GSU Robinson College of Business

MBA 8020 (Data Visualization) *Citizen Data Scientist Track*

Fall 2023 Updated on Aug 14, 2023
  • Section 4 (CRN: 88779): Tuesdays 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm
  • Section 9 (CRN: 93223): Tuesdays 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Email Office Hours Link
Saber Soleymani (instructor) ssoleymani@gsu.edu Mondays 2:00 - 3:00 pm Webex Meetings
Sai Roopesh Mandava (Teaching Assistant) smandava4@student.gsu.edu Thursday 2:00 - 3:00 pm

Course Description

The Analytics Experience allows students to work on real-world problems and apply analytical techniques to answer diverse questions. The course provides an overview of current challenges and solutions in data analytics. Given a business situation and data, students will learn how to solve a problem and acquire insight from data with techniques they have learned.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • Explain descriptive, exploratory, predictive, and prescriptive data analysis.
  • Explain various data structures and their use cases.
  • Explain ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) techniques, challenges, and solutions.
  • Explore, visualize, and modify structured datasets.
  • Identify the appropriate type of analysis based on the problem.
  • Describe the process of building supervised predictive models.

Textbooks

  • Paczkowski, Walter R. Business Analytics: Data Science for Business Problems. Springer Nature, 2022.
  • Wes McKinney Python for Data Analysis: Data Wrangling with pandas, NumPy, and Jupyter. O’Reilly Media, 2022. Available here

Note: This course does not require the purchase of a textbook.


Weekly Schedule

Date Week number Location Agenda
10/10 Week 1 Online Course Introduction, Data Taxonomy, & Python basics
10/17 Week 2 In-person Data Manipulation and Visualization with Python (part I)
10/24 Week 3 In-person Data Manipulation and Visualization with Python (part II)
10/31 Week 4 Online Interactive Visualizations (part I)
11/07 Week 5 In-person Interactive Visualizations (part II)
11/14 Week 6 In-person Specialized data visualization tools
11/28 Week 7 Online Final Project Presentation

Deadlines

Assignment Due Date
Reading 1 Due [Date] (before week 2)
Reading 2 Due [Date] (before week 5)
Final Group Project On [Date] (week 7)
Bonus: Reading 3 Due [Date]

The weekly schedule and deadlines are tenative and subject to change. Please check the updates on iCollege.

Grading Policy

Letter Grade Breakdown

A+ (97-100+) B+ (87–89.4) C+ (77–79.4) D (59–69.4)
A (91–96.9) B (83–86.9) C (72–76.9) F (0–59.9)
A- (89.5–90.9) B- (79.5 –82.9) C- (69.5 –71.9)

Points Breakdown

Points Assignment
15 Reading Reflection 1
20 Reading Reflection 2
15 Pop-Quizzes
40 Final Group Project
10 Participation & Discussions
10 Bonus: Reading Reflection 3

Course Policies

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend all in-person and online classes to gain the full benefit of the course. However, missing one class without explanation is accepted for this course. While individual attendance will be tracked, it will not be graded directly. If you are unable to attend a class, you need to study the materials of the class you missed and engage more in discussions in future classes.

Late/Missed Work Policy

Assignments that are turned in late are subject to a late penalty. 20% deduction will be applied to the submission which is submitted late for up to 48 hours after the deadline. After 48 hours, you will automatically get Zero.

Email Policy

As instructors can see more information about students and their enrolled sections, it is preferable to use iCollege’s messaging system rather than emails.

Collaboration Policy

All work is expected to be your own for each exam, quiz, homework, and project. No collaboration is allowed unless otherwise stated in the instructions. If you use a paragraph or code from the internet, you should cite that resource.

Academic Honesty Policy

We must abide by GSU’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Laptop & Technology Statement

You will need a computer to do the assignments. We will be using e-devices in different capacities in the class. Please make sure to silence your e-devices during the meetings.

Online Class Etiquette

Designate Your Workspace

  • Treat each online session as if you were present in class.
  • Mute your microphone when it is not in use.
  • Identifying the speaker is sometimes difficult, especially when the screen is shared. Let others know your name whenever you start speaking.

Syllabus Policy

This course syllabus is a general course plan; the instructor’s deviations may be necessary. The syllabus may be updated throughout the course, so you should check iCollege to ensure you are reading the latest version. I will send an announcement to the class if there has been a major change in the syllabus.