Building a Tableau Training Program

Presentation Summary

Deenie Esquibel, University of Washington

The University of Washington's Enterprise Data & Analytics (EDA) team supports the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW). Tableau Desktop is the data visualization platform chosen for use with EDW data, following a multi-month pilot in partnership with 20 academic and administrative units. While Tableau provides on-demand, live online and classroom training, the decision was made to create an internal training program to deliver introductory classes to new and existing Tableau users. Building and deploying a training program for any organization is exciting and challenging. The instructional designer (ID) needs to incorporate the ADDIE process (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate). These five stages of the ADDIE model encompass the entire training development process from the time someone first asks, "What do people need to learn?" all the way to the point where we measure, "Did people learn what they needed?" The ADDIE model describes an ideal-world methodology and assumes the ID will have plenty of time to create a great training program. This is not always the case, particularly in a unit that employs AGILE methodologies for managing projects. In this presentation, I will describe the process used to create and deliver a training program for Tableau Desktop. I will describe how the training team worked with functional experts and conducted needs assessments to determine course objectives for two levels of Tableau Desktop training. The results of post-class evaluations, as well as feedback the EDA team received about training will be shared. The employment of adult learning principles and a new process and intake flow when creating new training programs will also be covered.