M0 - Course Intro and Setup

ENV 872 - EDA   |   Spring 2024   |   Instructors: Luana Lima,  John Fay  |  

Our first week revolves around setting up the technology used in the course and fully understanding the course structure, resources, and general flow. You are also given your first assignment, which is designed to ensure that you have everything properly set up to succeed in this course.

If you have any questions or issues with any steps listed below, be sure to seek help either in person during class/office hours, or via messaging on the class Slack workspace.

Tasks - Course Setup

This first set of tasks below guides you through setting up the technology we’ll use for this course. Don’t worry about what these technologies do just yet; just follow the steps in the provided instructions, and we’ll explain what everything does in due time .

  • Join the class Slack workspace. An invitation is posted on the class Sakai site.
    • Edit your profile to show your full name (as you wish to be called).
    • Add a photo to help us learn your names more quickly.
    • Familiarize yourself with Slack’s structure; we’ll review how it works in the next class session.
  • Create your personal class GitHub repository. See instructions here.
  • Establish your R coding workspace. See instructions here.
  • Configure RStudio. See instructions here.
  • Set up your RStudio project as a version controlled workspace. See instructions here.

Tasks - Introduction to Data Analytics

This second set of tasks introduces you to the typical structure of a course module.

  • Navigate to the web page for Module 1 - Intro to Data Analytics via the menu on the left side.
    There you’ll see the learning objectives and a link to the recorded lecture(s), which is typical for all modules in this course.
  • Look over the learning objectives and note the additional resources.
  • Watch the record lectures listed on the module page. Walk through any exercises covered in the recording.
  • Complete the assignment listed on the module page.
    If the assignment section does not appear, then it hasn’t been assigned. They are typically released soon after the in-person session for the section.