I'm giving this course 4 stars. The concepts taught were on point, but I find that clearer examples can be given for some key parts of the course. Some of the explanations and examples are very concise, if it were more elaborate, it can be understood better. For example, Quantitative and Qualitative data are important elements, they have been defined well but to help the learner understand the concept, the examples for each can be more effective. Same with the part about solving problems with questions. The content had to be read a few times to be able to really understand what they were talking about.

Ximena was quite detailed and calm. Although I struggled at the initial part of the course (WEEK 1 & 2). I really enjoyed the week 3 lectures, practicals and guided projects on spreadsheets, functions and formulas in spreadsheets and WEEK 4 lectures and realistic case scenerios on effective communication, conflict management, meetings, balancing stakeholders needs, clear communication and data limitations.

I learnt a lot. I am definitely going to improve my overall communication skills at work with my bosses and team members and also handle conflicts better.

Thank you. I am grateful.

Data driven decision making is an excellent course with one small minor issue: I'm working in the field of data analytics and I take part in this course to discover and learn new things and one thing that is really unrealistic here is that the course assumes that a data analyst can just go talk to a primary stakeholder and circumvent the people they directly report to. I strongly discourage anyone from just going to talk to your primary stakeholder if you encounter an issue, before talking to your manager first. Especially if the primary stakeholder is the CEO.

Learning about the framework for thinking about projects involving data analysis and the types of questions that data analysts need to consider was useful. But for myself, having endured a full business career working for multiple organizations already, there is too much emphasis on the soft skills and diplomacy required for general career success. This course is geared more towards the business novice who is starting their professional career than for someone who wants to learn the pure mechanics of working with data in any analytics environment.

I found this course a little more challenging than the first course, and am expecting the courses to become increasingly more challenging as I continue. Some of the definitions learned could have been included with the weekly glossaries to make Google's concept of open-book learning easier. I found the quizzes challenging and believe that as I continue on to the next course, that concepts have built on each other which should help me move forward. Thank you for your instruction, and I look forward to learning more.

I am really enjoying the course so far, but the one problem that I keep running into is when I play the videos from wed page they won't finish, or the video will start to jump around. The work around that I do is to download the videos. When I download the video, the video won't perform the review questions, and also doesn't mark the video as being completed. So I have to go back to the video web page and move the video to the questions and then to the end so the progress tracker will mark the video as complete.

Some of the concepts are pretty basic, but there is a lot of very useful information. It's easy to breeze past the content you already know and I appreciate that it teaches aspects of the work outside of just technical skills and training. For example this course focuses a lot on how to ask the correct questions and how to deal with communication issues. This is the only data coursework I've seen that somewhat adequately addresses these concepts that make it relevant to the job and not just the academic field.

What I liked:

The class was an excellent introduction to problem-solving and other soft skills. It emphasized the six data analysis phases, which the instructors covered in the first class (Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere). The repetition is compatible with my learning style, along with the format of this class where I could read, listen, watch, and do hands-on training. 

What could be improved: 

The class jumped around a bit. It was relatively easy, and I finished it quickly. 

I am very grateful to have been able to take this course. My opinions are only oriented to improve it. There are many new concepts presented, which could be improved or deepened (power of data, metrics, structured thinking). It also seems to me that the exercises could be improved, especially the self-reflection ones. Some of them were not clear to me and I did not understand why I did them. Many thanks to the instructors and everyone who worked to develop this course.

The course is very helpful. The only thing that I'd like to recommend is to improve the mobile app. Sometimes, I'm required to take lessons on the phone and the mobile app isn't working well enough to let me take the test on the phone. And if they let me do so, the questions once in a way are displayed in properly such as missing a answering question to select or not showing the whole part of the question propperly.

But I do love the courses here, keep up good works!

Some of the material seemed targeted at students who have never had a job - basic communication & manners - that's not a bad thing but if you're changing careers or looking for job-specific skills, this course will feel unnecessary. Also - a couple of the grading results were subjective and (in my opinion) dependent on the situation - making the grading feel arbitrary. I can easily defend a couple of the answers I missed on the practice quizzes.

