STA 610L: Module 1.1

# STA 610L: Module 1.1
## Course overview
### Dr. Olanrewaju Michael Akande

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# Welcome!

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## What is this course about?

Learning the foundations of hierarchical modeling.

Working through the theory of some hierarchical models.

Using hierarchical models to answer inferential questions.

Applying hierarchical models to real datasets.

Honing collaborative and presentations skills.

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The Bayesian paradigm is well suited for building hierarchical models. Usually you just have several levels of conditional distributions making up the prior.

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## Instructor

[Dr. Olanrewaju Michael Akande](https://olanrewajuakande.com)

&nbsp; [olanrewaju.akande@duke.edu](mailto:olanrewaju.akande@duke.edu) 
 &nbsp; [https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com](https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com) 
 &nbsp; Mondays and Thursdays (9am -- 10am) 
 &nbsp; Zoom Meeting ID: **See Sakai**

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## TAs

[Chengxin Yang](https://scholars.duke.edu/person/chengxin.yang)

&nbsp; [chengxin.yang@duke.edu](mailto:chengxin.yang@duke.edu) 
 &nbsp; Tuesdays (1pm - 2pm) and Fridays (4pm - 5pm) 
 &nbsp; Zoom Meeting ID: **See Sakai**

[Alessandro Zito](https://scholars.duke.edu/person/alessandro.zito)

&nbsp; [alessandro.zito@duke.edu](mailto:alessandro.zito@duke.edu) 
 &nbsp; Wednesdays (10am - 11am) and Fridays (8:30am - 9:30am) 
 &nbsp; Zoom Meeting ID: **See Sakai**

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## FAQs

All materials and information will be posted on the course website.

- How much theory will this class cover? *A decent amount.*

- Am I prepared to take this course? *Yes, if you are familiar with the topics covered in STA 360/601/602 (Bayesian Inference) and all its prerequisite at Duke.*

- What if I can't remember the topics in the prerequisites? *See the review materials in the next module.*

- Will we be doing "very heavy" computing? *Not too heavy but a good amount.*

- What computing language will we use? *R!*

- What if I don't know R? *This course assumes you already know R but you can still learn on the fly (you must be self-motivated). Here are some resources for you: [https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com/resources/](https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com/resources/).*

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# Course structure and policies

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## Course structure and policies

- See: [https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com/policies/](https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com/policies/)

- Make use of the teaching team's office hours, we're here to help!

- Do not hesitate to show up during office hours. You can also make an appointment to discuss a homework problem or any aspect of the course.

- When the teaching team has announcements for you we will send an email to your Duke email address. Please make sure to check your email daily.

- Try as much as possible to refrain from texting or using your computer for anything other than coursework while in class.

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## Other details

- What topics will we cover? Refer to Section 11 of the syllabus (here: [Syllabus](https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com/syllabus_pdf/Syllabus.pdf)).

- Also, refer to the schedule on the website for an updated breakdown of the topics. Remember to refresh the page frequently. See here: [Class Schedule](https://sta610-f21.olanrewajuakande.com/syllabus/).

- If you are auditing this course, remember to complete the necessary audit forms.

- Confirm that you have access to Sakai, Ed Discussion and Gradescope.

- Finally, please respect Duke's masking and social distancing policies, both in and out of classes.

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# What's next?

### Move on to the readings for the next module!