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Foundations of Machine Learning

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Foundations of Machine Learning

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Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.5

15 reviews

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

3 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.5

15 reviews

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

3 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is available as part of
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be asked to select a specific program.
  • Learn new concepts from industry experts
  • Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
  • Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
  • Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

Welcome to the Foundations of Machine Learning, your practical guide to fundamental techniques powering data-driven solutions. Master key ML domainsβ€”supervised learning (prediction), unsupervised learning (pattern discovery), data preprocessing & feature engineering, and time series forecastingβ€”using Pandas, Scikit-learn, Statsmodels, and Prophet to tackle real-world challenges.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to: - Implement and evaluate key supervised models (e.g., regression, classification, Tree-based models & SVMs) for prediction. - Apply unsupervised methods (e.g., K-Means, Isolation Forest) for segmentation and anomaly detection. - Perform robust data preprocessing: handle missing data, encode categoricals, scale features, and apply dimensionality reduction (PCA). - Build and analyze time series forecasts with ARIMA, Exponential Smoothing, Holt-Winters and Prophet. Through hands-on exercises and a capstone customer purchase prediction project, you'll develop versatile skills to confidently address common machine learning challenges.

Welcome to supervised learning, the foundation of modern machine learning! In this module, you'll master essential algorithms such as linear regression, logistic regression, decision trees, and support vector machines (SVMs) that form the backbone of predictive analytics. We'll guide you through hands-on implementations using industry-standard tools like Scikit-learn, helping you build models that can predict outcomes with impressive accuracy. By the end of this module, you'll be able to select the right algorithm for different problems, train and evaluate models effectively, and interpret their results to drive data-informed decisions.

What's included

13 videos10 readings6 assignments4 ungraded labs

13 videosβ€’Total 67 minutes
  • Welcome to the Courseβ€’3 minutes
  • Regression in Action: Predicting Sales From Advertising β€’6 minutes
  • Classification in Action: Predicting Diabetes From Patient Dataβ€’5 minutes
  • Understanding Regression Through a Real-World Exampleβ€’6 minutes
  • Script-Building and Evaluating a Simple Linear Regression Modelβ€’6 minutes
  • Getting Started with Logistic Regression for Binary Classificationβ€’6 minutes
  • Evaluating Binary Classification Models with Logistic Regressionβ€’6 minutes
  • How Decision Trees Make Predictions in Healthcareβ€’4 minutes
  • Evaluating Decision Tree Performance and Avoiding Overfittingβ€’5 minutes
  • Improving Model Accuracy with Random Forestsβ€’5 minutes
  • Using SVMs to Recognize Handwritten Digitsβ€’5 minutes
  • How SVMs Make Decisions: Margins and Support Vectorsβ€’4 minutes
  • Using the RBF Kernel to Improve Classificationβ€’5 minutes
10 readingsβ€’Total 85 minutes
  • What Is Supervised Learning?β€’10 minutes
  • How Supervised Models Are Trained and Used in Real Lifeβ€’7 minutes
  • What Is Linear Regression and How Does It Work? β€’7 minutes
  • Evaluating a Linear Regression Modelβ€’10 minutes
  • What Is Logistic Regression and Why Do We Use It? β€’10 minutes
  • How Do We Know If Our Classification Model Works?β€’10 minutes
  • How Do Decision Trees Work?β€’8 minutes
  • Decision Trees: Pros, Cons, and an Alternativeβ€’8 minutes
  • How Support Vector Machines Make Decisions β€’7 minutes
  • Understanding the Kernel Trick in SVMsβ€’8 minutes
6 assignmentsβ€’Total 105 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Supervised Learning Basicsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Linear Regression Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Logistic Regression Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Decision Trees & Random Forests Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: SVM Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Supervised Learning Masteryβ€’30 minutes
4 ungraded labsβ€’Total 240 minutes
  • Predicting House Prices Using Linear Regressionβ€’60 minutes
  • Predicting Loan Approval Using Logistic Regressionβ€’60 minutes
  • Attrition Prediction Using Decision Trees & Random Forestsβ€’60 minutes
  • Classifying Handwritten Digits Using SVMsβ€’60 minutes

What do you do when your data doesn't have labeled examples? In this module, you'll explore unsupervised learning, where algorithms find structure and insights in data all on their own. You'll master clustering techniques like K-Means and hierarchical clustering to group similar customers, products, or behaviors, and learn how to detect anomalies that could represent fraud or unusual events. By the end of this module, you'll be equipped with powerful tools to uncover hidden insights in your data that supervised methods might miss, expanding your toolkit for real-world data science challenges.