I found this course to be very informative and I loved the pace. Learning moe about the steps and processes of data analytics has been incredibly fulfilling. The only thing I would like to see more of would be some sort of practice section... perhaps a spreadsheet practice board where you could work on fixing errors and adding sums; that type of thing. Other then that I am very satisfied an look forward to moving on through the rest of the courses.

4 Stars for content. The instructor is fine and I could definetly work with her in the real world. But she has a tendancy to omit syllables. Example: she says " 'specially im-por-ant" instead of "especially important". This is distracting when you are learning about workplace communication skills. On one hand I get it, it is important to be aware of working in a multi-cultural environment. On the other hand, give her an easier script.

I found the course helpful overall, especially on the different types of questioning and how to ask questions effectively. The information about meetings, although common knowledge was good to brush up on.

Not five stars because I’m not sure why spreadsheets were a part of this course. It clearly should be in the next part, prepare data for exploration. Also I feel it jumped back and forth between topics too much, and repeated information.

I think this course helps me to think more analytically. Some of the contents are very beneficial if you are going to do SJT tests, behavioural tests, and business case studies. I did not give it five stars because in this course students need to use an extended website to finish some tasks, however, I cannot get my feedback within that website (maybe only me). Overall, it is a very interesting and helpful course.

I think that this course could have been more challenging. I think that the practice quizzes, weekly challenges, and in-video questions can be more difficult. I would like to see more opportunities to apply knowledge and have more hands-on experiences with the material. I thought that Ximena was great for this course section. She had a positive attitude and I felt like she was sharing from personal experience.

Understanding the idea of 'scope of work' and' metrics', and differentiating between the two types (quantitative and qualitative ) of data when it comes to 'context' were initially hard but further simplified explanations by the instructor made them eventually understandable. The weekly and course challenges also helped a lot especially after viewing the details at the end of the tests. I enjoyed the course.

This course taught me a lot about the non technical things surrounding data analysis. The Qwiklabs was a bit odd and I think because I didn't follow exactly what this instructions were caused some issue. I think because of my many years using Excel I hoped over a task and that caused the error. I'm just waiting for the response from support. Otherwise great course in adding to the foundation from course one.

Great course overall and found a lot of useful information to study despite passing the diagnostic test, so I would discourage anyone from skipping the content.

Lost a star due to the final challenge, I felt concepts and the respective questions and answers a bit conflicting at times and has led me to feel a bit uneasy on what was taught so I will have to revisit and learn further outside of the course.

Contents on quantitative and qualitative data are not very clear. There are questions regarding these topics showing up on the course challenge which didn't really get covered. I don't understand why can't "what type of books would you like to see more of at Athena's Story" is counted as qualitative data while it is actually countable and measurable the number of the types of book. Quite confusing

I think this course is a really good experience for people who have maybe not had any exposure to a more professional work environment and might need some knowledge on how to approach superiors in the work place. This is also good knowledge on how to conduct yourself professionally. If you have already done this before, then this part of the course might be something you kind of speed through.

very interesting engaging and educative. I didnt know i could learn this much online . When i started i was scared cos it took me time to actually accept jumping on this course . But i do not regret it cos am excited to continue and explore the world of data analysis . it my take me time to become an expert but am motivated to keep going. The world of data there is always something new.

The Data was good as in the last one. The instructor seemed to know what she was talking about, however. the 3/4 angle in most of the videos really makes it feel like she is not talking to the student and is teaching to a camera. I am aware she is but the last course did not feel this way and it was much easier to stay engaged because it felt like the instructor was talking to you.

This course was really informative and challenging for me. There were many things that I feel like are a struggle for me such as the communication and asking good questions so that I am making the most of my time as an analyst. I thought the instructor did a good job of breaking down each concept but I will definitely need to come back and review some of the topics and strategies.

I gain a lot of knowledges about how to communicate and work effectively with stakeholders or the teams and how to ask right SMART questions and how to prepare for the project by thinking structurally but in spreadsheet section , it teaches not much necessary the skills for the learners in my opinion , otherwise it's a great course. I gave it 4 stars for that reason only .