Artificial Intelligence and You, Build a Neural Network!

How does artificial intelligence (or AI) work? This class will explore the basics while building and using one hands on!

Neural networks approximate how our brains work to allow a computer to "learn" on it's own instead of straight programming. But how is that possible?  This class is a beginner's introduction journey into the fundamentals of neural networks. And it is a "hands on" class where we will build neural nets in class and experiment with this technology live using free software that works on any computer, even a smartphone.

Week 1: Terminology and Basics
    Explore the basic terminology and parts of a neural network. (nodes, weights, activation, inputs, outputs)
    Explore the theory of operation of a network (propagation, classification, regression)
    Explore the life cycle of a neural network (designing, training, testing, usage)

Week 2:
    Introduce the software to build a neural net in the browser
    Build a network and identify the basic parts learned in week 1
    Explore hidden layers
    Watch a basic neural net solve a basic problem of classification

Week 3:
    Explore linear vs non-linear activation
    Explore learning rate 
    Explore regularization
    Assign class project to be reviewed in week 4

Week 4:
    Evaluate class projects and ideas for the future

NOTE: This is a fairly advanced class, but presented in simple terms. There is very little "math" presented in an effort to make the concepts less overwhelming for beginners and the younger crowd. The focus is on the practical concepts and terminology to build a solid foundation for further study and exploration.