What's included

10 videos8 readings5 assignments4 ungraded labs

10 videosβ€’Total 44 minutes
  • What Makes Unsupervised Learning So Powerfulβ€’3 minutes
  • How Netflix & Spotify Use Unsupervised Learningβ€’7 minutes
  • Exploring Unlabeled Data in Pythonβ€’6 minutes
  • Customer Segmentation: Seeing Natural Clusters in Your Dataβ€’3 minutes
  • Clustering with K-Means: From Code to Customer Insightsβ€’3 minutes
  • Choosing the Best K with the Elbow Methodβ€’4 minutes
  • What Is Hierarchical Clustering and How Do We Visualize It?β€’4 minutes
  • Hierarchical Clustering in Action: Python Implementation & Insightsβ€’7 minutes
  • What Is Anomaly Detection? Exploring Credit Card Fraud Patternsβ€’3 minutes
  • Anomaly Detection with Isolation Forest in Pythonβ€’4 minutes
8 readingsβ€’Total 52 minutes
  • What Is Unsupervised Learning?β€’7 minutes
  • Anomaly Detection & Industry Applicationsβ€’7 minutes
  • How K-Means Clustering Worksβ€’5 minutes
  • Choosing K and Limitations of K-Meansβ€’8 minutes
  • What Is Hierarchical Clustering?β€’5 minutes
  • Interpreting Dendrograms & Understanding Trade-offsβ€’5 minutes
  • What Is Anomaly Detection and Why Is It Different?β€’5 minutes
  • Methods and Challenges in Anomaly Detectionβ€’10 minutes
5 assignmentsβ€’Total 90 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Unsupervised Learning Fundamentalsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: K-Means Clustering Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Hierarchical Clustering Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Anomaly Detection Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Unsupervised Learning Masteryβ€’30 minutes
4 ungraded labsβ€’Total 240 minutes
  • Visualizing Customer Segmentation Dataβ€’60 minutes
  • Segmenting Customers Using K-Means Clusteringβ€’60 minutes
  • Grouping Airline Customers Using Hierarchical Clusteringβ€’60 minutes
  • Detecting Credit Card Fraud with Isolation Forestβ€’60 minutes

Did you know that data preparation often determines model success more than algorithm selection? In this essential module, you'll learn the critical skills of data preprocessing and feature engineering that separate novice from professional data scientists. We'll guide you through handling missing data, encoding categorical variables, scaling features, and selecting the most important attributes that will make your models shine. By mastering these techniques, you'll dramatically improve your models' accuracy and reliability, ensuring they perform well on real-world messy data that would otherwise cause less-prepared models to fail.

What's included

11 videos7 readings5 assignments4 ungraded labs

11 videosβ€’Total 45 minutes
  • Why Data Preprocessing & Feature Engineering Matter So Muchβ€’3 minutes
  • Why Missing Data Breaks Models: The Problem in Actionβ€’4 minutes
  • How Missing Data Affects Model Accuracy β€” and What to Do About Itβ€’5 minutes
  • Why ML Models Can't Handle Raw Categorical Dataβ€’5 minutes
  • Types of Categorical Variables and How to Encode Themβ€’3 minutes
  • Label Encoding and Model Performance Comparisonβ€’5 minutes
  • Why Feature Scaling Matters in Machine Learningβ€’5 minutes
  • Scaling Your Data: Normalization with Min-Max Scalerβ€’3 minutes
  • Standardization with Z-Score Scaling + Impact on Model Performanceβ€’3 minutes
  • Why Too Many Features Can Hurt Your Modelβ€’3 minutes
  • Applying Feature Selection & PCA in Pythonβ€’5 minutes
7 readingsβ€’Total 54 minutes
  • What Causes Missing Dataβ€”and Why It Mattersβ€’5 minutes
  • How to Handle Missing Data in ML Pipelinesβ€’8 minutes
  • Why We Encode Categorical Data in Machine Learningβ€’10 minutes
  • Choosing the Right Encoding Method for Your Dataβ€’5 minutes
  • What Is Feature Scaling and Why It Matters in Machine Learningβ€’6 minutes
  • Why and How We Select the Right Featuresβ€’10 minutes
  • What Is Feature Extraction and When Should You Use It?β€’10 minutes
5 assignmentsβ€’Total 90 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Handling Missing Data Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Encoding Categorical Variables Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Feature Scaling Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Feature Selection & PCA Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Data Preprocessing & Feature Engineering Masteryβ€’30 minutes
4 ungraded labsβ€’Total 240 minutes
  • Cleaning a Customer Purchase Datasetβ€’60 minutes
  • Transforming Categorical Data for a Salary Prediction Modelβ€’60 minutes
  • Scaling Features for a Loan Approval Modelβ€’60 minutes
  • Reducing Features for a House Price Prediction Modelβ€’60 minutes

