When you enroll in this course, you'll also be asked to select a specific program.
Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate
There are 4 modules in this course
This course offers a comprehensive and practical introduction to deep learning using PyTorch, a leading open-source framework. Learners will develop a solid understanding of foundational concepts such as neural networks, activation functions, forward and backward propagation, and optimization algorithms.
Through a structured progression, the course covers essential architectures including perceptrons, multi-layer networks, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), long short-term memory (LSTM) models, and Transformers. Learners will apply these models to real-world tasks in computer vision and natural language processing, gaining experience in training, evaluating, and optimizing deep learning systems.
Advanced topics such as transfer learning, regularization, batch normalization, mixed precision training, attention mechanisms, and model pruning are also explored to help learners build models that are both accurate and efficient. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with the skills and tools necessary to design and implement deep learning solutions in PyTorch for a wide range of practical applications.
In this module, you'll become acquainted with deep learning fundamentals and build your first neural networks with PyTorch. You'll investigate how neurons work together to recognize patterns, explore PyTorch's tensor capabilities, and gain practical experience implementing feedforward networks. Through hands-on exercises, you'll understand the mathematics behind neural networks while building practical skills that serve as your foundation for more advanced techniques.
What's included
13 videos6 readings5 assignments4 ungraded labs
Show info about module content
13 videos•Total 72 minutes
Welcome to Deep Learning with PyTorch: What You'll Build and Why It Matters•2 minutes
Building a Neural Network and Visualizing the Forward Pass•8 minutes
Visualizing the Backward Pass and Gradient Flow with Autograd•5 minutes
Building the Perceptron Forward Pass in PyTorch•6 minutes
Training the Perceptron with the Perceptron Learning Rule•5 minutes
Getting Started with Tensors in PyTorch•9 minutes
Reshaping Tensors and Using GPUs in PyTorch•9 minutes
Using .backward() and Interpreting Gradients•4 minutes
Controlling Back Propagation of Gradients•8 minutes
Defining a Multi-Layer Perceptron with nn.Module and nn.Sequential•7 minutes
Running a Forward Pass and Exploring Model Capacity•2 minutes
Building the Training Loop for a Neural Network•4 minutes
Evaluating Model Performance and Plotting Results•4 minutes
6 readings•Total 44 minutes
What Is Deep Learning and How Do Neural Networks Work?•7 minutes
The Perceptron Learning Rule and Weight Updates•7 minutes
What Are Tensors and Why They Matter•6 minutes
Tensor Operations and Best Practices•6 minutes
Understanding Loss Functions in Deep Learning•8 minutes
Getting Started with Optimizers: How Models Learn•10 minutes
5 assignments•Total 90 minutes
Knowledge Check - Foundations of Neural Networks•15 minutes
Knowledge Check - Perceptron and Weight Updates•15 minutes
Knowledge Check - Tensors and Autograd•15 minutes
Knowledge Check - Building and Training FNNs•15 minutes
Mastering the Foundations of Deep Learning with PyTorch•30 minutes
4 ungraded labs•Total 240 minutes
Lab - Build and Visualize a Perceptron from Scratch•60 minutes
Lab - Build Your Own Perceptron for Binary Classification•60 minutes
Lab - Tensor Operations, Gradients, and GPU Practice•60 minutes
Lab - Train an MLP for Handwritten Digit Classification•60 minutes
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs)
Module 2•6 hours to complete
Module details
Image analysis and computer vision tasks require a different type of tool: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). In this module, you'll learn how CNNs automatically extract features from images through specialized layers, build your own models for image classification, and leverage pre-trained networks to solve real-world problems with limited data. Through hands-on implementation in PyTorch, you'll master the techniques that have revolutionized computer vision and enabled breakthroughs in fields from autonomous driving to medical imaging.
