Course Description

● We’ll Always  Have a Breakin the Middle: Our class period is long.  It will never consist solely of me lecturing in “one-to-many” format.   We will always take a break of approximately 10 minutes, typically around the midway point of the period.

● We’ll  Always  Start  on Time. Slides will always be posted prior to start time: Class will begin promptly, at the officially-stated start time.  Slides for each class will be posted prior to the start, so that you can follow along on your laptop if you wish to.

● < 24 hours turnaround on e-mails,  Homework turnaround by next due date: I will never go more than 24 hours without checking my BU e-mail.  I will respond to all student e-mails in less than 24 hours. I will sometimes respond much faster than this, but please allow up to 24 hours. I will aim to have all submitted homeworks will be graded with comments prior to the subsequent assignment’s due date. I will sometimes grade homeworks in batches of 2 or 3, so if your friend’s homework was graded yesterday but yours still isn’t, there is no need to panic.

● Effort matters: I realize that for many students, AD654 requires some steps outside of the “comfort zone.”  Students who maintain a positive attitude and who put forth a strong effort tend to do very well in this course, regardless of what their knowledge level was on Day 1.

● Missing a class – not a showstopper.   Be an adult, get caught up:  Life happens. Between job interviews, illnesses, family events, etc. you might miss a class.  If you do, you can review the material by checking the slides on Blackboard. You can seek me out for extra help with assignments.  “ I missed that class” is not a valid excuse to simply not complete an assignment.

● If you see a msitake? Let me know.  Remember rule #1.

● If  it  ain’t  raining?  We ain’t training! Things can always go wrong, and sometimes when you  least expect them to. My computer could decide on a forced Windows update 2 minutes prior to class starting. If/when any of these things occur?  We won’t miss a beat -- we can always adjust, adapt, and overcome.

Course Materials

REQUIRED TEXT

Page, Greg, and Huey Fern Tay: Marketing Analytics at LobsterLand:  A Python-Based Approach.  This book is available at lobsterland.net.  It is free of charge.

AD654 Video Library

Several videos related to data mining, machine learning, Tableau, and the Python language are available on the class Blackboard page. Most of the videos can be considered optional -- they are there as a learning aid that you can feel free to use at your discretion. Prior to quizzes, I will specify which videos are considered “inside the scope” of the quiz, if applicable.

SOFTWARE

●    Python Anaconda Distribution (Free download that will give you the latest version of Python, as well as many commonly-used data analytics packages, and the Jupyter Notebook IDE)

● Google Cola b (can be run in any web browser)

● Tableau Desktop (Free for any user with a .edu e-mail address) or Tableau Public (free for all users)

● This course does not assume any prior knowledge in either Python or Tableau. Each of these tools will be introduced in AD654from the beginner level.

VIRTUAL LABORATORIES

For directions to get free remote access to our BU MET Virtual Labs, please visit:

http://www.bu.edu/metit/pc-labs/virtual-labs/

Anaconda  Navigator (the  program that we will use to launch Jupyter Notebook, our Python  reporting tool) is installed in the Virtual  Lab and available for use by any AD654 student. Tableau is available in the virtual lab as well.

Grading Structure

Grading Structure and Distribution

Your performance in the course will be graded in the following areas:

Additional details for each grading component are provided below:

Quizzes: Each of the three quizzes will consist of 15 questions that students will complete during a 60-minute block of time. Quizzes will be open-note and open book. I will say more about the quiz format during the semester.

Assignments: Each assignment will evaluate students’ ability to apply selected marketing analytics techniques to the course material. The assignments will be graded based on a combination of accuracy of the analysis and quality of the report. More specific information for the format and the contents of the assignments is available on the course Blackboard page.

Business Running Case

The business running case concerns a fictitious theme park called Lobster Land. Set just outside of Portland, Maine offers  many forms of entertainment to families from around the world. Through the backdrop of the Lobster Land case, students will analyze and solve descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive marketing questions. Such questions are as wide-ranging as “ How can we better understand the demographic profile of big spenders at the  Lobster  Land arcade?” to “ How can we  incorporate k-means clustering analysis into a decision about expanding some aspect of the park?”

Team Project

The team project is to apply the learnings in class to identify a data mining problem that can be solved with business analytics methods, models, and applications covered throughout the semester. Students will work in teams on this project. More information about this project will be made available on Blackboard midway through the semester.

Final Presentation

Each team will deliver a 15-minute presentation during our last class session. More specific information for the format and the content related to this presentation can be found in the Project folder on the course Blackboard site.

Timely Presentation of Materials Due

All work requests from the instructor (quizzes, assignments, contributions in the teamwork, etc.) have due dates. These are the last dates that stated material is due. This means that it is a good idea to set personal targets before then as your personal completion date to avoid difficulties.  Dates are often viewed by students as the date to turn in an assignment. We view assignment due dates as the last date on which to turn in an assignment. With this caution, please note that we are not inclined to accept late work; if late work should be accepted it will be done only after considerable weighing of rationale, and with penalty.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to adhere to the highest standards of honesty and integrity for this course.  University policy on academic integrity will be followed to the fullest. Students are encouraged to review the university policy on academic integrity including a detailed listing of activities warranting sanction. Anyone who fails to adhere to these requirements and/or otherwise engages in unethical behavior (including cheating on exams, false representation of self or one’s work efforts, use of unauthorized aids, etc.) will be referred to university administration for further action. In particular, the university's policy and consequences regarding plagiarism  are  clearly  described  in the  official  Boston  University documents, and will be enforced without any compromises.

Request for Accommodations

If you have a disability and will be requesting accommodations for this course, please inform the instructor early in the semester.  Advance notice and appropriate documentation are required for accommodations.

Satisfaction of Department-Wide Goals