BN518 Master of Science in Computing (Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream)

neil_hiss_a_gum

Hi Has anyone here done this course? If so looking for feedback on it.
Thanks!

TestLink

From the ITB website, it is shown that the schedule for "Master of Science in Computing (Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream)" is online while for "Master of Science in Computing (Information Security & Digital Forensics)" the schedule is Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm - 10pm and Online. Last year I got admission to the later, but didnt join because of difficulty with the time schedule.

Any idea whether the students have to attend classes for Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream or it is done entirely online?

Parawind

ITguru wrote: »

From the ITB website, it is shown that the schedule for "Master of Science in Computing (Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream)" is online while for "Master of Science in Computing (Information Security & Digital Forensics)" the schedule is Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm - 10pm and Online. Last year I got admission to the later, but didnt join because of difficulty with the time schedule.

Any idea whether the students have to attend classes for Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream or it is done entirely online?

I am doing the Information Security & Digital Forensics stream, no Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream ran last year because of a lack of numbers, so this year will be the first year it runs as far as i know. At last years open evening the lecturers in charge of the Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream said that it could be done completely online, in classes or a balance of both depending on what more people perfered.

If i remember correctly its run by Geraldine Gray, she will be able to tell you more about it if you send here an e-mail to: Geraldine.gray@itb.ie
I had her as a lecturer for my undergraduate and shes very nice and i'm sure she'll be able to help you out.

TestLink

Thanks Parawind...

MartinAnt

Parawind wrote: »

no Business Intelligence & Data Mining Stream ran last year because of a lack of numbers, so this year will be the first year it runs as far as i know.

Hi,

Do you mean this is the first year that this will be done as a part time course, first time done via distance learning, or the first time the course will be done at all? I was under the impression this course has been run before? I am also interested in this course so would like to hear if this is indeed the first run or not.

Cheers,
MartinAnt

Parawind

I believe its the first time to be run at all, BN518 was only started last year and as far as i know the Information Security & Digital Forensics stream was the only one to run so far.

jfh

i was interested in doing this course last year too but relocated down the country so didn't suit, as far as i know, the course didn't go ahead due to lack of numbers.
i'm kinda hesitent about forking out 3000 for a course that's going online for the first year. anyone else feel the same or do you reckon i'm too cautious. trying to decide.

TestLink

jfh wrote: »

i was interested in doing this course last year too but relocated down the country so didn't suit, as far as i know, the course didn't go ahead due to lack of numbers.
i'm kinda hesitent about forking out 3000 for a course that's going online for the first year. anyone else feel the same or do you reckon i'm too cautious. trying to decide.

Hi jfh,
Do you know any other Masters in Computing/IT course (part time / online) with fees less than 3000, excluding Trinity?
Last year the fees for BN518 was 2500. So sooner you do, the cheaper the fees.

At Trinity there are a couple of courses with fees falling around 2500 range.
http://www.scss.tcd.ie/Fees_1011.php

1. TRS18 MSc Health Informatics 2,500
2. TRS52 MSc in Computer Science
(Networks and Distributed Systems) 2,500
3. TRS55 MSc in Computer Science
(Interactive Entertainment Technology) 2,500
4. TRS53 MSc in Computer Science
(Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing) 2,500
5. TRS54 MSc Technology and Learning 2,500
6. TRS51 MSc Interactive Digital Media 2,500

I tried for MSc Health Informatics, but didnt get through. Though later I came to know that there is not much scope or it here.

jfh

thanks for the feedback ITguru, my concern was enrolling in a course that was in it's first year. i'd prefer if the teething problems were already sorted.
know what you mean about the fees though, i thought they would be going down rather than up but i suppose more people are applying.
i've emailed the college to get more info, and if i can relate it to my job, i'm def interested.
you interested in doing this yourself?

TestLink

Still thinking about it!
I got confirmation that the course would be entirely online (though contact classes could be arranged if the class request it), which I prefer.

neil_hiss_a_gum

jfh wrote: »

thanks for the feedback ITguru, my concern was enrolling in a course that was in it's first year. i'd prefer if the teething problems were already sorted.
know what you mean about the fees though, i thought they would be going down rather than up but i suppose more people are applying.
i've emailed the college to get more info, and if i can relate it to my job, i'm def interested.
you interested in doing this yourself?

