Course Coordinator:Judith Watson (jwatson@usc.edu.au) School:School of Science, Technology and Engineering
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Adelaide |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
A picture is worth a thousand words! Data in a spreadsheet or in a table doesn't tell the same story as a well presented graph. Visually-displayed data is much more accessible, and enables businesses to promptly identify potential strengths and weaknesses and in turn make well informed decisions. Through this course, you will learn to create easy-to-understand visualizations and dashboards to enable decision-makers and stakeholders to see the big picture and act on the results.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Asynchronous Learning material | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Synchronous on campus workshop | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Seminar – On campus seminar | 1hr | Week 1 | 2 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Asynchronous Learning material | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Synchronous Zoom workshop | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Seminar – Online seminar | 1hr | Week 1 | 2 times |
Data Visualization and Design.
Purposeful Use of Color.
Exploring Data Visually.
Explaining Visually to Influence with Data.
Data Dashboards.
Telling the Truth with Data Visualization.
700 Level (Specialised)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Explain the role of data visualisation in a business context |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
| 2 | Apply the principles of data visualisation in a business context |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered |
| 3 | Use data analysis and visualisation techniques to gain business insights. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered |
| 4 | Effectively communicate data-driven findings using data visualisation techniques |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Must be enrolled in a postgraduate program.
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Formative feedback provided on weekly tutorial exercises.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 10% | 1 hour |
Week 5 | Online Test (Quiz) |
| All | 2 | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | Individual | 50% | 1500-word (equivalent) report and data visualisation artefact |
Week 10 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 40% | 1.5 hours |
Week 12 | Online Test (Quiz) |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Skills Exam | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To assess your understanding and application of visualisation techniques to make sense of business data. |
||||||||||||
| Product: | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Skills test held during your regular week 5 workshop |
||||||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
||||||||||||
| Generic Skills: | |||||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Data Visualisation Report | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To design and develop effective data visualisation for a real-world data case study. |
||||||||||||
| Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Using a data visualisation software, you will create a dashboard to communicate insights for the given business case. In addition you will also be required to submit a report of your findings. Further details will be available on Canvas in the assignment specification. |
||||||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
||||||||||||
| Generic Skills: | |||||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 3:Exam | ||||||||||
| Goal: | Apply data visualisation techniques and principles for given business scenarios |
|||||||||
| Product: | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | |||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||
| Format: | 2 hour exam held during your regular workshop time in Week 12 |
|||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
|||||||||
| Generic Skills: | ||||||||||
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Jeffrey D. Camm,James J. Cochran,Michael J. Fry,Jeffrey W. Ohlmann | 2021 | Data Visualization: Exploring and Explaining with Data | 1st | Cengage Learning |
You must have a computer (Desktop or Laptop) that you can install the needed software on, in order to be able to practice data visualisation skills outside workshop times.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: