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Computer Vision Lab

 

Apply Deep Learning to Real-World Visual Data

  • Completely Online
  • 100% Free of Cost
  • Rigorous Focus on Applied Learning
Woman studying computer vision.

Advance Your AI skills: Develop Deep Learning Models for Computer Vision

Computer vision stands out as one of the most impactful and rapidly evolving applications of deep learning, requiring sophisticated neural network architectures to address complex visual data challenges.

 

This specialization is designed for practitioners who have mastered deep learning fundamentals and are ready to apply their expertise to solve real-world visual intelligence problems. Beyond its use in specialized roles such as computer vision engineering, AI research, and robotics development, these skills are increasingly valuable in healthcare, where medical imaging aids diagnostics; agriculture, for monitoring crop health; and security, with applications in surveillance and biometrics.

Our self-paced Computer Vision Lab focuses on practical applications, using computer vision as a hands-on framework for mastering advanced techniques and production-ready implementations . Through 6 real-world projects, you’ll learn to clean and transform visual data, train custom computer vision models, and apply advanced techniques like transfer learning. By the end of the program, you’ll be equipped with end-to-end computer vision skills, from data preparation to model deployment, ready to tackle complex visual AI challenges across industries.

"Mastering deep learning for computer vision empowers young professionals with practical tools to solve real-world challenges across industries, from healthcare to agriculture, positioning them to lead with expertise in ethical, sustainable AI, and to tackle complex, meaningful problems."

 

Dr. Iván Blanco
Associate Finance Professor, CUNEF University, Founder & Director, NOAX Trading

Computer Vision Lab

Applicant Deadline Rolling Admissions
Program Start Date Upon Acceptance
Cost Entirely Free
Length 10-16 weeks
Applicant Requirements
  • Intermediate-level Python skills
  • Ability to manipulate basic data structures like lists and dictionaries, and write definitions for functions and classes
  • Familiarity with essential machine learning concepts, including supervised and unsupervised learning, overfitting and regularization, and training, validation, and test sets
  • Passing score on Admissions Assessment
Commitment Self-paced, 10-15h per week recommended
Credentials Awarded
  • WQU Computer Vision Lab Certificate
  • Verified Digital Badge 

Learn How to Apply

Computer Vision Lab Badge

Upon successful completion of the Computer Vision Lab, learners receive both a digital certificate and a sharable, verified credential.

What You'll Learn


The Computer Vision Lab curriculum is delivered on virtual machines, enabling learners to code alongside video lectures and engage with peers and instructors via collaborative forums and live office hours. After successfully completing the Lab, students earn a WQU Certificate and an easily shareable WQU badge issued by Credly.

Project Descriptions

 

The Computer Vision Lab comprises six end-to-end projects.

Each successful project completion unlocks the registration for the next.

In this project, learners examine a data science competition helping scientists track animals in a wildlife preserve. The goal is to take images from camera traps and classify which animal, if any, is present. To complete the competition, learners expand their machine learning skills by creating more powerful neural network models that can take images as inputs and classify them into one of multiple categories.

Working with a dataset of crop disease images from Uganda, learners build and train a convolutional neural network to classify images into five categories. They explore how to improve the performance of a computer vision model by using pre-trained models and optimizing training with techniques like Callbacks.

Using traffic video feed data from Dhaka, Bangladesh, learners develop real-time object detection systems to identify and label vehicles, pedestrians, and other traffic elements. They work with pre-trained models and extend existing architectures to detect custom objects specific to urban traffic analysis, creating solutions that can monitor traffic flow and congestion patterns.

In this project, learners perform face detection and recognition tasks by using a video of an interview with Indian Olympic boxer Mary Kom. They use a state-of-the-art pre-trained Multi-task Cascaded Convolutional Network (MTCNN) model together with Inception-ResNet model to perform face recognition. The goal is to use selected video frames of Mary Kom and her interviewer and create a face embedding for each of them. This allows learners to detect their faces on new images. Learners conclude the project by wrapping their code into a Flask app that allows a user to upload an image and perform face recognition.

Working with medical imaging data, learners explore using neural networks to generate new images such as X-rays and MRIs. They accomplish this using Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) systems, both by building custom architectures and leveraging pre-trained models. Learners also create a web app using Streamlit to allow users to interact with the GAN. Additionally, learners use Git and GitHub to track the app's code.

In this project, learners use Stable Diffusion to create images from text descriptions. They assemble the Stable Diffusion pipeline using several pre-trained neural networks, and learn how to fine-tune the networks to include new image information. With the goal of generating meme-worthy images, learners also create and deploy a Streamlit app to be a front-end to their fine-tuned Stable Diffusion model. This allows a non-technical marketing team to generate such images easily.

Lab Outcomes

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Number 1

Map Challenges and Tasks

Map real-world challenges to machine learning tasks.

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Number 2

Dataset Preparation

Assess datasets and prepare them for model training.

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Number 3

Neural Networks

Identify the core concepts behind neural networks, such as model components, optimizers, loss functions and performance metrics.

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Number 4

Model Building

Build, train, and evaluate deep neural networks for computer vision tasks.

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Number 5

Model Deployment

Deploy models and model output in AI.

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Number 6

Debugging

Select appropriate resources and strategies when debugging a project.

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Number 7

AI Ethics

Summarize the main ethical and environmental issues confronting deep learning, as well as model-building techniques that favor fairness and sustainability.

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Number 8

Community of Practice

Deconstruct underlying values, areas of focus, and professional concerns of data science practitioners.

Frequently Asked Questions

1

How can I prepare for the Labs Admissions Assessments?

Before you can start your Lab, you will need to take an Admissions Assessment. We want to make sure you have a solid foundation on which you can build the skills we teach in our program. Information on the number of questions in the Assessment, the time to completion, and the passing grade will be provided within the Admissions Assessment page.

We ask that you not use supplementary materials to ensure you are measuring your actual indivi

2

What happens if I fail the Lab Admissions Assessment?

If you fail the Admissions Assessment for a Lab program, you have a second attempt after a 7-day waiting period. Applicants who do not pass the test on their 2nd attempt are able to reapply to the Lab following a waiting period of 6 months from the date of their 2nd attempt.

Important Warning: Creating multiple accounts to attempt the Admissions Assessment  is a violation of the University’s Academi

3

Do I need to take the Labs in a specific order?

Our Labs are flexible, and you can take them in any order based on your prior knowledge and goals.

That said, we recommend starting with the Applied Data Science Lab to build a strong foundation in working with data, learning how to clean, analyze, and model it to solve real-world problems. From there, the Deep Learning Fundamentals Lab helps you move beyond traditional machine learning and understand ho

4

Are the Labs self-paced?

All of WQU’s Labs are 100% free, online, and self-paced, allowing you to set your own study schedule. You can move through the existing projects at your own pace and set your own deadlines. We generally recommend setting aside about 10-15h per week to ensure your continued progress, but you may take as much time to complete the Lab as you need. As you successfully complete each project you will gain access to the next pro