I share your concerns alright - the website doesnt exactly clear things up either. There is a lot of mention about research trends and independant research - would like to know exaclty how technical the course is and what level of data mining expertise would one expect to acquire by course completion.
Any thoughts?

jfh

hi neil_hiss_a_gum, from what i understand there's no programming involved, yes i think a lot is independant research, i'm not working in business intelligence so not sure if i would get to grips without practical experience.
you the same?

neil_hiss_a_gum

Hi JFH Yeah I am not in BI or data mining area at the moment- am just interested in this area - I think the data mining could be very interesting and also be an area of high demand in the future. Ideally I'd like to become proficient in this area - would be hoping the course would get me some of the way there and obviously some work experience the rest of the way.
Did you get any more info on the course?

MartinAnt

I have been in touch with the college about the course lads, and from what I can gather, there are no techie skills needed. They can accept people from Maths, Finance, etc backgrounds also.

2 modules per semester. Probably talking 4 hours per week per module of lectures / discussions etc and each 4 hours would be on the same day. Same time again required on your own it sounds like. Literary review every 3 weeks or so, so 4 of those during the semester and practical assessment at the end. Sounds like both modules will take this approach. Will be all done online.

It is the first time Business Intelligence and Data Mining has been run as its own stream, though Data Mining has been running for a number of years as part of other courses.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
MartinAnt

jfh

any of you guys go with this, wasn't brave enough to sign up in the end.
would appreciate any feedback on it.

TestLink

I also didnt. Did a bit of research abt the data mining algorithms and all (lots of videos on youtube) and realised that with the spare time available now, it wont be possible for me to do it ( atleast for the time being!)

jfh

thanks for your reply ITGuru, i'm still hoping to do it at somestage, just now everything is up in the air.

neil_hiss_a_gum

I didnt go for it either. It is something i would be interested in so maybe in the future. Would be interesting to hear from someone who is doing it.

markushofmann

Hi All

I'm one of the lecturers of this course and might be able to informally answer any questions you may have.

The course is running this semester with 15 students from Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Galway, UK and Germany. All lectures will be streamed live two evenings per week (6-9). Sometimes we invite guest lecturers to give a talk. For example, Mike Kehoe from IBM will give a talk about the role of BI in Smart Cities. We invite students to physically attend such guest lectures but still stream the content live.

We use Adobe Connect as virtual class room where students can be assigned to break-out rooms to carry out some group exercises or discuss various topics. It is fully interactive with chat and talk facilities. All lectures are recorded and can be viewed at any time throughout the module.

Hope this helped. I'll ask some of our students to provide some feedback.

Markus

andre_m

Hi guys,
I'm a registered student on the Msc in BI and DM in ITB this year.

I can confirm that the lectures are all online and so far so good! This is what made it very attractive as an option for me... (a 2 yr old infant and a 2nd due any day now! :-\ ) The flexibility of the online attendance also facilitates "attending" the same lecture again afterward as they are being recorded.

Into 4th week of lectures now(2/wk WED + THUR 6-9) and to date all lectures have run through fine. Lecture material is very interesting and looking ahead the upcoming semesters there seems to be a nice range of topics covered. (I work in software engineering and the modules match closely to my needs so I might be biased here... )

N.B : one thing to note is that the assessment is by continuous assessment so if you sign up be prepared to work from the beginning. There appears to be lots of focus on research and methods associated so if, like me, it's been a while since you had to read/write papers be prepared for lots of this too :-)...

Theory aside though there are requirements to work with open source tools (so far anyway) for labs but I gather the focus is on teaching the skills for BI and mining rather than on any one particular proprietary tool.