What's included
9 videos4 readings4 assignments3 ungraded labs
Show info about module content
9 videos•Total 49 minutes
Why Convolutional Neural Networks Work So Well for Images•2 minutes
Convolution and Feature Maps — The Building Blocks of CNNs•8 minutes
Pooling, Padding, and ReLU — Understanding CNN Transformations•7 minutes
Defining the Convolutional Layers of a CNN•8 minutes
Adding Fully Connected Layers and Model Summary•7 minutes
Training a CNN on MNIST•3 minutes
Evaluating the CNN and Visualizing Predictions•3 minutes
Loading and Customizing a Pre-Trained CNN for Transfer Learning•5 minutes
Training and Evaluating a Fine-Tuned CNN•7 minutes
4 readings•Total 29 minutes
Understanding Convolutions and Feature Maps•8 minutes
Pooling, Activation & CNN vs. FNN•6 minutes
Preparing and Training CNNs with PyTorch•7 minutes
How Transfer Learning Works and When to Use It•8 minutes
4 assignments•Total 75 minutes
Knowledge Check - CNN Concepts•15 minutes
Knowledge Check - Implementing CNNs in PyTorch•15 minutes
Knowledge Check - Transfer Learning•15 minutes
Mastering CNNs in PyTorch•30 minutes
3 ungraded labs•Total 180 minutes
Lab - Simulate a Convolution Operation with NumPy and Visualize Filters•60 minutes
Lab - Implement and Train a CNN on CIFAR-10•60 minutes
Lab - Fine-Tune a Pre-Trained Model on a New Dataset•60 minutes
Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) & LSTMs
Module 3•5 hours to complete
Module details
Master the art of sequence modeling with Recurrent Neural Networks and LSTMs. This module teaches you how to process and generate sequential data like text and time series. You'll understand the inner workings of RNNs, learn why LSTMs better capture long-term dependencies, and implement practical applications in natural language processing and time series forecasting. Through a combination of theory and hands-on practice, you'll gain the skills to build models that understand context and temporal patterns.
What's included
7 videos4 readings4 assignments3 ungraded labs
Show info about module content
7 videos•Total 24 minutes
Why Deep Learning is Powerful for Sequential Data•2 minutes
How RNNs Process Sequential Data: Concepts and Input Flow•3 minutes
Character-Level RNN and Hidden State Evolution•3 minutes
Getting Started with LSTMs in PyTorch•3 minutes
Running Sequences and Comparing LSTM vs. GRU•3 minutes
Text Generation with LSTMs in PyTorch•3 minutes
Sentiment Analysis with Hugging Face Transformers•7 minutes
4 readings•Total 32 minutes
Understanding RNN Architecture•8 minutes
BPTT and Training Challenges in RNNs•10 minutes
How LSTMs and GRUs Work Internally•7 minutes
NLP Modeling: From Embeddings to Transformers•7 minutes
Knowledge Check - NLP with RNNs & Transformers•15 minutes
Modeling Sequences and Language with PyTorch•30 minutes
3 ungraded labs•Total 180 minutes
Lab - Build a Basic RNN to Model Sequential Patterns•60 minutes
Lab - Use an LSTM for Time Series Forecasting or Sequence Classification•60 minutes
Lab - Compare an LSTM Text Classifier with a Pre-trained Transformer•60 minutes
Model Optimization & Training Techniques
Module 4•8 hours to complete
Module details
Learn advanced techniques to train deeper, faster, and more accurate neural networks. This module covers the practical skills that separate beginners from professionals in deep learning implementation. You'll tackle regularization methods to prevent overfitting, explore initialization strategies that enable training deeper networks, and implement training optimizations that accelerate convergence and improve stability. By applying these techniques, you'll be able to build models that generalize well to new data while training efficiently.
Coursera brings together a diverse network of subject matter experts who have demonstrated their expertise through professional industry experience or strong academic backgrounds. These instructors design and teach courses that make practical, career-relevant skills accessible to learners worldwide.
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Certificate?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Certificate, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.