Deeper Learning By Doing: Integrating Hands-On Research Projects Into a Machine Learning Course

Abstract

Machine learning has seen a vast increase of interest in recent years, along with an abundance of learning resources. While conventional lectures provide students with important information and knowledge, we also believe that additional project-based learning components can motivate students to engage in topics more deeply. In addition to incorporating project-based learning in our courses, we aim to develop project-based learning components aligned with real-world tasks, including experimental design and execution, report writing, oral presentation, and peer-reviewing. This paper describes the organization of our project-based machine learning courses with a particular emphasis on the class project components and shares our resources with instructors who would like to include similar elements in their courses.