edX: DAT206x Excel for Data Analysis and Visualization Review

Excel for Data Analysis and Visualization is an intermediate level course offered by Microsoft through the edX platform that covers cutting edge techniques for gathering, transforming and viewing data in Excel. The course focuses on getting students up to speed with new features and techniques offered in Excel 2016, such as the Excel data model, queries, DAX (a syntax of defining functions) and Power BI, an online productivity service that integrates with Excel. This course assumes you have some familiarity with MS Excel, particularly pivot tables and slicers. You can complete the course with Excel 2010 or 2013, but if you don't have Excel 2016 you'll have to download add ins and you'll have to work slightly harder to complete the assignments. Grading is based on 7 weekly labs and 12 comprehension quizzes.

Weekly content in DAT206x consists of one to three short video lectures describing new Excel features followed by a comprehension quiz. The amount of video content per week is usually under 30 minutes, so you shouldn't need to commit more than an hour or two a week to complete the course. The lecture videos have adequate resolution to see cell values and lecturer's presentation is easy to follow. Weeks 1-7 have lab assignments that let you apply the techniques presented lecture. You only get a couple of submissions for most lab and quiz questions, but most questions are not too difficult.

Excel for Data Analysis and Visualization is a succinct, informative course on new Excel features that is worth checking out for those interested in going beyond the basics. Using Excel 2016 for this course when it launched only a few months before the course debuted may partially be a ploy to convince Excel users to upgrade, but I can't fault Microsoft for teaching with the latest version of their own product, and I completed the course with Excel 2010 without much difficulty.

I give Excel for Data Analysis and Visualization 4 out of 5 stars: very good.