Practical Machine Learning with Python

Data Analytics

Course Overview


This 3-day intensive course focuses on applying machine learning techniques using Python to solve real-world problems. Participants will learn the end-to-end ML workflow—from data preparation and model selection to evaluation and deployment—using popular Python libraries like scikit-learn, pandas, and matplotlib. Designed for those with basic Python skills, this course emphasizes practical understanding through hands-on labs and case studies.


Duration: 3 Days

Format: Instructor-led, hands-on labs, real-world datasets, and guided projects

four people all on laptops, two men and two women, listen to person talking in a board meeting

Description

Course Outline


? Day 1: Machine Learning Fundamentals and Data Preparation

Session 1: Introduction to Machine Learning


  • What is ML? Types: Supervised, Unsupervised, Reinforcement Learning
  • Real-world applications across industries
  • Key concepts: Features, labels, training vs testing, overfitting/underfitting


Session 2: Python Tools and Libraries for ML


  • pandas and NumPy for data manipulation
  • scikit-learn overview
  • matplotlib and seaborn for data visualization


Session 3: Data Preprocessing Techniques


  • Data cleaning and handling missing values
  • Feature engineering and encoding categorical data
  • Scaling and normalization


Lab Activities:


  • Explore a dataset with pandas
  • Clean and visualize data (e.g., Titanic or Iris dataset)
  • Apply preprocessing steps using scikit-learn pipelines


? Day 2: Building and Evaluating ML Models

Session 1: Supervised Learning – Classification


  • Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Random Forests
  • Model training and prediction with scikit-learn
  • Cross-validation techniques


Session 2: Supervised Learning – Regression


  • Linear Regression, Ridge, Lasso
  • Evaluation metrics (MAE, RMSE, R²)
  • Practical regression example (e.g., predicting house prices)


Session 3: Model Evaluation and Tuning


  • Confusion matrix, precision, recall, F1-score
  • ROC curve and AUC
  • Hyperparameter tuning with GridSearchCV


Lab Activities:


  • Train and test multiple models on real datasets
  • Evaluate using confusion matrix and ROC curve
  • Tune model performance using cross-validation


? Day 3: Unsupervised Learning and Deployment

Session 1: Unsupervised Learning


  • Clustering with K-Means and DBSCAN
  • Dimensionality reduction with PCA
  • Use cases: Customer segmentation, anomaly detection


Session 2: Model Deployment and Real-World Use


  • Exporting models with joblib or pickle
  • Introduction to Flask for creating a simple ML API
  • Using Streamlit for building ML apps


Session 3: Capstone Project + Next Steps

  • Capstone project: End-to-end ML solution using a public dataset
  • Presentation and feedback
  • Overview of deep learning and ML in production


Lab Activities:


  • Apply clustering on customer data
  • Build and deploy a mini web app with Streamlit
  • Present group/individual project