Tableau for Beginners

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Presenter:
Patrick Brooks, Johns Hopkins University
 
Requirements:
Computer with necessary software provided to registrants
Workshop software provided: Tableau 10.3.1

Intended Audience/Prerequisites:
This workshop is geared towards participants with little-to-no tableau experience - the participant may have it on their office computer, but perhaps have barely opened it. Or, their institution is buying it and they need to hit the ground running (i.e., understand what it does and how to at least accomplish the basics).

Participants should be familiar with Microsoft Excel and with the basic principles behind data structure and data blending, even if they have not done it before. 

Description:
In the field of institutional research, Tableau has become a prominent tool for data analysis and visualization. Not only does Tableau make analyzing fast and efficient, it provides a host of tools that allow users to clean and explore data, generate reports and infographics, and create visually appealing, interactive displays that can be used for data reporting and strategic decision-making. Higher education institutions are increasingly adopting Tableau for reporting information about their students, faculty, staff, and programs of study.

However, the learning curve associated with this powerful business intelligence tool can be daunting. While Tableau offers a robust set of tools to satisfy your institutional data needs, it can be difficult to know where to begin with Tableau. This workshop is designed for Tableau beginners. Perhaps you have Tableau on your office computer, but have not really used it, or even opened the program. Or, perhaps your institution has just purchased a Tableau license, and you need to hit the ground running. This workshop will focus on building knowledge of the fundamentals of Tableau.

During this workshop, you will:
1. Become familiar with the different features of the Tableau interface.
2. Learn how to connect to and blend multiple data sources.
3. Construct summary information tables.
4. Learn how to filter your data for nuanced data requests.
5. Use built-in calculations to analyze your data.
6. Build charts that visually display different types of data.
7. Construct your own interactive dashboard.

While Tableau can be intimidating, this workshop will give you the skills you need to begin using Tableau, and a foundation upon which to build continuing knowledge of this program
 
Intended Learning Outcomes:
This workshop is designed for the beginner Tableau user. It will help you understand and use the basic techniques for creating visualizations and combining them in interactive dashboards. After this workshop, participants will have an understanding of the tableau interface; how to use tableau to connect to data and blend multiple data sources; and learn to use tableau to create tables, charts, and interactive visualizations that can be used for effective analysis of institutional data. This workshop is taught using Tableau version 10.0 or higher software.