Week 6 – Blog: Individual Assignment

I will discuss two trainings in the area of data analytics. The training that I found to be very effective were the two Power BI trainings that I took while interning at P3 Adaptive. The training that I found to be less effective was the hybrid class BA 375 that I took last year. The Power BI trainings were effective for a few reasons. For starters, the instructor would explain concepts, demonstrate them on his screen, and we were to follow along and mirror his actions. This was effective because it allowed us to get hands on experience with the tool, and also provided us with our own practice file to look back on once the training was over. The examples that were used for the different data cleansing and visualization techniques were common enough in a variety of industries, that everyone could see how they would be applied to their personal situations. The classes were also recorded, so the information could be studied in case something was missed. All things considered, this training was effective because of the hands-on nature, the practical examples, and the ability to go back and examine what it is that we learned. The BA 375 hybrid class was almost the complete opposite. In this class, we would learn statistical techniques in a lecture format. We would then take very short quizzes and then the concept would be abandoned entirely. We had one project that introduced us to Tableau, a data visualization tool, but that tool was never touched again for the duration of the course. What made this training ineffective was the lack of continuity with the tools/techniques, and the disconnected nature of the lectures and quizzes.