Distance
Which distance function should you use?
PCA
Cluster Tendency
Scaling Data
Agglomerative Clustering
Dendrograms
Divisive Clustering
CURE (Clustering using REpresentatives) algorithm (If time permits)
Internal Evaluation
External Evaluation
Cluster Analysis 5th Edition
Cluster Analysis: 2014 Edition (Statistical Associates Blue Book Series 24)
In an ideal world, the topics below I estimated being a certain time period for learning them. Of course you have more experience when it comes to how long it actually takes to learn these topics, so I'll leave this mostly to your discretion.
Distance, Dimensionality Reduction, and Tendency -- 3 Weeks
Validating Cluster Models -- 1 Week
Connectivity Models -- 2 Weeks
Cluster Evaluation -- 1 Week
Centroid Models -- 3 Weeks
Density Models -- 3 Weeks
Analysis of Model Appropriateness -- 1 Week
The schedule above accounts for 14 weeks, so there is a week that is free as a buffer.
Creating this document got me really excited for this independent study. Feel free to give me feedback :)