Jul 18, 2013

New MIDS Degree in the News

More Information: New Online Master’s Degree to Train the Data Scientists of Tomorrow

 

From Wired

Want to Be the Next Nate Silver? That’ll Cost You $60,000

By Klint Finley

Looking for your own Nate Silver? You’re not alone.

Following the much-hyped success of the fantasy-sports maven cum election prognosticator, so many businesses — not to mention media outlets — are hoping to get their hands on someone steeped in the ways of data science, a new field that combines mathematics and computer programming in an effort to solve all sorts of hard problems....

The trouble is that data scientists are hard to come by. They tend to be insurance underwriters or experimental physicists or half-trained economists who just happen to have a talent for analyzing data. But that may change.

The University of California at Berkley is now accepting applications for an online master’s program in data science. They call it datascience@berkeley, and it’ll cost you. Tuition for the 12- to 20-month professional degree is a whopping $60,000....

Read more...

From The Washington Post

The Download: Partnership for 2U

By Steven Overly

Landover-based 2U, a company that helps universities create online graduate degrees, announced an information and data science program last week in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Information....

Read more...

From InformationWeek

UC Berkeley Data Science Master's Program 100% Online

By David F. Carr

The University of California at Berkeley is offering what it calls the country's first fully online master's program for data scientists.

Starting Wednesday, Berkeley will be taking registrations for its Master of Information and Data Science program, which will begin in January 2014. The program is being offered by the School of Information, which emphasizes management of information over information technology. That means students will be expected to have a working competence with software such as R for statistical analysis and will be introduced to technologies such as Hadoop, but won't get quite as deep into the design of systems or advanced algorithms as if they were in a computer science graduate program. Instead, they will develop the skills to put big data to work for all the businesses angling to make more productive use of more data, from a wider variety of sources....

Read more...

From VentureBeat

UC Berkeley adds data science to its virtual classroom

By Christina Farr

Most companies are on the hunt for a data scientist, a profession the Harvard Business Review once called “the sexiest job of the 21st century.”

But university students are not graduating with the requisite skills to meet the demand.

The University of California, Berkeley, is experimenting with new courses and programs. Starting in January, Berkeley’s School of Information, the “I School,” will offer the country’s first fully online master’s degree in information and data science....

Read more...

From the Financial Times

Berkeley and 2U to launch online data science degree

By Adam Palin

The University of California, Berkeley, is to become the latest university to deliver an online masters degree in partnership with 2U, the US technology company. Berkeley’s School of Information selected 2U’s interactive learning platform over the university’s own alternative for its new master of information and data science....

The degree has been launched in response to the proliferation of data and the growing need for professionals who can organise and analyse it. “Every company and organisation today has more data than they know what to do with,” says Prof Saxenian. “Any graduate who knows what to do with [data] will be in great demand.”

Read more...

From GigaOM

Will students fork over $60K for UC Berkeley’s new online master’s degree in data science?

By Ki Mae Heussner

Big data is becoming a big opportunity for higher education. As we’ve reported before, more universities are trying to meet industry’s growing appetite for data scientists with new master’s programs in the field. But on Wednesday, the University of California at Berkeley will announce that it is launching a data science master’s degree that, for the time being at least, will only be online....

In MOOCs, students have little (or no) real-time interaction with professors and peers and learn mostly on their own time, but 2U classes are all delivered in real-time, in an online environment that lets the professor and students see and interact with the entire class at once. Professors can see if students are getting distracted and call on them or adapt a lesson if it seems like the class isn’t following along. And students can ask questions or interrupt the professor at anytime. Also, while MOOCs can include tens of thousands of students, 2U classes never exceed 20 students....

Read more...

From EdSurge

2U, UC Berkeley Team Up for Online Masters Program

2U and UC Berkeley are teaming up to offer what they call the "country's first online Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) degree program."

According to AnnaLee Saxenian, dean of UCB's School of Information, there is a "dramatically growing need for well-trained big data professionals who can organize, analyze, and interpret the deluge of often messy and unorganized data available from the web, sensor networks, mobile devices, and elsewhere."...

In an interview with EdSurge, Saxenian stressed that her approach is "as different as night and day" as compared with the Udacity-Georgia Tech deal. She intends the online program to be just as selective and rigorous as its physical program, with buy-in and commitment from its faculty to teach and lead online discussions....

Read more...

From San Francisco Business Times

UC Berkeley creates online master's degree in 'big data'

By Steven E.F. Brown

The University of California, Berkeley has created an online master's degree in information and data science.

This new program, aimed at what the university calls a "national shortage of data scientists," is the first of its kind. It starts in January....

Read more...

