Learn the visual language of data with Data Literacy Level 1: Learning to See Data. This course is designed to help you master the fundamentals of reading and interpreting seven common chart types. You’ll begin by exploring how the human brain processes visual information, giving you a deeper understanding of how charts communicate insights effectively. You’ll then dive into the building blocks of each chart, their common pitfalls, and their possible variations. By the end, you’ll be empowered to analyze these common visualizations confidently, avoid common pitfalls, and make well-informed decisions.
Who Is It For?
This course is ideal for anyone who frequently engages with data visuals—such as charts, maps, and dashboards—whether at work or in personal settings. Most people encounter these types of data visualizations regularly, yet very few have had formal training to effectively understand and interpret them. This course aims to make you proficient in the visual language of data, transforming you into a skilled chart reader.
What’s Covered in the Training?
Each of the 8 lesson are structured into four clearly defined sections to enhance the learning experience: Building Blocks, Effective Use Cases, Common Pitfalls, and Possible Variations. Here’s an overview of what you’ll explore:
Lesson 1: The Building Blocks of All Charts
Lesson 2: Enhancing Data Tables with Heatmaps
Lesson 3: Comparing Quantities with Bar Charts
Lesson 4: Relating Part-to-Whole with Pie Charts
Lesson 5: Seeing Change Over Time with Line Charts
Lesson 6: Understanding Variations with Histograms
Lesson 7: Finding Correlations with Scatter Plots
Lesson 8: Interpreting Geographic Data with Symbol Maps
What’s Included?
- A digital copy of Learning to See Data by best-selling data author Ben Jones
- A digital copy of the 16 Chart Reading Tips Checklist
- Perpetual access to the Data Literacy Level 1 on-demand offering:
- 8 course lessons
- 8 instructional videos between 8 & 12 minutes in length
- A total of 1 hour 28 minutes of instructional videos
- 8 lesson quizzes with a total of 80 questions
- Certificate of Completion
- Visual Interpreter Badge
- Links to helpful resources for further learning
How Can I Take the Class?
As an individual, you can enroll in the on-demand course, start right away, and progress through the 8 lessons at your own pace right here on our site.
If you are looking for training for your entire team, contact us for group rates. Our courses can be taken on-demand in our learning platform or uploaded into your organization’s learning management system via our SCORM or Tin Can / xAPI files.
About the Instructors
Ben Jones is the Co-Founder, CEO and head instructor at Data Literacy, LLC. Ben also teaches data visualization theory at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. He has trained and presented to thousands of people worldwide in his previous roles as head of Tableau Public and Academic Programs at Tableau Software and Lean Sigma Master Black Belt at Medtronic, Inc. Ben is the author of Learning to See Data (Data Literacy Press, 2020), Data Literacy Fundamentals (Data Literacy Press, 2020), 17 Key Traits of Data Literacy (Data Literacy Press, 2019), The Introspective Entrepreneur (Data Literacy Press, 2022), Avoiding Data Pitfalls (Wiley, 2019) and Communicating Data With Tableau (O’Reilly, 2014).
Alli Torban is the Senior Data Literacy Advocate at Data Literacy, LLC with more than 15 years of experience solving complex data challenges for government agencies, research institutes, and corporate clients. Alli possesses technical expertise in data communication and a demonstrated talent for combining data and design in an inclusive way, making her a highly effective information designer and trainer. Her efforts to share her knowledge on her popular podcast, Data Viz Today, earned her the Impactful Community Leader award from the Data Visualization Society. Alli’s also the author of Chart Spark (Data Literacy Press, 2023).
“The Fundamentals of Data Literacy course has provided a great foundation for our employees as they begin their data fluency journeys. Our staff members quickly grabbed onto the idea of being data-informed and considering the role of intuition in their data work. The course is unintimidating and accessible for colleagues that are completely new to data, but the project work allows more experienced team members to challenge themselves by applying their learning to their daily work. This course has helped us to create a common language around data and is a valuable starting place for our data fluency programming.”
“Ben is an exceptional teacher. Definitely in my top 5%. He invites learners to engage fully, answering questions with respect and providing ideas for further study. Ben showed us dozens of useful tips to present our data professionally and with integrity. He creates efficient lesson plans, designs useful homework exercises, and provides feedback and support that helps us all excel as busy, adult learners. I finished the class feeling that it was the highest value class I’d ever taken.”
“Ben Jones is a fantastic teacher whose passion for data that leaves an impression. It’s hard not to get excited about data visualization in his class, between all the jaw-dropping examples and interesting history. I learned a lot and would highly recommend working with Ben if you’re looking to enter the data viz world!”
“Ben’s classroom presence and the ease with which he leads is inspiring. He has an infectious passion for Data that transcends into every single student bringing out the very best in them. He made me fall in love with data visualization. One of the things he said in the class that stuck with me is “with the power of data comes responsibility”.”
“In our class Ben expertly guided us through working with data and exploring how it touches our careers and lives. In each session I knew we’d learn useful tips and approaches to finding the stories in data. Every day I use the skills and insight Ben taught us.”
“Ben’s incredible depth of knowledge and passion for this field really shine through, and combined with his ability to explain the material in such a clear and straightforward manner really made the class valuable and fun.”
“I feel very fortunate to have begun my data visualization training with Ben. His ability to weave theory and practice together seamlessly left me with an understanding not just of how to assemble good visualizations, but why different data stories lend themselves to different visualization techniques.”
“I highly recommend taking a course from this team. You could be a seasoned data analyst however the information covered in the courses really cements you in understanding concepts rather than specific analytical tools. It helps you hone the analytical skills that can be applied to any type of analysis tool. The instructor was very passionate about the subjects which resulted in a very engaging experience which can often be lost on Zoom.”
“Data Literacy is very important and this company is bringing DL to everyone. The course I took was great and very interesting. I’ve got to know the fundamentals of DL, which I knew very little 😀 I recommend the courses of Data Literacy to anyone who wants to know more about data, or anyone who wants to improve the quality of their work.”
“As an aspiring data analyst, I truly learned so much from Data Literacy Level 1 course! I am definitely walking away with a broader level of fluency and also a clear set of chart reading tips to make visual representations of data more effective. This course also offers an important dimension of context to charts that helps tremendously in orienting yourself while navigating charts as a beginner.”
“The learning experience was effortless. Everything was well designed and planned.”
“Content is spot on. The time to ingest the material is very manageable.”