Let's figure out how to properly make forecasts from time-based data! In this module, you'll learn specialized techniques for working with time-dependent data like stock prices, sales forecasts, and sensor readings that traditional ML approaches can't handle effectively. You'll implement practical forecasting models using tools like ARIMA, Exponential Smoothing, and Facebook Prophet, understanding how to identify trends, seasonality, and other temporal patterns. By the end of this module, you'll be able to build accurate forecasting systems that can predict future values based on historical patterns, adding a powerful and in-demand skill to your machine learning toolkit.

What's included

9 videos5 readings4 assignments1 programming assignment3 ungraded labs

9 videosβ€’Total 43 minutes
  • Why Time Series Isn't Just Another Datasetβ€’11 minutes
  • What Makes Time Series Special: Trends, Seasonality & Moreβ€’4 minutes
  • Visualizing a Time Series in Python: Airline Passengers Exampleβ€’3 minutes
  • Decomposing Time Series into Trend, Seasonality, and Noiseβ€’5 minutes
  • Why Regression Fails for Forecasting: A Retail Sales Exampleβ€’5 minutes
  • What Makes Forecasting Different: Let's Try ARIMA & Exponential Smoothingβ€’5 minutes
  • Getting Started with Facebook Prophet in Pythonβ€’3 minutes
  • Why Facebook Prophet Makes Forecasting Easy (and Powerful)β€’5 minutes
  • Ready to Build Your Own ML System?β€’2 minutes
5 readingsβ€’Total 40 minutes
  • What Makes Time Series Data Unique?β€’7 minutes
  • How to Identify and Use Time Series Componentsβ€’7 minutes
  • Getting Started with ARIMA: A Classic Time Series Modelβ€’8 minutes
  • Exponential Smoothing: A Simpler Way to Forecastβ€’8 minutes
  • Understanding Facebook Prophetβ€’10 minutes
4 assignmentsβ€’Total 75 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Time Series Components Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: ARIMA & Exponential Smoothing Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Knowledge Check: Facebook Prophet Key Conceptsβ€’15 minutes
  • Time Series Forecasting Masteryβ€’30 minutes
1 programming assignmentβ€’Total 120 minutes
  • Capstone Project: Building a Customer Purchase Prediction Systemβ€’120 minutes
3 ungraded labsβ€’Total 180 minutes
  • Seasonal-Trend Decomposition of Climatic Temperature Series Analysisβ€’60 minutes
  • Weather Data Time Series Forecasting Labβ€’60 minutes
  • Forecasting Retail Sales Using Facebook Prophetβ€’60 minutes

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The Perfect journey-styled build course! I was very confused in from where to start learning ML this helped me alot

Frequently asked questions

In this course, a machine learning workflow means turning raw data into usable model results through a repeatable sequence of preparation, modeling, and evaluation. The emphasis is on core foundations like prediction, pattern discovery, feature preparation, and time-based forecasting so you can see how the pieces fit together.

You would use a machine learning workflow when you need a structured way to move from raw data to a prediction, grouping, anomaly-finding, or forecast. In this course, it is used for problems where choosing a method and checking its results matters more than relying on intuition alone.

It sits between collecting data and using model outputs, giving you a clear process for preparing inputs, training methods, and judging results. The course treats it as the link between data preparation and applied tasks like prediction, pattern discovery, and forecasting.

Traditional data analysis is mainly about describing what is already in the data, while a machine learning workflow is about learning patterns that can be applied to new cases. In this course, that means going beyond summaries and charts to train, test, and interpret models.

A basic understanding of data analysis and Python-based work is helpful, because the course focuses on applying machine learning methods rather than only defining them. What matters most is being able to work with tabular data, follow a modeling process, and interpret results.

The course uses Python-based tools, especially Pandas for working with data and Scikit-learn for building and evaluating models. It also introduces forecasting-focused libraries for time series work.

You'll practice preparing data, building prediction models, exploring unlabeled data for groups or unusual cases, and creating forecasts from time-based patterns. Across those tasks, the course keeps the focus on following a repeatable machine learning workflow from input data to evaluated output.

Financial aid available,