Overall a thumbs up for the course so far. Hope this helps...

maroun

I am in this course and can give you an insider's view of what is going on here. This is a very good program, most of what has been posted is correct.
It is entirely online & the class meets twice a week on Wed & Thur from 6 to 9 plus another hour per class more one on one focus.
It is a very well thought out program and has been running smooth outside a couple of sound trouble that you get in every live event but they get sorted. You get the best o both worlds, live and recored so you can go back like checking your own notes but they are all there. Both teachers are very good and have a different approach that makes for a well balanced exposure. I have been thinking about setting up a blog about what is going on and after reading this, I am encouraged to do so. WIll keep you all posted.

MartinAnt

Hi Maroun and Andre,

I know I am digging up a bit of an old thread, but would really like to hear how Semester 1 of this course has went for you guys (and also if you ever set up the blog Andre?).

How have you found the workload and how much time on average have you found you've had to put into the course on a weekly basis after lectures?

What were the assessments like and how many was there per subject? Did you physically attend the college much or do it all online?

I am intrigued, as I decided last year to not do the course as a combination of factors meant it wasnt feasible at the time, but I am very much considering it for the coming year.

Hoping to hear back from you.

Cheers,
MartinAnt

Paddy Orwell

Hi MartinAnt,
I am weighing up whether or not to do this course aswell. How do you think it compares to the Kevin St Data Analytics course or the UCD Business Analytics course?

mcgovern

I'm also considering this, how have people on the course found it?

darabbit

hi there,

I have just signed up for this course. Has anyone else sighed up for next September/Oct?

To the guys that have a year down, how much time per week did you have to commit to get through? I work full time and like to keep fit, hoping to run Dublin marathon in Oct. Did you find you were leaving work and starting research straight away or did you have some personal time?

Thanks.

jfh

darabbit wrote: »

hi there,

I have just signed up for this course. Has anyone else sighed up for next September/Oct?

To the guys that have a year down, how much time per week did you have to commit to get through? I work full time and like to keep fit, hoping to run Dublin marathon in Oct. Did you find you were leaving work and starting research straight away or did you have some personal time?

Thanks.

hi darabbit, i've also signed up for this course, did you ever get a response re queries?
i'd imagine you'd be ok with training as most of these courses take a few weeks to get going & you'll be tapering down training by the start of october.

bonjovi

Hi,

I just finished this course in January:) It was a great course with really interesting/relevant content with state-of-the-art open source technology. Let me know if you have any questions about the course?

Furthermore, its great to see that the Big Software companies like Oracle and SAP are taking Data Mining software seriously by releasing their own Data Mining Tools (i.e. SAP Predictive Analysis and Oracle R Enterprise). Predictive Data Mining is really taking off in Dublin with the likes of Accenture Analytics center, SAS, AON, SAP, Facebook and Google all recruiting in this area.

djk1000

bonjovi wrote: »

Hi,

I just finished this course in January:) It was a great course with really interesting/relevant content with state-of-the-art open source technology. Let me know if you have any questions about the course?

Furthermore, its great to see that the Big Software companies like Oracle and SAP are taking Data Mining software seriously by releasing their own Data Mining Tools (i.e. SAP Predictive Analysis and Oracle R Enterprise). Predictive Data Mining is really taking off in Dublin with the likes of Accenture Analytics center, SAS, AON, SAP, Facebook and Google all recruiting in this area.

Can I ask you how the course is viewed by employers? Since this is a growth area, were employers actively trying to recruit students? Are past students working in BI/DM?

Thanks!

KTaps

Can anybody currently taking the course give some insight into the level of maths / statistics taught. Does it give you an understanding of the maths behind the algorithms or just teach you how to use the software packages ?

How does it compare to the smurfit business analytics MSc?

What are the employment prospects like ?

vigos

KTaps wrote: »

Can anybody currently taking the course give some insight into the level of maths / statistics taught. Does it give you an understanding of the maths behind the algorithms or just teach you how to use the software packages ?

How does it compare to the smurfit business analytics MSc?

What are the employment prospects like ?

Would also be interested to hear answers to these questions

yam

Hi,

Masters in Data Mining / Analytics / Business Intelligence

Do u still recommend to do this course in ITB?
How is the Job opportunities ?
Please could you advice.