E is for Eskwelabs Issue 059 - Soft skills you need to succeed in project-based learning 🌱💼
In our fifty-ninth issue, we explore our September theme “Journey” by embarking on a learning journey ourselves. We’ll acquire knowledge about data storytelling, project management, and communication.
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.
Look back to the start of 2022…
What has your learning journey been like?
💬 “Smooth sailing! I know which skills to learn and what sources to turn to.”
💬 “Mate, I’m lost at sea. I don’t know how far I’ve come or where I’m going!”
💬 “It’s a mix! My journey’s been up and down.”
Hi everyone, it’s Francine here! 👋 September is one of my favorite months of the year. I have this tradition where I play Earth, Wind & Fire’s song EVERY.SINGLE.DAY until the month ends. What a journey this 70’s soul, funk, and pop band has been on—yes, they’re still together to this day! In fact, they’re currently on tour. How does this relate to our theme “Journey?” Well, a journey becomes sweeter when you’re adventuring alongside people you trust and while working on a project you care about. This is our journey x project-based learning issue in E is for Eskwelabs, happy reading, dearest Eskweloves!
What’s in this newsletter:
💼 Creating an environment for upskilling via project-based learning
🧠 Learning skills like data storytelling, project management, and communication
😍 Reading testimonials from Industry Apprenticeship Program Apprentices
💖 Discovering mentor opportunities in Eskwelabs
READING TIME: 16 minutes
🌱 CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR UPSKILLING 🌱
💼 What is project-based learning?
“Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.” —PBLWorks
At Eskwelabs, we combine the best practices from project-based learning (or PBL) and the most meaningful components of cohort-based learning to come up with an educational experience that puts our learners first. One of our core values is “people-first” so it is important that our pedagogy is aligned with who we are.
In a future issue, we can talk more about cohort-based courses and cohort-based learning, but now let’s focus on PBL! The way we apply this teaching method can be seen in our learning sprints or data sprints. Right now our Data Analytics Bootcamp and Data Science Fellowship are composed of several learning sprints.
To succeed in an Eskwelabs learning sprint, that heavily applies PBL design and teaching elements, you’ll need:
Growth mindset and grit
Openness to people from different backgrounds and a team player attitude
Project-management skills and accountability
Self-awareness, team-awareness, and communication skills
Why are the skills and mindsets above important for undertaking any learning experience that’s grounded on PBL principles? It’s because of this:
💼 What are examples of learners’ projects?
Given that the name of this teaching method is “project-based learning,” it’s about time we share samples of output or projects created by our students from our data analytics and data science programs.
(Left image) Machine learning courses on Coursera take 4 weeks to complete. But our Fellows from the Data Science Fellowship create data stories using machine learning in their first 2 week of our program!
(Right image) Hearing that the Music Streaming Analytics data sprint is one of the most enjoyable ones for our Fellows is the best feeling. Who would've thought that creating a music recommender engine in 2 weeks would make data science personal in their lives!
(Left image) Sprint 3 in our Data Science Fellowship is about analyzing credit card fraud using big data. Our Fellows deployed a credit card fraud detection model in just 2 weeks by learning about Tree-based models, Classification algorithms, Model validation, and Cloud Computing. They used data science tools like Pandas, Scikit Learn, SQL with Spark, SQL with BigQuery, APIs, and more.
(Right image) They also learned to develop natural language processing models and deploy projects using FastAPI and Streamlit in 2 weeks! Here they learned four key things: Web Scraping and Data Mining, Basic Text Processing, Introductory Natural Language Processing, Deployment using Fastapi and Streamlit
(Left image) Sprint 1 (aka CO2 Emissions Presentation) in our Data Analytics Bootcamp continues to be both foundational and relevant! Our students learned how to use Power BI to create an analysis that investigates the movement of CO2 data with beautiful visualizations.
(Right image) In the Data Analytics Bootcamp, our learners provide real business value to company partners (like Burket) as they learn to conduct Exploratory Data Analysis, build Issue Trees, create SWOT analyses, break down a customer journey, design storyboards, make SMART recommendations, and do a data analytics presentation. They learned how to do all this in their major project: the Company Business Review.
🖥️ Data Science Fellowship
Cohort 11 starts next year 2023
Assessment exam coverage: View here
📊 Data Analytics Bootcamp
Cohort 8 starts on October 10, 2022
Assessment exam coverage: View here
Deadline of assessment exam: September 21, 2022 (Multiple choice)
Review Session 2: September 13 (Tuesday) | 7:00 - 8:00 PM | That’s TONIGHT!
🌱 CREATING SPACE IN OUR BRAINS FOR NEW SKILLS 🌱
🧠 Yes, your brain can change and rewire itself
We are big fans of Growth Mindset here at Eskwelabs, so it’s natural for us to be curious about neuroplasticity. If you want to do a deep dive—for all our Eskweloves with Biology, pre-med, and med backgrounds—on the physiological side of things, then here’s a long read.
The journey of life can be long or short, depending on how much time we have in this world. So as we move forward in time, there will be new experiences and lessons we pick up along the way. These can literally rewire our brains.
This is good news for us who are lifelong learners!
🧠 Let’s learn: Data storytelling
Data storytelling is one of the skills we equip our learners with in the Data Analytics Bootcamp. But what is it exactly? Data storytelling is the artful communication of insights through vivid data-driven stories. We can use this skill to inform our audience and drive action to solve problems.
