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With 35 million active users, Anaconda is one of the most widely used data science software packages in the world. I hope you find a data scientist new to Python who loves it. But now, the company behind this ubiquitous package is officially expanding into data science education and literacy with a series of new products and events. This is bolstered by his EduBlocks acquisition announcement today.
More than 10 million students are already using Anaconda’s eponymous package of Python and R tools for data science, according to Jessica Reeves, the company’s COO in Austin, Texas.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have students, professors, and early learners regularly come to Anaconda and download our tools,” says Reeves. “And it was without focused effort from us.”
About a year ago, company management decided it was time to make a bigger effort to reach out to the education sector. That’s when Anaconda launched its education division, making a series of announcements over the past 12 months.
It started when Anaconda launched PyScript in May 2022. PyScript is an open source framework that allows users to program in Python directly from the comfort of her web browser. Being able to get started quickly even by inexperienced users (no need to navigate complex repositories) removes many of the barriers traditionally associated with working with data science in full-fledged Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). will be canceled.
Reeves said PyScript was a success. I recently used PyScript.com to power the framework. This further simplified the development process by allowing the user to create and launch full-fledged data products directly in her web browser.
Anaconda will debut Anaconda Learning following the initial launch of PyScript in the fall of 2022. Anaconda Learning is a self-paced, on-demand training portal that helps you build foundational skills in data science, AI, and ML using Anaconda and its world of Python and R tools.
With more than a dozen courses offered as part of Anaconda Learning, the company provides students with a certificate to help them transition to employment or the next phase of their studies.
Anaconda will take its educational tents to the streets this spring at its Data Science Expo series. The company held its first event on April 22nd at a local charter school in Austin called Not Your Ordinary School (NYOS). The event was attended by about 50 students from his 15 teams and featured three of his competitions including AI/ML Data Science Projects, Data Visualization and Storytelling, and Live Coding Challenges.
The first event was a huge success, says Reeves. “We gave them different themes that we thought would resonate with them as high school students,” she says.
In preparation for the Data Science Expo, Anaconda also gave students free subscriptions to Data and Anaconda Learning. The company also offers Data Science Mentors to students so they can be mentored by seasoned experts and gain hands-on experience in data science.
Science fairs aren’t as popular as they used to be, and many school districts are canceling advanced math classes in middle schools. For Anaconda folks, the Data Science Expos is a great opportunity to spread the word of science.
Anaconda COO Jessica Reeves
“When we saw the curriculum lagging behind, we felt very enthusiastic about it,” says Reeves. “And even if there is a curriculum, the people who teach it often don’t have training in things like data science or computer science. does not fully understand the subject.”
That said, Anaconda wanted the Data Science Expos to emphasize creativity and problem-solving skills over simple coding skills, and the judging criteria reflected that. “It was really cool to see how the kids took the cues we gave them,” she says. By design, we laid out the rules of competition very loosely.”
The data science projects themselves ranged pretty seriously, from extensions for the Pokemon app to facial recognition systems to detect mass shootings. “It’s heavy,” says Reeves. Scholarships were awarded to the winners.
The next Data Science Expo is scheduled for May 13th in Durhan, NC, followed by a major event in Singapore on September 9th in partnership with AI Singapore. If all goes well, the company could host a series of Data His Science His Expo competitions, moving from local and regional events to national and international championships, Reeves said.
The final piece of news from Anaconda is today’s acquisition of EduBlocks. It’s a free tool that uses a familiar drag-and-drop block system to help users learn how to program using text-based languages like Python and HTML.
“It’s basically learning how to code in a visual, block-oriented way,” says Reeves. “It’s aimed at school-age kids, but I think there’s an opportunity for people like me who have knowledge, he’s a worker, who has a job and is smart but not a coder.”
Anaconda has an opportunity to incorporate EduBlocks into other educational services, Reeves said. “It fits very well with our data literacy charter. Expos is a great fit,” she says.
Data scientists continue to be in high demand around the world, and universities are building data science curricula and working hard to prepare the next generation of data science professionals.
But there is much more that can be done at the middle school and high school level. This is the gap that Anaconda seeks to partially fill with its focus on data science education. We invest resources in everything from Anaconda Learning to Data Science Expo to advance data science education and prepare students for a data-obsessed life.
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Anaconda Announces New Coding Notebooks and Training Portal
Anaconda Announces PyScript, “Minecraft for Software Development”
Closing the Education Gap in Data Science
