Facts science professor wins Coursera’s Innovation Award | University Libraries

A computer science professor at CU Boulder who taught much more than 10,000 college students in his on-line info science course has been given a prestigious award from Coursera for his impressive study course style.

Sriram Sankaranarayanan, University of Colorado Boulder professor of Laptop Science has been awarded the prestigious Innovation Award from Coursera for his on line “Data Buildings and Algorithms” specialization, which teaches the fundamentals of knowledge buildings and algorithms with an emphasis on programs in data science. 

The on the net class is aspect of CU Boulder’s online Learn of Science in Knowledge Science (MS-DS) diploma supplied on the Coursera platform. 

The Coursera Innovation Award is specified to a professor and college that has effectively applied cutting-edge attributes into the program content material and demonstrated a high stage of industry and college skills. Sriram Sankaranarayanan acquired the Innovation Award on behalf of CU Boulder for utilizing the net-based mostly interactive computing platform Jupyter Notebook into the structure of study course assignments. In accordance to Coursera, Sankaranarayanan’s specialization was amongst several dozens of courses with much more than 10,000 enrollments, launched in 2021 and has at least a 4.7 common star rating. 

Sankaranarayanan’s use of Jupyter Notebooks has produced it possible for learners to observe coming up with solutions to problems by proving them mathematically right, turning them into code and testing them against furnished examination instances all in just one central programming environment. The award, Sankaranarayanan details out, exhibits that countless numbers of learners enrolled in the specialization found the study course components helpful. 

“To me, this is a wonderful recognition for innovation that started off ideal in this article to provide our on-campus  and write-up-baccalaureate plans in personal computer science,” Sankaranarayanan said. “They are now helping a lot of far more pupils from all around the globe find out how to structure knowledge structures and algorithms.”

The on-line MS-DS degree application is special in that it caters to pupils who may not always have a standard qualifications in the issue area. Sankaranarayanan’s course is one of 3 that are viewed as element of the degree’s “pathway specializations.” By getting the training course and earning a minimum quality, students are guaranteed admission to the MS-DS program. 

“The award specified to Sriram highlights the excellent of the courses CU Boulder has in their on the internet Master’s in Details Science degree,” Jane Wall, director of the Facts Science plan said. “We are thrilled to be aspect of these an progressive and extraordinary plan.” 

Due to the fact its founding in 2020, more than 1,000 students have enrolled in the MS-DS program. Robert McDonald, Senior Vice Provost of On the net Education and Dean of College Libraries claims he is delighted with the achievements of the method and expects huge points in the coming decades for them. 

“We are so delighted that Sriram has won this recognition from Coursera,” McDonald claimed. “The perform that he and his graduate workforce have attained in automating the assessments for their courses is impressive and is a vital design for how many others will go for-credit score credentials forward on the Coursera system.”

Sankaranarayanan phone calls this “a great validation” for the time and effort he and colleagues have invested to generate mastering elements that are far more available and can reach more college students. 

“The past yr has been a huge studying experience,” he mentioned. “I simply cannot say that my individual studying procedure has concluded in any way. I am nevertheless finding out how to interact learners better so that far more pupils are ready to entire the system.”