In our classes, we talk about the 4 elements of data storytelling:
Visualization
Data
Story
Audience
Here are a few questions for you to think on when combining these 4 elements together: Am I being truthful? How will the audience feel after my presentation? Do my visuals get the message across? Is my approach effective?
Speaking of visuals, let’s witness the wonders of data visualization:
🧠 Let’s learn: Project-management
Having solid productivity skills is magical when paired with project management skills. Here’s an article on “Closed loop productivity.”
New thing you’ll learn from this link: Zeigarnik effect
Being able to imagine the end state of a project is powerful for any project manager. Here’s an article to help you “Work backwards.”
New thing you’ll learn from this link: Pull-based system
The Overlap is a newsletter mainly dedicated to the intersection of product management and organization development. But their issue on “Planning for uncertainty” can be a manual for anyone who wants to elevate their project management skills.
New thing you’ll learn from this link: A different way of planning, doing a reflection on the way you normally plan
🧠 Let’s learn: Communication
“How to stop the same people from doing all the talking and other strategies to keep your meetings on track” is an article we shared in a past issue of this newsletter. We’re sharing it again for a good reason! Whether you are a pair, trio, or more than four in a group, there will always be the occasional meeting you have to attend. Levelling up your meeting skills would all fall under mastering communication.
New thing you’ll learn from this link: COPE acronym
It may not be that obvious but getting better at making decisions as a group or leading your group through a decision-making-focused meeting can be a signal that you’re improving your communication skills. This article, “How to Steer Clear of Group Decision-Making Churn,” is filled with questions that will make you think!
New thing you’ll learn from this link: Mindful decision-making discussion checklist
Now let’s talk about the connection between leadership and communication. “Why Repeating Yourself Is a Good Thing” by Adam Grant talks about how repeating one’s self can be crucial in communication.
New thing you’ll learn from this link: Leader Communication Quality
🌱 CREATING SPACE IN OUR CALENDARS TO APPLY OUR SKILLS 🌱
😍 Reading testimonials from Industry Apprenticeship Program Apprentices
The Industry Apprenticeship is a paid, project-based opportunity for Data Analytics Bootcamp and Data Science Fellowship students to get involved in the growing local innovation ecosystem. After completing their program experience, selected students will get to work for about 8-10 weeks under the mentorship of a project manager in continuing the projects they created during their program.
In the past months, we asked a couple of Fellows-turned-Apprentices to comment on their Industry Apprenticeship experience. Here’s a quick round up of what they had to say:
“The best thing about the Industry Apprenticeship is that you are given the opportunity to be involved and work on projects from beginning to end, from requirements gathering to deployment. This provides us valuable insight into the amount of work it takes to deliver a project and to develop the vital skills that are needed to be an effective member of any project team.” —Ran
“The best thing about the Industry Apprenticeship is that you will get the opportunity to learn alongside industry data science professionals, as well as engage in and work on solving industry challenges. Apart from theory and modelling, working as part of a team allows you to have a deeper knowledge of the business problem by communicating with the client effectively. It is an excellent chance to bring your problem-solving abilities to the test and gain confidence in taking on real-world data science challenges.” —Kui-Dong
“The Industry Apprenticeship was a good avenue to practice what I have learned from the Fellowship. From developing data science skills on a more advanced level to effectively communicating the result to produce business value were some of the things I learned as an Apprentice. And in general these are important aspects in the whole apprenticeship experience because it follows the standard practice in the industry.” —Robby Jean
“The [Industry Apprenticeship] is a great supplement to the Data Science Fellowship. It is an immersive experience where I was able to work on an end-to-end data science project for a real client. Collaborating with a brilliant group of data scientists gave me a wider perspective on how to approach a data science problem. Plus, accomplishing a project with remarkable business value is very fulfilling.” —Dhee Jee
💖 Discovering mentor opportunities in Eskwelabs
“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” —John Crosby
Mentorship matters in Eskwelabs. Based on what you’ve read about project-based learning, mentors play a key role in our learners’ journey.
We invite both alumni and non-alumni to apply to become Eskwelabs mentors. Here’s a basic definition of what a mentor does from our HR Manager Micha.
An Eskwelabs mentor is:
An assistant to the instructor with existing knowledge of data tools and techniques
An academic and emotional guide who is assigned to work with a specific group of learners to help them carry out their classroom activities.
But don’t worry about preparing or teaching lessons—this is not expected from our mentors. But we are looking to them to be able to help coach our students through the activities prepared by the instructor!
📖 ESKWELABS LIBRARY 📖
Eskwelabs Book Recommendation
📖 Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price, Ph.D. 📖
Book summary from Goodreads (shortened):
“Laziness Does Not Exist explores the psychological underpinnings of the “laziness lie,” including its origins from the Puritans and how it has continued to proliferate as digital work tools have blurred the boundaries between work and life. Using in-depth research, Price explains that people today do far more work than nearly any other humans in history yet most of us often still feel we are not doing enough.”
Book club questions for all of us:
The dedication at the start of the book is this, “For Kim, who taught me that if a person's behavior doesn't make sense, it's because I'm missing a piece of their context.”
What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
In your life, have you ever been called lazy before? How did it make you feel? Did you think it was true or not?
What does “enough” look like for you?
That’s it for our fifty-ninth issue of the newsletter! We hope you enjoyed it. 🤗
What did you think of this format? Let us know here. We appreciate you so much for reading!
💌 Cheering you on always,
Francine
Learning Community Manager at Eskwelabs