Higher Education CoP - Toolbox Cafe - Data Visualization and Dashboards

Abstract

Data visualization (e.g. graphs and charts) curates data into a form that is easier to digest. Dashboards are a way of displaying those relevant visualizations in a single place for quick insight. While not a requirement, dashboards are often linked in some way to the detailed data they aggregate, providing near real time insights. Data visualization and dashboards empower organizations, departments, and teams to make data driven decisions.

Data visualization can reduce the complexity of organizing and executing tasks related to any given project regardless of size, resources, and timeline. Reports can be used to understand where the team is heading, how the project tasks are being handled, and how the team is working communally. The presenters in our Toolbox Café will share several visualization and dashboard tools.

Learning Objectives

Participants will

• Discover various types of data visualization tools
• Understand the basics of designing and constructing a dashboard
• Understand the issues to consider when working and/or considering a transition from one visualization tool to another

Speakers

Casey Bode
Casey Bode is a data analytics and visualization professional with experience spanning finance, healthcare, and personnel. After obtaining his Applied Mathematics degree from Auburn University, he held business intelligence positions with Fortune 500 financial institutions, health systems, and the Dept of Defense. He assumed the role of Business Intelligence Manager at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute in 2021, with the goal of discovering and communicating insights that influence decisions, inspire action, and drive change.

Chahnaz Kbaisi

Chahnaz is an innovative data analyst and programmer in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). She provides data support for the MURDOCK study, which includes data analysis, dashboard development, visualization, and management of data and project building in REDCap. She is proficient in several programming languages like Python, R, SQL, and Tableau. She has built dashboards with Excel, PowerBI, Smartsheet, REDCap, Tableau, Python, HTML, and Javascript.

Chahnaz received her Bachelor's degree in Health Policy and Management and a Data Analytics certificate from the University of North Carolina. She is always driven to learn and apply new methodologies and optimize the process of analysis. Moreover, she strives to improve data visualization, particularly for translational purposes. Check out the CTSI website data exploration tool to see her work.

Anna Kourouniotis
Anna is a creative data professional currently providing leadership in data management and business intelligence applications under the direction of the University Registrar at Duke. Anna's experience spans countries and industries from e-business to Fourth Party Logistics and, for the past decade, Higher Education. Anna has worked for the American College of Greece and Cornell University before joining Duke University in 2015 where she has grown from an IT specialist to a Database Analyst role. Her technical skills include data analysis and visualization in a variety of tools such as Tableau, Power Query, Basic R, PS Query Manager, Camtasia, and Canvas. She enjoys sharing her product knowledge at various conferences and user groups such as Tableau Higher Education User Group, Higher Education User Group (HEUG), and EDUCAUSE. She is a Certified Instructor for the HEUG and also volunteered as a Computer Instructor with the Durham Literacy Center. Anna holds multiple certificates in Teaching Online from UC San Diego, Data Analytics from Cornell, and Excel Expert from Microsoft. Her work has been recognized from Tableau Public and the Raleigh-Durham User Group. She is passionate about Adult Training and Data Visualizations. Her recent EDUCAUSE publication is a culmination of research around the second. Anna received her Bachelor’s in Computer Information Systems from Deree College and her MA in New Media from the University of Leicester. Check out her Tableau Public profile to see some of her work: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/anna.kourouniotis