Coursera: Visual Analytics with Tableau Review

Visual Analytics with Tableau is the third course in the Data Visualization with Tableau Specialization offered by UC Davis on Coursera. The course focuses on teaching Tableau nuts and bolts, including chart options, altering chart color and shapes and making tooltips. The course is front-loaded with about half the lecture content covering general topics in the first week, while each of the three following weeks focus on specific topics including dates, maps and chart calculations. Similar to the two previous courses in the specialization, assignments are locked unless you pay to register for the full course. If you purchase the course, each week has a peer graded assignment and a quiz.


The lectures in Visual Analytics with Tableau are clear and concise. Most of the content is simply explaining buttons and options in Tableau. The lecturer sometimes repeats himself, likely because he is working off a script, but none of the repetition is egregious. Since most of the content revolves around explaining functions available in the Tableau graphical user interface, it is recommended that you have Tableau open, ideally on a second screen, so that you can test the features as you follow along. The course is relatively short, with about 1 hour and 45 minutes of lecture in total, so if you don't pay for the full course, you can finish all the content you can access in one sitting.


Perhaps the biggest strike against the course has nothing to do with the content itself, but rather its position as the 3rd course in a specialization. Most of the consent in this course is material you'd expect to learn in the very first course of a specialization about Tableau. It makes no sense to wait until the third course to explain the different chart types available in Tableau and how to do basic things like changing size and color. At the very least, this should be the second course in the specialization, as the high level design principles covered in the second course make more sense when are aware of your charting options.


Visual Analytics with Tableau is a fine course to learn Tableau basics, but it is short and doesn't offer much hands-on practice if you don't purchase the full course. Most of the content in this course feels like it should have been covered in the first course of the specialization.


I give Visual Analytics with Tableau 3.5 out of 5 stars: Good.