ISOM 675 · Data Visualization
ISOM 675 · Data Visualization
- Course
- ISOM 675, Fall 2026
- Instructor
- Prasanna Parasurama
- TA
- Kevin Sheng
- Class meetings
- MoWe 11:30 AM–12:45 PM · GBS 201
- Course home
- This site + Canvas
- Syllabus
- View syllabus →
This course will introduce students to the techniques and tools used to create effective visualizations that clearly and efficiently communicate relationships within data. Students will learn how to perform exploratory analysis through visualization, how to create professional looking visualizations for use in business reports and presentations, and how to design interactive visualizations and dashboards that include time series, rankings, proportions, deviations, frequencies and distributions, correlations, categorical comparisons, and geospatial plots. Students will analyze real data sets and utilize Python, R, Tableau, and other tools to design and prototype their visualizations. This course is for MSBA students only.
Schedule
This is a living document for all course activities, and will be updated and modified as we go along.
| Week | Date | Topic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Wed, Aug 26 | 00 · Class Intro | |
| Week 2 | Mon, Aug 31 | 01 · Fundamentals of Data Visualization | Required readings: Few, Show Me the Numbers, Chapter 5 (Canvas) Healy, Chapter 1: “Look at Data” |
| Wed, Sep 2 | 01 · Fundamentals of Data Visualization | ||
| Week 3 | Mon, Sep 7 | Labor Day — no class | |
| Wed, Sep 9 | 01 · Fundamentals of Data Visualization | ||
| Week 4 | Mon, Sep 14 | 02 · Python/Pandas/Altair Primer | |
| Wed, Sep 16 | 03 · Tableau Primer | ||
| Week 5 | Mon, Sep 21 | 04 · Exploratory Visual Analysis | |
| Wed, Sep 23 | 04 · Exploratory Visual Analysis | ||
| Week 6 | Mon, Sep 28 | 04 · Exploratory Visual Analysis | |
| Wed, Sep 30 | 04 · Exploratory Visual Analysis | ||
| Week 7 | Mon, Oct 5 | 04 · Exploratory Visual Analysis | |
| Wed, Oct 7 | 05 · Visualization for Model Evaluation | Python project due | |
| Week 8 | Mon, Oct 12 | Fall break — no class | |
| Wed, Oct 14 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | ||
| Week 9 | Mon, Oct 19 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | |
| Wed, Oct 21 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | ||
| Week 10 | Mon, Oct 26 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | |
| Wed, Oct 28 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | ||
| Week 11 | Mon, Nov 2 | Midterm exam | |
| Wed, Nov 4 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | ||
| Week 12 | Mon, Nov 9 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | |
| Wed, Nov 11 | 06 · Visualization for Communication | ||
| Week 13 | Mon, Nov 16 | 07 · Interaction and Dashboard Design | |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 07 · Interaction and Dashboard Design | ||
| Week 14 | Mon, Nov 23 | 07 · Interaction and Dashboard Design | |
| Wed, Nov 25 | Thanksgiving break — no class | ||
| Week 15 | Mon, Nov 30 | 07 · Interaction and Dashboard Design | |
| Wed, Dec 2 | 07 · Interaction and Dashboard Design | ||
| Week 16 | Mon, Dec 7 | Tableau project presentations | |
| Wed, Dec 9 | Review | ||
| Final | Fri, Dec 11 | Final exam · 11:30 AM–2:30 PM |
Course materials
Module 00 · Class Intro
Lecture slides 1
- Class Intro Introductions, course goals, tools, grading, assessment expectations, and AI-use policy.
Module 01 · Fundamentals of Data Visualization
Focus: definitions, viewer tasks, visual encoding, perception, Gestalt grouping, and misleading design.
Lecture slides 3
- Lecture 01: What Is Data Visualization? Definitions, purposes, and viewer tasks.
- Lecture 02: Perception and Cognition Visual channels, attention, grouping, and memory.
- Lecture 03: Bad Practices Misleading scales, dimensions, and decoration.
In-class activity 1
- Graphical Perception Lab Estimate values and compare the accuracy of different encodings.
Required readings 2
- Stephen Few, Show Me the Numbers, Chapter 5. Available on Canvas.
- Kieran Healy, Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction, Chapter 1: “Look at Data.”
Quiz 1
- Module 01 quiz on perception, encoding, grouping, and misleading design. Complete it in Canvas.