Data science skills for the built environment: Lessons learned from a massive open online Python course for construction, architecture, and engineering

Abstract

It’s not just the models, techniques, or technologies that improve building performance; the digital skills of built environment professionals also play a significant part. The deluge of data from buildings, intelligent systems, and simulation tools is well-documented, and like other domains, building design, construction, and operations professionals are keen to learn skills like Python scripting that are common to the data science communities. This paper analyzes a massive open online course on the edX platform called Data Science for Construction, Architecture, and Engineering. This course was launched in April 2020, and it combines building science concepts with beginner-level data science skills, such as using Python and the essential libraries of Pandas, Scikit Learn, and Seaborn. This paper presents an analysis of the demographics and geographic data from 18,600 participants and survey results from 126 out of 1,561 verified course users. The survey focused on the experience of course participants and suggestions for improvement. This information can aid other data science educators in developing content to better educate built environment professionals.