# Week 0 — Pre-Class Welcome

Hello, and welcome to CS 533!  This page isn't really a course week — it's a quick orientation so
you can know what to expect in our class, and things to do if you want to start preparing ahead.

:::{module} week0
:::

## Welcome Video

Welcome to class!

```{video}
:id: 3b861253-5e5a-4e65-b0cd-ad73014839ea
:length: 7m12s
:slide-id: "495979F9A431DDB0%2173563"
:slide-auth: "AHTYqnlO5AKjbwU"
:name: 0 - Welcome
:amara: https://amara.org/en/videos/02wbnOQnXRUF/info/https3b861253-5e5a-4e65-b0cd-ad73014839eamp4mediatargettypevideopodcast/
```

## Course Design

This is a **flipped classroom** course.  Online videos — like the one you just watched — along with
various readings are the primary content delivery mechanism.  We'll use our course time for engaging
with and practicing the material together.

There are several reasons for this design.  First, it uses our time together in the classroom for
things that can only, or at least optimally, be done in a classroom environment; pushing the lectures
out to video makes more time for collaborative practice and engagement.  Second, having the content
online will make it easier to review the material for assignments and exams, and to catch up if you
miss time due to illness or other concerns.

On **Thursday** of each week, there will be an in-class quiz over the lectures and readings.  Some
weeks, it may be over a portion of the material; in such cases, I will clearly mark the cutpoint for
the quiz.

## Syllabus and Schedule

Two key documents for the semester:

- The [syllabus](../../syllabus.md) describes the course structure, requirements, and policies.
- The [schedule](../../schedule.md) does what it says.

## Workload

You will need to plan your time in order to succeed in this class.

- There are 7 real assignments (A1–7), each intended to take approximately 8–10 hours over 2 weeks.
  They may take you more or less time, depending on how quickly the material and requirements click
  for you.  Assignments will come at a steady pace, though — there is no big end-of-term project.
- Each week has approximately 75–90 minutes of video content, plus readings.  To help you plan, I
  provide the length of each video and most of the readings (reading lengths denoted in words).
- You may need to spend some additional time studying and practicing material, although our in-class
  time will hopefully help with a lot of that.

Study and practice are necessary to be a competent data scientist.  There are no shortcuts to
expertise.  My goal with this class is to give you a solid, well-practiced foundation for the core
technologies and techniques you will need in the rest of your data science education and work.

## Reading Ahead

If you want to get started early, some things you can do:

- [Install the software](../../resources/software.md)
- [Begin Week 1](../week1/index.md)
- Start reading the textbooks
- [Review the Fall 2020 site](https://cs533.ekstrandom.net/F20/) for an idea of what's coming

## Feedback

I welcome your feedback throughout the course on what's working for you and things that might need
adjustment.  Please send me a message on Piazza or e-mail me.