This portfolio contains much of the work and research I have completed for the course entitled Introduction to Data Visualization at the University of Washington Bothell, taught by professor Caleb Trujillo in the Spring 2021 quarter. In addition to this introduction, the documents contained within my portfolio will include a personal reflection essay on what I have learned this quarter, my final project, a list of journal entries, and a sample data visualization. Additionally, each of the files will be available to download under the Files tab.
For the final project in this course, students were tasked with determining whether or not high-impact courses at UW Bothell were equitable to students, using data collected from previous students. To achieve this, students had to conduct research and produce a data visualization on their topic using either Tableau or RStudio. My project explores the equitability of high-impact practices on graduation rates at UW Bothell for low-income students within each school at the university. Included in this portfolio are my final research report, presentation slides, and corresponding presentation video. I used Tableau to create my data visualization for this project, referencing the provided spreadsheets received in class. Additionally, included in this section is a copy of the Tableau files I used to create my graph. The aim of this project is to be able to show students, faculty, and staff at UW Bothell, if and/or how high-impact courses are benefiting students, and the efficacy of implementing these practices.
Throughout the quarter, we were tasked with responding to journal assignments which included prompts relating to the week’s readings or lecture, as well as reflections on our individual progress in the course and with the visualization software. Being able to step back and reflect on the work that was assigned over the week was something I found helpful, as I was very new to data visualization and writing about various challenges along the way was helpful in reflecting on the class and identifying areas where I could improve.
Finally, I have also included a sample visualization, and corresponding script, from this quarter, from homework assignment 5. For this visual, I used RStudio to create an interactive data visual from data given in the course textbook. I chose to include this specifically because I wanted to show the different ways in which I was able to create visuals on more than one data visualization software. Additionally, I am also proud of the work I have produced in this assignment, as working with R is not as intuitive to me as Tableau. I put a great amount of effort into this course, and through this portfolio I aim to convey how much I have learned throughout the quarter.