With data science becoming a pervading technology in industry, innovative learning programs aid in producing more data scientists by honing their talents and expanding their skill sets from the comfort of their own home and schedule.
As reported, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) has certified 141 data training graduates and is looking forward to training more in order to keep up with the market.
Data scientists can bolster the Philippines
DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr Enrico C. Paringit expressed optimism that the newly-trained data scientists will be a big boost to the government, the academe, and the industry.
They can help in crafting data-driven decisions and policies that can help shape the economy.
New technologies, being used today, generate, process and use huge amounts of data, which when used correctly can help solve most of the current problems.
The trained data scientists can provide a newer perspective in terms of looking for solutions or responding to the call of the times.
Having adequate skills in data science can bring about answers to the local needs and demands for science-based solutions.
Catering to this means growing the country’s own talent pool and community of experts in the field, producing people who can help address these demands and bring up the global standing in terms of data analytics.
Online training course
The training course provided the Batch 1 graduates an opportunity to keep learning in their own time, without the need to be physically present in school.
It gave them the chance to learn tools that could be integrated with their existing skill set.
The trainees went through the pioneering Learning at Scale training, which offers the needed training developed by different international universities through an online learning platform.
This was done purely online, in partnership with a local start-up that aims to centralise and deliver massive open online courses (MOOCs).
The program offers flexibility, allowing the people to learn continuously despite having other obligations in life.
There is no need to plan one’s life and schedule around education because people can learn in their own time.
Moreover, it also offers accessibility as MOOCs are very affordable and can be taken by anyone with an internet connection.
There are four modules to the course. They are:
- The Data Scientist’s Toolbox
- R Programming
- Getting and Cleaning Data
- Exploratory Data Analysis
On top of this, the online learning platform offers an additional wave of learning tracks with further topics that focus on data and its applications, as well as those that teach trends, global movements, and human behaviour, among others.
The 141 graduates were automatically accepted for the next four advanced courses of the entire data science track training program.
The scientists will be able to maximise what they learned and apply them to real life situations and at work also.
Continuous work for the government
Admittedly, data science in the Philippines is still very much in its infancy. Only a small percentage of people are familiar with the field.
However, there are actually a lot of people who want to break into data science but are unsure how to do it.
According to the DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director, the data science training provides the government with opportunities to be more innovative and ways to improve their services.
It helped build a community of skilled experts that can increase the country’s global competitiveness in the field.
Matching the right talents with the right skills will enable the government to address the common needs of the Filipino, which include internet usage, speech and image recognition, fraud and risk detection, and logistics, among others.
