online teaching platform ThriveDx. So far, I have been enrolled as a teacher for San Diego State University’s Data Science and Analytics bootcamp where I’ve co-taught “Intro to SQL,” “Statistics and Probability,” “Data Storytelling.” Here, I aim to describe my journey as a teacher on this platform.
I graduated my Master’s degree in June of 2020, and I quickly realized the need to expand my skillset and diversify my income.
My foray into the world of teaching resembles a bildungsroman tale with less adventure but still lots of insights about the mindset of a student in today’s world.
Starting the Voyage:
In December of last year, I was cold emailed by a recruiter who found me on LinkedIn contacting me about a teaching opportunity with ThriveDx.
ThriveDX sent me a long, 3-part assessment on everything from statistics to programming. I completed the assessments in 1 week and was then scheduled for an interview. The assessments were highly technical and quizzed me on arcane topics in data science and analytics. It took a lot of time and attention to complete these technical quizzes, but I realized that my knowledge of core concepts had remained intact.
Earning Trust:
It’s a bit of a rush to jump into a new class with no formal training, no knowledge of the co-instructors, or any previous interaction with the students. I scheduled calls with my co-instructors prior to the class and found both of them to be very friendly and honest. We talked about expectations and data science in general.
I jumped into my first class, “Intro to SQL” after the new year. As an associate instructor, my job was to take attendance, monitor the chat, and engage the students by creating a stimulating learning environment.
In the Intro to SQL class, I began to learn students’ names and solve their problems. The students needed to install MySQL workbench which is a bit of a challenge for anyone as there are multiple components that need to be installed successfully to get the program to work. I had to spend hours upon hours debugging different students’ installation problems. Thankfully, I was able to help the whole class get the software installed.
In the class final, I was able to sit back and encourage students as they finished their final project. Some were very stressed while others did not ask me a single question.
In the Statistics class, I brushed off my knowledge of obscure statistical formulas and hypothesis tests. I was glad to help the students become more data savvy in this course.
Data storytelling is the most recent class I’ve taught. It’s an extremely left-brained subject that is crucially important for Data Scientists to know. After all of the number crunching is done, the stakeholder expects to have a story about the data. As a Data Scientist, you have to be able to connect the numerical insights into a business story that hooks the viewer of your presentation. I have learned as much as anybody while teaching this course. I have been watching tons of videos about data storytelling like ones from Nancy Duarte to the Stanford GSB and this one by David JP Phillips.
The Students:
I have currently been teaching the same cohort — the one that is signed up through San Diego State University. The students range in skills and backgrounds — some are starting their careers, others are advanced engineers looking to round out their skillets, and others are in totally different careers who are looking to switch into data analytics.
The students are present and engaged. One difference from this program from others might be that the students voluntarily, out of their busy schedules chose to pursue this program. Thus, they are highly engaged and motivated, as they should be as the certificate is expensive.
The Course Content:
ThriveDx has created a curriculum from scratch. The curriculum certainly has breadth, yet I am unsure about depth. The lead instructor has to do lots of lecturing off of powerpoint slides. Periodically and consistently, the students are assigned to group activities to cover some part of the material. We create breakout rooms in Zoom and the instructors hop in and out of the rooms providing input and answer questions. While this teaching technique does force students to learn independently, I wonder if it is enough and/or the most effective way to teach since the breakout rooms are so short––10 to 15 minutes.
The courses last between 4–6 weeks and meet 3x a week for 3–5 hours depending on the day. There are lots of homework assignments that keep the material fresh in the students’ mind. ThriveDx does have a teaching philosophy that they teach all of the instructors during the onboarding process which is helpful. The philosophy emphasizes that students must be engaged and know what they are learning about.
Future Endeavors:
Being part of this program, has spurred me to think about education and about the scalability of this teaching program. There is tons of administrative overhead to create such a program and requires collaboration between dozens, if not hundreds, of people. Does a teaching startup scale? Possibly. There is nothing new going on here besides the fact that the teaching is fully remote and that the instructors are not affiliated with the university.
