Data Visualization and Dashboards
Units: 6
This course is designed to introduce data visualization as an analytical tool, a medium of communication, and the basis for interactive information dashboards. Students will learn best practices in data visualization, sharpen analytical skills, and learn how to design dashboards for use by stakeholders. Students will have the opportunity to practice skills on concrete deliverables, and will synthesize course material in a comprehensive team-based final project. This project will reinforce comfort with the Tableau software package and will provide a portfolio item for students. Students will use Tableau as their main tool to visualize data and develop dashboards but will develop transferrable skills which can apply to many of the most popular software packages in the current marketplace.
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Employ best practices in data visualization to develop charts, maps, tables, and other visual representations of data.
- Use Tableau's visualization tools to conduct data analysis, especially exploration of an unfamiliar dataset.
- Create compelling, interactive dashboards to combine several visualizations into a cohesive and functional whole.
- Utilize advanced Tableau features including parameters, data blending, custom SQL, very large datasets, custom date hierarchies, and others.
- Use data visualizations, dashboards, and Tableau Stories to support relevant communication for diverse audiences.