From Silicon Valley Business Journal

Don't call it a big data degree; Berkeley launches first online info science master's

By Lauren Hepler

Big Data may be a major Silicon Valley buzzword at the moment, but don't expect a new online data science master's degree program at the University of California, Berkeley to get too caught up in the fad.

Starting in January 2014, Berkeley's School of Information, or I School, will offer the country's first fully online Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) degree program, the university announced Wednesday. While students will learn the mechanics to analyze millions of rows of data, courses will also cover other elements of data visualization, machine learning, database analysis and data security....

Potential students also shouldn't expect big online classes in the style of Silicon Valley Massive Open Online Course providers like Coursera and Udacity.

Rather, students will participate in live, face-to-face online classes capped at 15-20 students, then watch online lectures and complete additional assignments. The program will also include a week-long "collaborative immersion week," where students will meet faculty and potential employers on the Berkeley campus, Cheshire said....

Read more...

From Upstart Business Journal

Berkeley busts out big data degree

By Kent Bernhard Jr.

The University of California, Berkeley School of Information is working with startup online education company 2U to offer a Master of Information and Data Science program beginning in January. The program will be taught solely online.

Why it's of interest: Big data is increasingly big business and so is online education. This program combines the two trends and could help feed the need in the business world for fresh data science talent....

Read more...

From Application Development Trends

Big Data Education, Training Opportunities on the Rise

By David Ramel

Yesterday's announcement of a new master's degree program for data scientists at the University of California, Berkeley is among the latest examples of how educators and trainers are scrambling to meet the huge Big Data skills gap....

Read more...

From Information Management Online

U.C. Berkeley to Offer Online Master’s Program in Data Analytics

By Elliot M. Kass

...“This new degree program is in response to a dramatically growing need for well-trained big-data professionals who can organize, analyze and interpret the deluge of often messy and unorganized data available from the Web, sensor networks, mobile devices and elsewhere,” says AnnaLee Saxenian, dean of U.C. Berkeley’s School of Information (I School), home to the new program.

The MIDS program is currently accepting applicants and will open its virtual doors to students this January. A maximum of 30 students will be admitted for 2014, according to Saxenian, who says the I School is intentionally limiting the initial class size in order to provide the sort of “high-touch, high-quality interactive program that replicates the quality of education that students get on campus.”...

Read more...

From InTheCapital

2U, UC Berkeley Launch the Country's First Fully Online Masters Program for Data Scientists

By Molly Greenberg

... UC Berkeley and 2U announced the launch of the country's first fully online Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) degree program on Wednesday as a way to tackle the ever growing decline of well established data scientists in the U.S. And with America set to face a shortage of up to 190,000 people who have such refined analytical skills by 2018, the combined effort put forward by UC Berkeley and 2U could not be more appropriate....

As for why this program was developed, it's not only because of the future shortage of data scientists, it's that data scientists are such an integral part of our economic prosperity....

Read more...

From OnlineColleges.com

UC Berkeley Readies New Online Master's Degree in Information and Data Science

Compiled by Aimee Hosler

The University of California Berkeley's School of Information, or I School, has announced that it will launch a new online master's degree in information and data science (MIDS) in January 2014....

Some publications, like Wired, have suggested the new program could help groom the next Nate Silver, a data scientist whose analytical talent and knack for political projections made him a household name during the 2012 election season. They also point to sports analyst Paul DePodesta of "Moneyball" fame, or "big data" tech companies like Google. Coye Cheshire, associate dean and associate professor for UC Berkeley's I School, said while these comparisons do apply, they are limited.

"People focus immediately on information technology organizations like Facebook and Google, and that's absolutely part of what we're trained for," said Cheshire, "but we're also really interested in people who want to get into health care, retail, manufacturing, education, real estate, as well as social media and government. All of those are areas where this data explosion is currently happening, and those are the places where data scientists are most needed."...

Read more...

From The Daily Californian

School of Information announces new online graduate program

By Simon Greenhill

The UC Berkeley School of Information announced a new online graduate degree in data science Wednesday.

The Master of Information and Data Science program is the first of its kind and is designed to be a self-paced course in data science, an emerging field that allows analysts to identify trends in large data sets, often from Internet statistics and surveys....

“We really want to be able to help people in diverse realms,” said Coye Cheshire, associate dean of the School of Information. “Not just the social media folks but also retail, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate, education.”

Unlike massively open online courses, or MOOCs, in which students view video lectures online for free, MIDS will emphasize interaction with professors and classmates, much like in traditional classroom environments.

“We’re removing the campus borders, bringing the Bay Area to data professionals, wherever they are,” Cheshire said. “We’re not restricting anything. We’re looking to work across and do this as a global program.”...

Read more...

Related stories also appeared in:

 

Last updated:

October 4, 2016