University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics releases two new courses

The University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics is updating its leading-edge data analytics offerings by releasing two additional courses. Data Analytics Foundations for Accountancy I and Data Analytics Foundations for Accountancy II serve as revisions and replacements for the First Course in Foundations of Data Analytics, which was released in April 2019. These courses are free, online, and accessible to anyone who wants to leverage them for their educational mission. Courses can be accessed here.

“The first course we released under the University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics was amazingly well-received,” said Robert Brunner, the Center’s director. “That demand demonstrated a clear need and broad application for this type of content, and we thought it was important to update the first course to add detail to specific topics. With these two new courses, we’re improving the delivery of the original content by providing expanded and more thorough coverage to data analytics solutions for business.”

Data Analytics Foundations for Accountancy I introduces students to the basic concepts needed to complete common data analytic tasks in accountancy and business in general. Students will learn to develop data analytic scripts by using the Python programming language and the standard data analytic Python modules, including Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and Seaborn.   

Module #1: Foundations
Module #2: Introduction to Python
Module #3: Introduction to Python Programming
Module #4: Python Programming
Module #5: Introduction to Data Persistence
Module #6: Introduction to Data Analysis
Module #7: Introduction to Visualization
Module #8: Exploring Two-Dimensional Data

Data Analytics Foundations for Accountancy II builds upon concepts introduced in the first course to enable students to obtain, explore, and analyze richer and more complex data sets. Students will first learn how explore and analyze multi-dimensional data sets, before learning how to obtain text data embedded within websites and how to analyze text data by using standard Python techniques and regular expressions.

Module #1: Applied Data Analytics
Module #2: Introduction to Text Analytics
Module #3: Introduction to Regional Databases
Module #4: Introduction to Python and Databases
Module #5: Introduction to Probability
Module #6: Introduction to Time Series Data
Module #7: Introduction to Time Series Analysis
Module #8: Introduction to Density Estimation

Each of the eight modules consists of multiple lessons, which each contain a video explaining the lesson content, external reading(s), and included course Jupyter notebooks. Each module also includes a quiz (or assessment) that tests basic mastery of the lesson contents, and a programming assignment that tests synthesis of the lesson contents.

The first two courses released by the Center received considerable acclaim. They were downloaded more than 1,800 times across nearly all 50 states and more than 35 countries. So far, representatives from at least 500 unique institutions have requested content from the Center.

Gies College of Business and the Deloitte Foundation collaborated in 2016 to create the University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics. The mission is to take the lead in helping schools incorporate business analytics into their curriculum. Thanks to this business analytics curriculum, students can be better equipped than ever for success as business leaders of tomorrow.

About Gies College of Business
For more than 100 years, Gies College of Business has intentionally designed its innovative programs, leading-edge curriculum, and experiential learning opportunities to empower and prepare students to turn big ideas into meaningful actions. Today, Gies faculty prepare more than 6,000 future business leaders from around the world to put their purpose into practice and provide transformative leadership in a global economy. GiesBusiness.illinois.edu

About the Deloitte Foundation
 The Deloitte Foundation, founded in 1928, is a not-for-profit organization which supports education in the U.S. through a variety of initiatives that help develop the talent of the future and their influencers and promote excellence in teaching, research and curriculum innovation. The Foundation sponsors an array of national programs relevant to a variety of professional services, benefiting middle/high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and educators. www.deloitte.com/us/df