Educating a data-literate generation
from Practical AI Hosted by Daniel Whitenack and Chris Benson
Dan sits down with guests Mark Daniel Ward and Katie Sanders from The Data Mine at Purdue University to explore how higher education is evolving to meet the demands of the AI-driven workforce. They share how their program blends interdisciplinary learning, corporate partnerships, and real-world data science projects to better prepare students across 160+ majors. From AI chatbots to agricultural forecasting, they discuss the power of living-learning communities, how the data mine model is spreading to other institutions and what it reveals about the future of education, workforce development, and applied AI training. Featuring: Mark Daniel Ward – LinkedIn Katie Sanders – LinkedIn Daniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, X Links: The Data Mine Sponsors: Shopify – The commerce platform trusted by millions. From idea to checkout, Shopify gives you everything you need to launch and scale your business—no matter your level of experience. Build beautiful storefronts, market with built-in AI tools, and tap into the platform powering 10% of all U.S. eCommerce. Start your one-dollar trial at shopify.com/practicalai Register for upcoming webinars here!
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Chapters
- 0:00 Welcome to Practical AI
- 0:49 Meet the guests!
- 6:00 Diversity of backgrounds
- 8:26 Scope of students
- 13:39 External facing programs
- 15:08 Sponsor: Shopify
- 16:36 Community
- 18:50 Sense of place
- 23:59 Marker 16
- 28:28 Examples of companies
- 32:15 Project examples
- 37:59 Value proposition
- 40:58 The future question
- 43:12 Outro
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