Keywords: Education, Online Education, Python, SQL, GitHub
One of the biggest hurdles of teaching data science and programming techniques to beginners is simply getting started with the technology. With multiple versions of the same coding language available (e.g. Python 2 and Python 3), various additional libraries and packages to install, as well as Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) to navigate, the first step can be the most daunting. We demonstrate one way to avoid this obstacle and allow beginners to get started with coding immediately. Using user-friendly Jupyter notebooks along with the interactive capabilities possible through Binder (mybinder.org), we provide introductory Python and SQL material that students can access without downloading anything. This lets students to get started with coding right away without getting frustrated figuring out what to install.
Introductory modules on using Python and SQL for data analysis are provided through GitHub page (https://github.com/Coleridge-Initiative/ada-intro-python and https://github.com/Coleridge-Initiative/ada-intro-sql), and the interactive environment can be accessed by clicking the "Launch Binder" button on the GitHub page.