Course Project: Creating an Interactive Exploratory Dashboard
Background Information
Dashboard design principles and techniques will be covered in Lesson 8 (Week 9). Work on the Course Project will begin at that time.
You may use any data set (other than the pre-packaged datasets that come with Tableau) that you find interesting and intriguing to create a dashboard that tells a compelling story. You have complete freedom in choosing the data domain as well as the visualization techniques but make sure you produce a high quality, interactive visualizations for your exploratory dashboard.
Dataset
Below are sites where you can find links to data repositories. Note: You may not use the pre-packaged datasets (e.g., Superstore) that are incorporated with the Tableau software for your course project.
KaggleLinks to an external site.
Data Science CentralLinks to an external site.
National Science FundLinks to an external site.
QuoraLinks to an external site.
ScribbleLinks to an external site.
While you are free to explore the web besides the sites listed above, recall one of the principles we laid out for creating a meaningful and effective visualizations. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what is it that you wish to explore and then look for the right data set to answer those questions.
Assignment Details
You are to provide three deliverables for your project:
Project document: A multi-page PDF document that provides detail about the purpose of the dashboard, who its users will be, what data will drive each visualization in the dashboard, a list of analytic questions and queries that a person should be able to answer using the dashboard visualizations, and the rationale for the different design principles and techniques used in creating the interactive dashboard visualizations.
Project demonstration: Prepare a dashboard demonstration in either a screen capture video OR document format (described below) that is designed to illustrate the capabilities of your dashboard. Include at least one specific example of how your dashboard can be used to derive insights from your dataset. Choose one of the following formats for your project demonstration:
(a) Video format (i.e., screen capture video): A 5 minute or less (.mp4 format) screen capture video that illustrates the capabilities and example use of your dashboard.
Suggestions: Macs come with QuickTime which is great tool for capturing screen recordings. Camtasia is an excellent commercial tool for creating videos on Windows. They do allow a free 30 day trial which should be sufficient time for you to complete your project. Students have also used CamStudio, a freely available open source tool. You may also use Zoom to record your presentation (see PSU Canvas Help for details).
(b) Document format (pdf): Prepare a series of screenshots along with informative captions to illustrate the capabilities of your dashboard and guide a viewer through a particular use case. Please save the ‘Project Demonstration’ document in a pdf format.
Suggestion: Use as many screenshots as necessary to adequately communicate the dashboard capabilities and an example use of your dashboard.
Packaged work book: A single packaged workbook (.twbx) that contains all the resources needed for users to run the dashboard (follow this linkLinks to an external site. to learn how to create a packaged workbook for sharing)
Review two completed Course Projects from your peers.
