Demos
Topics
Many students in previous semesters have also struggled with topics and format for Demo 1 (don’t worry, inspiration abounds thereafter). Remember to (re)visit the syllabus for the original description, with special attention to the “rubric with four components: quality of content, quality of explanation, quality of presentation, and relevance/usefulness of topic, with a few bonus points available for creativity.”
An initial sentiment has commonly been, “What can I teach people when I don’t know very much yet?” However, it’s more fitting to think of it as sharing something, rather than teaching something. For example, you can share:
- An interesting Ted Talk or a podcast related to data science by writing a brief synopsis (including a link to the video). The best synopsis is one where you provide some insight as to why you found it interesting, and/or you connect it to the course material somehow
- A new feature you discovered on DataCamp, or a helpful study trick/habit you developed that makes it easier to work through the exercises
- An actual piece of code not yet introduced in the course or DataCamp exercises that you’ve found to be helpful, highly applicable, or just interesting in some way(s). This can be shared in a video recording (see below for a student demo on how to make one using Panopto) or a well-annotated series of screenshots.
- Note that simply reproducing something like a DataCamp lesson or another data science tutorial you found on the web will not get you many points (and could even end up being plagiarism). However, if you adapt such a tutorial in some way, such as applying it to another data set or doing the same thing, in a different way, then that’s awesome.
Scope & tips:
- Audio/video: <= 5:00 min. We will stop listening/watching at the 5:00 min mark, and evaluate only that portion of the demo.
- Note: If you want to post a video, you should put it on a streaming service rather than posting a movie file to Teams. You have a few options for this. You can use YouTube as long as you don’t mind it being public, or you can post it to the class MS Stream Channel
- Written: <= 500 words. Be sure to summarize–avoid plagiarism at all costs!
- Speak about your experience (budding though it may be), and consider your audience. Mention how your demo topic benefited or impacted you, and why others may find it helpful or interesting.
- For top marks, go beyond simply introducing your topic (e.g., “Here’s a video. Here’s a link. I liked it. You might too.”), and reflect more meaningfully. For example, discuss (or at least posit) novel ways, both broad and specific, that your topic applies to data science and/or this course.
- Here are some great demo examples from previous semesters. Think about why we consider these great, and recognize that we’re not looking for million-follower-YouTuber professional quality or personality.