Introduction to Deep Learning provides a rigorous, concept-driven introduction to the models that power modern AI systems—from image recognition to large language models. You’ll build neural networks from first principles, understanding how forward passes, loss functions, and backpropagation enable learning. As the course progresses, you’ll train and regularize deep models, design convolutional networks for vision, model sequences with RNNs, LSTMs, and attention, and apply transformer-based architectures such as BERT, GPT, and Vision Transformers. You will also look at the latest trends in contrastive learning and CLIP. By combining mathematical foundations with practical application, this course equips you to understand, train, and use deep learning models with confidence.
This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Masters of Science in Computer Science (MS-CS), Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MS-AI), and Master of Science in Data Science (MS-DS) degrees offered on the Coursera platform. These fully accredited graduate degrees offer targeted courses, short 8-week sessions, and pay-as-you-go tuition. Admission is based on performance in three preliminary courses, not academic history. CU degrees on Coursera are ideal for recent graduates or working professionals. Learn more:
MS in Artificial Intelligence: https://hua.dididi.sbs/degrees/ms-artificial-intelligence-boulder
MS in Computer Science: https://coursera.org/degrees/ms-computer-science-boulder
MS in Data Science: https://hua.dididi.sbs/degrees/master-of-science-data-science-boulder
Welcome to Introduction to Deep Learning. This module builds the mathematical foundations of neural networks. Starting from linear models, you will learn about the artificial neuron and develop the mathematics of gradient descent and backpropagation. The focus is on understanding how and why neural networks work through the underlying math—covering the forward pass, loss functions, and the chain rule to show how information flows through networks and how they learn from data.
涵盖的内容
15个视频6篇阅读材料2个作业1个编程作业
显示有关单元内容的信息
15个视频•总计104分钟
Machine Learning Introduction•2分钟
Deep Learning Introduction•2分钟
Academic Integrity and AI Use Policy for the Machine Learning Specialization•9分钟
From Linear Regression to the Artificial Neuron•9分钟
Activation Functions and Non-Linearity: The Mathematical Notation and Problem Setup•5分钟
Activation Functions and Non-Linearity: Why Non-Linearity is Important•6分钟
Activation Functions and Non-Linearity: Sigmoid Activation and its Gradient•10分钟
Activation Functions and Non-Linearity: Rectified Linear Unit Activation and its Gradient•4分钟
Activation Functions and Non-Linearity: Other Activations and How to Choose Among Them•4分钟
Layers, Depth, and Forward Propagation•10分钟
Matrix Notation and Dimensions•9分钟
Loss Functions: MSE and Cross-Entropy•7分钟
Gradient Descent: The Math of Optimization•8分钟
The Chain Rule and Backpropagation•9分钟
Backpropagation Through a Network•10分钟
6篇阅读材料•总计96分钟
Course Updates and Accessibility Support•1分钟
Earn Academic Credit for Your Work! •10分钟
Course Support•10分钟
Assessment Expectations•5分钟
Download the Recommended Reading for This Course•10分钟
From Linear Models to Neural Networks - Recommended Reading•60分钟
2个作业•总计35分钟
AI Policy Quiz•5分钟
Neural Network Foundations•30分钟
1个编程作业•总计60分钟
Lab 1: Building and Training Your First Neural Network in Keras•60分钟
Training and Regularizing Neural Networks
第 2 单元•小时 后完成
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This module focuses on training neural networks effectively. Topics include optimization algorithms, hyperparameter tuning, and regularization techniques to prevent overfitting and achieve good generalization. You will compare different optimizers like SGD, momentum, and Adam, understand how learning rate and batch size affect training dynamics, and apply weight decay, dropout, early stopping, and batch normalization.
Lab 2: Applying Regularization to Improve Model Generalization•60分钟
Convolutional Neural Networks for Image Recognition
第 3 单元•小时 后完成
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This module introduces you to convolutional neural networks (CNNs), the foundation of modern computer vision. Topics include how convolutional and pooling layers work, CNN architecture design, and practical techniques like data augmentation and transfer learning. The module covers classic architectures like VGG and ResNet and explains why CNNs outperform fully-connected networks on image data.
涵盖的内容
7个视频2篇阅读材料1个作业1个编程作业
显示有关单元内容的信息
7个视频•总计51分钟
Why CNNs for Images?•8分钟
The Convolution Operation•8分钟
Pooling Layers•5分钟
CNN Architecture: Conv → Pool → Dense•7分钟
VGG, ResNet, and Skip Connections•9分钟
Data Augmentation•6分钟
Transfer Learning•7分钟
2篇阅读材料•总计75分钟
Introduction to CNNs - Recommended Reading•45分钟
Training CNNs in Practice - Recommended Reading•30分钟
1个作业•总计30分钟
Convolutional Neural Networks for Image Recognition•30分钟
1个编程作业•总计60分钟
Lab 3: Training a CNN for Image Classification with Augmentation•60分钟
Sequence Modeling – RNNs, LSTMs, and the Attention Mechanism
第 4 单元•小时 后完成
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This module covers sequence modeling, starting with recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and long short-term memory networks (LSTMs), then progressing to the attention mechanism—the key innovation that led to transformers. Topics include how RNNs maintain hidden states across time steps, why the vanishing gradient problem motivated LSTMs, and how attention allows models to focus on relevant parts of their input.
Sequence Modeling – RNNs, LSTMs, and the Attention Mechanism•30分钟
1个编程作业•总计60分钟
Lab 4: Building a Sequence Model with Attention•60分钟
Transformers, Vision Transformers, and CLIP
第 5 单元•小时 后完成
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This final module covers the transformer architecture, which has revolutionized deep learning across domains. Topics include BERT and GPT as encoder-only and decoder-only variants, Vision Transformers (ViT) that apply attention to images, and CLIP for multimodal learning connecting vision and language. The module emphasizes applying pre-trained models to real tasks.
涵盖的内容
8个视频1篇阅读材料1个作业1个编程作业
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8个视频•总计50分钟
The Transformer Architecture•6分钟
Encoder and Decoder Structure•7分钟
Layer Normalization in Transformers•6分钟
BERT: Encoder-Only Transformer•5分钟
GPT: Decoder-Only Transformer•5分钟
Vision Transformer (ViT)•7分钟
CLIP and Contrastive Learning•5分钟
Zero-Shot Classification with CLIP•9分钟
1篇阅读材料•总计30分钟
The Transformer Architecture - Recommended Reading•30分钟
1个作业•总计30分钟
Transformers, Vision Transformers, and CLIP•30分钟
1个编程作业•总计60分钟
Lab 5: Using Pre-trained Vision Transformers and CLIP for Image Classification•60分钟
CU Boulder is a dynamic community of scholars and learners on one of the most spectacular college campuses in the country. As one of 34 U.S. public institutions in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), we have a proud tradition of academic excellence, with five Nobel laureates and more than 50 members of prestigious academic academies.
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