Introducing Big Data Concepts
in an Introductory Technology
Course
Mark Frydenberg
Bentley University
Waltham, MA
@checkmark
IT 101 Current Topics
• Computers
• Operating System Basics
• Input and Output Devices
• Internet
• Cloud Services
• Wireless Networking
• Web
• Software and Apps
• Office Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Security and Privacy
• Mobile Devices
• Databases
Goals:
• Introduce Big Data Concepts and Buzzwords
• Introduce Database Concepts
• No programming
• Methodology
The Presentation in Class
Tech Trends Enable Big Data
The Demo
http://bigquery.cloud.google.com
Turn on BigQuery
Sample Public Databases
Shakespeare Database
Google BigQuery
A More Complex and Amusing QuerySELECT title,
sum (num_characters) as num_characters
FROM [publicdata:samples.wikipedia]
WHERE
regexp_match(title, r'^G.*o.*o.*g.*l.*e$') and not (title contains 'Google')
GROUP BY title
ORDER BY num_characters DESC
LIMIT 1000
Natality Database Query
Download BigQuery Connector
Excel with BigQuery Connector
Data imported from BigQuery
Analysis with Pivot Table and Spark lines
Methodology
• 166 (64f + 102m) / 160 (64f +96m) students
• 7 sections of IT 101
• 1 Instructor (me!)
• Pre- and Post- Interviews following the lesson, approximately 2 weeks apart
• Interviews
Survey Results
Survey Results
What did you learn about Big Data?
"Every move we make seems to be recorded and every human being is leaving a data trail
that will be there after the human being is long gone."
Big Data has become a part of our everyday lives. It is tracing our locations through our
phones and we constantly leave paths through various social media sites."
“The content was relevant, crucial and necessary in what many would consider the
'technological age,' and I have begun to realize that informing myself of news and
materials in this field may prove beneficial, if not necessary."
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