E is For Eskwelabs Issue 011 - How COVID has Changed Eskwelabs 🍎📓
E is For Eskwelabs Issue 011 - How COVID has Changed Eskwelabs 🍎📓
In our eleventh issue, we talk about how we've adapted our approach to education over the last few months. May this issue spread hope—online learning can be joy-filled and incredibly meaningful.
We created this newsletter to keep our alums, partners, and anyone interested in learning skills for the future of work updated and connected to our ever-growing family. If you want to read our previous issues, you can check them out here.
Hi, Francine here! 👋 Today, we put the spotlight on how we have innovated our approach to education over the last few months. We'll give more detail on how our different programs (flagship ones or pilot versions) have adapted to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. May you feel the hope that holds together this issue of our newsletter. ☺️
What's in this newsletter:
Learning Sprints
🏃🏃♀️ Data Science Fellowship Cohort 5 Fellows get into the groove of Learning Sprints—see their finished Customer Segmentation project!
Learning step-by-step
💪 Business Intelligence SkillsCamp Cohort 2 BizKids begin to power through their final Module (Inferential and Predictive analytics with Excel)
Learning self-paced (but social!)
💼 (Pilot program) Analytics SkillsCourse: Data-driven Entrepreneurship learners end with a bang, giving a live business idea pitch during graduation
Learning by doing
💬 Join Asian Development Bank's (ADB) "Digital Reskilling and Upskilling of the New Workforce" Challenge!
“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.”
—Brian Tracy, Author of "Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time"
🎒Customer Segmentation Case Study
The start of September is synonymous with going back to school. But since the pandemic hit, it's safe to say that school would look a lot different for many people for some time.
One of the ways Eskwelabs adapted to the changes is our exploration with pacing. For example, our Data Science Fellowship Cohort 5 Fellows is the first group to undergo their 12-week bootcamp in a Learning Sprint format. This sprint-style manner mimics how tech teams work together—agile-oriented and collaboration-focused.
🎉 Let's celebrate Cohort 5 for their latest win 🎉
Their latest sprint involved an e-commerce company which sells souvenirs.
The Challenge: An e-commerce company wants to segment its customers and determine marketing strategies according to these segments.
The Sprint: Using marketing analysis models like the RFM (Recency, frequency, monetary value) tool, Eskwelabs Fellows identified the e-commerce company's best customers. They also used K-means clustering to find distinct non-overlapping customer subgroups, as well as Market Basket Analysis to uncover associations between purchased items.
Interact with their results here.
🎒Learning step-by-step
Before COVID-19, going to school was part of the daily routine of many people. It was systematic and a constant. But things have been shaken up dramatically since social distancing became the norm.
Another way Eskwelabs is responding to the changes is by balancing structure and students' needs. The best example among our current list of programs is the Business Intelligence SkillsCamp where our Cohort 2 BizKids have been diving into the world of data analytics in stand-alone-modules format.
In these 3-week classes, we create a systematic way of gathering (having our live online classes at fixed times every other day) and adjust the learning journey to be understanding of what students may be going through outside the program itself (having feedback forms per session so that we could improve on the next one).
🤗 Let's cheer Cohort 2 on as they power through the next weeks 🤗
After 3 weeks (graduation is on October 3), they'll be able to draw insights from quantitative data, learn when to trust their data and conduct statistically rigorous A/B tests, optimize what to do based on scenario analysis and constraint management, and forecast future trends based on the data that they already have.
🎒Learning self-paced (but social!)
Now, we're only "literally" connected via pixels and wifi connection. A drop in your signal—and leaving your Zoom classroom—could mean a cut in the conversation. But learning online doesn't have to be lonely.
In order to rise up to the challenge of making online learning more social, Eskwelabs has put together Analytics SkillsCourse: Data-driven Entrepreneurship to meet learners where they are (Facebook) and to connect them with like-minded and determined individuals (Eskwelabs Facebook groups). This course is still in the pilot stage, but we're happy to share that we finished 3 weeks of self-paced learning with our first batch of students last September 12.
At graduation, 6 finalists did a live pitch of their business idea in front of a panel of judges. 💼 Congratulations to:
🥇 Abi Tan, for her idea on creating a one-stop-shop for parents and teachers looking for materials to use for teaching their kids.
🥈 Virma Corpuz, for her idea of having a range of ice cream flavors to satisfy the family’s sweet tooth cravings without the guilt.
🥉 Mirriam Valmonte, for her idea to have convenience store goods in one place and bridge the gap between shopping & delivering the items.
❤️ Let's hear more about this pilot program from the curriculum designer ❤️
"ASC is Eskwelabs' attempt to help out in what little way we can in this pandemic. We banked on the idea that data-driven individuals have a higher chance at security which led us to teach data and analytical skills to budding entrepreneurs. The past three weeks, I was lucky to witness these students form and grow their business ideas with a new data-driven mindset."
—Julia Las, Eskwelabs Data Science Education Specialist & Analytics SkillsCourse Curriculum Designer
🎒Learning by doing
Eskwelabs is participating in ADB's Digital Reskilling and Upskilling of the New Workforce Challenge! Maybe you'd like to join, too! Here is the brief:
“How might we equip job-seekers from sectors most affected by COVID-19 with digital skills demanded in the labor market to increase their employability and how can we create an eco-system for delivering digital skills to serve even those without reliable or continuous access to connectivity and devices?”
Join Eskwelabs in creating solutions for this challenge. Deadline is October 16, 2020.
That’s it for our eleventh issue of the newsletter! Thank you for reading. 😊
Have something to share? We encourage you to give us feedback and ideas (you may do so here) and if you like it, please share it with a friend!
Have a good Sunday! See you again in your inbox next, next week!
💌 Cheering you on always,
Francine
Community Producer at Eskwelabs