Microsoft said it created the curriculum because of a significant skills gap in the data science field. "This is a world where both technical and functional skills are becoming increasingly critical across all careers and vocations," said Alison Cunard, general manager, Microsoft Learning Experiences. More than 200 Microsoft partner and 650 Microsoft employees have participated in a closed preview to evaluate and validate the curriculum. The partners involved in the preview include DDLS, Fast Lane, NIIT Ltd. and QA Ltd. Students will get experience with real-world data, using tools from Microsoft and the open source community ranging from Excel, Power BI and Cortana Analytics to R and Python. The curriculum is now available on edX.org. More information is available at https://aka.ms/lexdsc.