U of I offers first MOOC-based master's degree in data science

The University of Illinois has joined with the online education company Coursera to offer a professional data science master’s degree beginning this fall. The Master of Computer Science in Data Science (MCS-DS) degree promises to open a quickly growing field to potential data scientists who are unable to take a traditional education path.

The Department of Statistics in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, along with the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science are collaborating to offer the degree. Data science is growing quickly into one of the most sought-after and highest paid professions in the country.

Doug Simpson, chair of the Department of Statistics, called the cross-campus collaboration “an exciting opportunity,” as he’s seeing growing numbers of statistics students taking positions as data scientists. The department will offer four or five courses in the new program, and organizers expect to have 100-150 degree-seeking students enrolled in MCS-DS within a few years. More are expected to enroll in a non-degree program.

“There are a lot of professional opportunities in this field,” Simpson said. “And there’s an opportunity through the MOOC (massive open online course) format to reach non-traditional students—those in industry who are retraining, or continuing to enhance their career, who can complete the course requirements while working at the same time.”

Students can test the waters of the MCS-DS degree with the shorter non-degree program in data mining or cloud computing, earning a meaningful credential that can then fully transfer to the MCS-DS if they later decide that they want the full degree. Full tuition for the degree program is $19,200.

The MCS-DS program builds expertise in four core areas of computer science: data visualization, machine learning, data mining and cloud computing, in addition to building valuable skill sets in statistics and information science with courses taught in collaboration with the U of I’s Department of Statistics and Graduate School of Library and Information Science, or iSchool.

Admissions open today. The deadline to apply for the degree program is June 15, 2016. The first cohort of 150 will begin classes on August 22, 2016, with larger cohorts to be admitted in the following months. Learn more about the program here.

Coursera is an online education company that offers courses and learning experiences from the world’s top universities and education institutions. With more than 18 million registered learners worldwide, Coursera offers courses and specializations that span dozens of topics, including business, technology, social sciences, health, and art. Many courses at Illinois, including several through the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, are offered through the company.

“The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the first land-grant university to partner with Coursera to help achieve its mission to provide top-quality education to as many as possible,” said Rob A. Rutenbar, head of the Department of Computer Science at Illinois. John Hart, professor of computer science, added, “The Coursera platform enables us to offer the expertise and guidance of our faculty to a larger, more diverse community of learners worldwide than ever before.”

The degree offers the same educational rigor as the Illinois on-campus program. Anyone who registers on Coursera will have access to all of the courses that make up the degree, including lessons, activities and projects developed by Illinois faculty. In order to earn the University of Illinois degree, learners who are accepted into the program will also be expected to complete additional course assessments with access to guidance, feedback and support from Illinois faculty and staff.

Students have the option to take one course, or several courses for a Coursera certificate, or the complete curriculum needed to earn the degree. The program is designed so that students can complete it in as little as one year or over a longer period to allow for each student’s individual obligations (e.g. work or family). The program offers students flexibility to complete the coursework at their own pace and earn meaningful certification along the way.

“This degree combines an education in the most high demand career skills with an entirely new educational structure that empowers the student with choices in how to pursue his or her education,” said Daphne Koller, president and co-founder of Coursera. “In a world where taking time off of work for a master’s degree is increasingly difficult, this degree offers people a unique opportunity to choose exactly how much learning they need at different stages in their careers.”