Block D - Team-based Working

Block D is the capstone course of the propaedeutic stage of your bachelor degree. Next to several training elements in planning group projects, keeping track of your individual contribution and group collaboration, you are asked to do a full CRISP-DM cycle in a small group. Many of the dynamics will change in this block:

• Groupwork replaces individual work, but assessment will still be done on your individual contribution;
• The assessment of your groupwork skills are an explicit element of the assessment in this block;
• Less emphasis is put on delivery of knowledge and skills. Self-guided learning (under supervision) is the new standard;
• Skills training mainly consists of project management, communication and working in teams;

As a result, you will spend most of your time on your project.

Project Based Learning - Creative Brief

The municipality of Breda examined the state of segregation in Breda and the extent to which Breda's policy is effective in combating segregation in the city. There are several indications that segregation and social inequality between neighbourhoods have increased in the past 10 years. Recent research points to a further increase in social inequality in the Netherlands since the outbreak of the corona crisis. It is therefore imperative that the city of Breda combats such rising inequalities. One of the key driving factors of such segregation is Quality of Life (QoL).

 QoL is traditionally defined by two components:

1. Socio-economic indicators
2. Environmental quality indicators.

Socio-economic indicators include features such as house prices, perception of neighbourhood safety, migration patterns etc. and environmental quality indicators such as noise levels, CO2 levels etc. Traditionally, experts were used to identify key features which could predict QoL accurately and thus help combat neighbourhood segregation – this involved hand-picking features which were hypothesized to be a key determinant of QoL and using those features to help minimize neighbourhood segregation.

Your creative brief for this block expects you to use the skills and knowledge you have gained over the course of this year to build a tool for the City of Breda to help combat rising segregation in a completely data-driven manner. This could be for example, a dashboard to provide useful insights, or an AI model that helps predict QoL, or ideally, a combination of both. Once you have developed the tool, you are expected to provide recommendations to the city of Breda in terms of policy to combat neighbourhood segregation.

In addition, you are expected to ensure that your solution complies to the latest legal and ethical frameworks. Introductory workshops will be provided on this subject. Note that the amount of new knowledge and skills to acquire via GitHub classroom is limited: the focus is on participating in a real-life project executed as a group.

Datasets

Please use the following datasets to help you solve the creative brief. You will be provided access to the data during Week 1 of the project. Please note that you are not expected to use all data. The data you pick will also depend on how you plan to approach the creative brief.

You can find all the datasets, except for the Klimaateffectatlas, here.

Please refer to the project brief for more detailed information.

Team-based working - Agile Scrum

For block D, you are expected to follow an agile project management methodology called ‘Scrum'. Introductory workshops will introduce you to the scrum way of working.

The Scrum methodology is characterized by short phases called "sprints" wherein project work: tasks, occurs. During sprint planning, the project team identifies a small part of the scope; a set of tasks, to be completed during the upcoming sprint, which is usually a two week period of time.

At the end of the sprint, this work should be ready to be delivered to the client. Finally, the sprint ends with a sprint review and retrospective—or rather, lessons learned. This cycle is repeated throughout the project lifecycle until the entirety of the scope has been delivered or block D is at an end.

Please watch the following video to get a brief introduction to scrum as a agile project management methodology.

Block Outline

Week 1 : Agile project Management

Monday

9 AM - 10 AM: Block D Kickoff

• The scrum approach to project success
• Essential roles for scrum teams
• Project vision and roadmaps

Tuesday

Make sure to be at the Datalab at 9:00 AM! We're going to the municipality together to meet our clients and meet a real-life data scientist: Wim! Then we'll return for a workshop from 2 guest lecturers on the agile project management we'll use this block: Scrum! After which we'll have drinks together! If you're late without a valid excuse, you're going to have to pay for Zhanna's Vodka shots!

• 9 AM to 12 AM: Site Visit: A day in the life of Wim

• 13 PM to 17 PM: Scrum Workshop

• 17 PM+: Drinks!

Wednesday

Creating a Project Vision and Roadmap

Thursday

• Sprint planning and standups using Jira
• Wrapping up a sprint and retrospectives

Friday

DataLab: Project vision and roadmap - Creative Brief

Week 2 : Legal frameworks governing AI

Monday

Introduction to the European Union Law-Making Process

Tuesday

DataLab: Implementing AI law in practice

Wednesday

The Proposed Artificial Intelligence Act

Thursday

When GDPR meets AI

Friday

[HOLIDAY]

Week 3: Project work & the Weather stations

Monday

DataLab: Build your own weather stations

The rest of the block is dedicated to project work.

Every Tuesday and Friday, in the datalab you will be provided feedback on your (teams) progress using the Jira dashboard, and in addition, every Friday you are expected to review your sprint, do a sprint retrospective and plan a new sprint.

Useful Resources:

Geospatial analytics

Time series

Sociology