A class of computer students at Forth Valley have successfully completed the Oracle Academy Big Data Science Bootcamp.
Second year students - from the BSc Applied Computing and from the HND Computing: Software Development courses - were divided into three-person development teams, with each member playing a typical industry role. Over the three days of the bootcamp recently, they were required to participate in an instructor-led course that included a series of video lectures and practical exercises.
At the end of the third day, the student teams were required to give a presentation that reflected how Big Data could be incorporated within the college sector. This was attended by both Willie McCabe from Oracle and FVC Computing Curriculum Manager Vivien Gallacher. Participating students were awarded a certificate of completion by the Oracle Academy and the story of their efforts was told in the Oracle Academy’s global newsletter recently.
William McRae, lecturer, Forth Valley College, said:
“The Big Data Science Bootcamp provided a three day asynchronous training for data science fundamentals which was recognised and provided by the Oracle Academy.
“Students were exposed to real life data sets from a variety of organisations. They covered a range of techniques from data wrangling in Python and SQL to machine learning and steam analysis in Apache Spark. We also provided a unified environment for the students that is commonly used by data scientists, using industrial frameworks such as iPython Notebooks.
“The environment worked upon was a full image provided by Oracle which included components such as Hadoop, Spark, Oracle Database and Oracle SQL Developer within a Linux Server Environment.
“Doing the Big Data Science Bootcamp has brought the world of Big Data closer to home for the students. It let them think about real life uses of data and how it could change not only their but everyone else's life. Having enjoyed their three days of Big Data activities, hopefully it will have sparked an interest and will encourage them to pursue a career in this field.”