Explainable deep learning models for healthcare - CDSS 3 (Coursera)

Offered by University of Glasgow,
Explainable deep learning models for healthcare - CDSS 3 (Coursera)

This course will introduce the concepts of interpretability and explainability in machine learning applications. The learner will understand the difference between global, local, model-agnostic and model-specific explanations. State-of-the-art explainability methods such as Permutation Feature Importance (PFI), Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME) and SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) are explained and applied in time-series classification.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Subsequently, model-specific explanations such as Class-Activation Mapping (CAM) and Gradient-Weighted CAM are explained and implemented. The learners will understand axiomatic attributions and why they are important. Finally, attention mechanisms are going to be incorporated after Recurrent Layers and the attention weights will be visualised to produce local explanations of the model.
Course 3 of 5 in the Informed Clinical Decision Making using Deep Learning Specialization.

What You Will Learn

  • Program global explainability methods in time-series classification
  • Program local explainability methods for deep learning such as CAM and GRAD-CAM
  • Understand axiomatic attributions for deep learning networks
  • Incorporate attention in Recurrent Neural Networks and visualise the attention weights

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Interpretable vs Explainable Machine Learning Models in Healthcare
Deep learning models are complex and it is difficult to understand their decisions. Explainability methods aim to shed light to the deep learning decisions and enhance trust, avoid mistakes and ensure ethical use of AI. Explanations can be categorised as global, local, model-agnostic and model-specific. Permutation feature importance is a global, model agnostic explainabillity method that provide information with relation to which input variables are more related to the output.

WEEK 2
Local Explainability Methods for Deep Learning Models
Local explainability methods provide explanations on how the model reach a specific decision. LIME approximates the model locally with a simpler, interpretable model. SHAP expands on this and it is also designed to address multi-collinearity of the input features. Both LIME and SHAP are local, model-agnostic explanations. On the other hand, CAM is a class-discriminative visualisation techniques, specifically designed to provide local explanations in deep neural networks.

WEEK 3
Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping and Integrated Gradients
GRAD-CAM is an extension of CAM, which aims to a broader application of the architecture in deep neural networks. Although, it is one of the most popular methods in explaining deep neural network decisions, it violates key axiomatic properties, such as sensitivity and completeness. Integrated gradients is an axiomatic attribution method that aims to cover this gap.

WEEK 4
Attention mechanisms in Deep Learning
Attention in deep neural networks mimics human attention that allocates computational resources to a small range of sensory input in order to process specific information with limited processing power. In this week, we discuss how to incorporate attention in Recurrent Neural Networks and autoencoders. Furthermore, we visualise attention weights in order to provide a form of inherent explanation for the decision making process.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Machine Learning for Accounting with Python (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Machine Learning for Accounting with Python (Coursera)

This course, Machine Learning for Accounting with Python, introduces machine learning algorithms (models) and their applications in accounting problems. It covers classification, regression, clustering, text analysis, time series analysis. It also discusses model evaluation and model optimization. This course provides an entry point for students to be able to apply proper machine learning models on business related datasets with Python to solve various problems.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Intro to Improving the Patient Experience Through Analytics (Coursera) Coursera
Northeastern University

Intro to Improving the Patient Experience Through Analytics (Coursera)

This course is best suited for individuals currently in the healthcare sector, as a provider, payer, or administrator. Individuals pursuing a career change to the healthcare sector may also be interested in this course. In this course, you will have an opportunity to explore concepts and topics related to improving the patient experience and reducing pain points in healthcare processes through analytic and decision support frameworks.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Understanding Prostate Cancer (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Understanding Prostate Cancer (Coursera)

Welcome to Understanding Prostate Cancer. My name is Ken Pienta, Professor of Urology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I have been studying prostate cancer and treating patients with prostate cancer for over 25 years. I've put together this course in order to introduce you to the essentials of prostate cancer. This Understanding Prostate Cancer Course should be helpful to anyone who wants to develop a deeper understanding of prostate cancer biology and treatment. It should be useful to students who are interested in a deeper understanding of the science of cancer.

Sep 21st 2026
3 Weeks
Personalised Medicine from a Nordic Perspective (Coursera) Coursera
University of Iceland,University of Copenhagen

Personalised Medicine from a Nordic Perspective (Coursera)

The technical revolution has generated large amounts of data in healthcare and research, and a rapidly increasing knowledge about factors of importance for the individual’s health. This holds great potential to support a change from the one-size-fits-all paradigm to personalised or precision medicine, to guide and thereby improve each health decision of expected benefit for the patient.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Using R for Regression and Machine Learning in Investment (Coursera) Coursera
Sungkyunkwan University - SKKU

Using R for Regression and Machine Learning in Investment (Coursera)

In this course, the instructor will discuss various uses of regression in investment problems, and she will extend the discussion to logistic, Lasso, and Ridge regressions. At the same time, the instructor will introduce various concepts of machine learning. You can consider this course as the first step toward using machine learning methodologies in solving investment problems. The course will cover investment analysis topics, but at the same time, make you practice it using R programming. This course's focus is to train you to use various regression methodologies for investment management that you might need to do in your job every day and make you ready for more advanced topics in machine learning.

Sep 21st 2026
2 Weeks
Machine Learning: Concepts and Applications (Coursera) Coursera
University of Chicago

Machine Learning: Concepts and Applications (Coursera)

This course gives you a comprehensive introduction to both the theory and practice of machine learning. You will learn to use Python along with industry-standard libraries and tools, including Pandas, Scikit-learn, and Tensorflow, to ingest, explore, and prepare data for modeling and then train and evaluate models using a wide variety of techniques. Those techniques include linear regression with ordinary least squares, logistic regression, support vector machines, decision trees and ensembles, clustering, principal component analysis, hidden Markov models, and deep learning.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Machine Learning (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Introduction to Machine Learning (Coursera)

This course will provide you a foundational understanding of machine learning models (logistic regression, multilayer perceptrons, convolutional neural networks, natural language processing, etc.) as well as demonstrate how these models can solve complex problems in a variety of industries, from medical diagnostics to image recognition to text prediction.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Preparing for the Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer Exam (Coursera) Coursera
Google Cloud

Preparing for the Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer Exam (Coursera)

From the course: "The best way to prepare for the exam is to be competent in the skills required of the job." This course uses a top-down approach to recognize knowledge and skills already known, and to surface information and skill areas for additional preparation. You can use this course to help create your own custom preparation plan. It helps you distinguish what you know from what you don't know. And it helps you develop and practice skills required of practitioners who perform this job.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Case studies in business analytics with ACCENTURE (Coursera) Coursera
ESSEC Business School

Case studies in business analytics with ACCENTURE (Coursera)

This course is RESTRICTED TO LEARNERS ENROLLED IN Strategic Business Analytics SPECIALIZATION as a preparation to the capstone project. During the first two MOOCs, we focused on specific techniques for specific applications. Instead, with this third MOOC, we provide you with different examples to open your mind to different applications from different industries and sectors. The objective is to give you an helicopter overview on what's happening in this field. You will see how the tools presented in the two previous courses of the Specialization are used in real life projects.

Sep 21st 2026
3 Weeks