Abstract Information: Data Dashboards are hot these days. Everyone wants them. They hold tons of data, are dynamic and interactive, and they get all the attention. They’re like the popular kids at the high school dance.
However, just like the popular kids, dashboards can seem inaccessible… in terms of learning how to build them using a new piece of software, but also in terms of making them accessible for your stakeholders. Dashboards have so much data and so many visuals, it’s often hard for stakeholders to know what to pay attention to and get key insights from them easily.
Microsoft’s Power BI is one of the leading pieces of dashboard software today, but can be difficult to learn when you’re first starting out. This workshop takes you from complete novice to knowing how to make a simple dashboard - connecting to data, making simple visuals, and making a dashboard that immediately answers the questions your stakeholders have about the data.
Participants MUST have a Windows laptop with a recent version of Power BI Desktop installed. Power BI is a Windows only program. It is part of an Office 365 organizational license, but can also be downloaded for free.. Workshop data will be provided to participants before the conference (if possible) or at the workshop itself.
Updates and information available at https://aea2023.substack.com/
Relevance Statement: This workshop proposal is for a very hands-on workshop where participants will learn how to use (and build, during the workshop) Microsoft's Power BI to build an evaluation data dashboard. It is designed for anyone new to Power BI, regardless of their evaluation experience, and teaches how to not only use the software using a sample of evaluation survey data, but how to build effective and engaging dashboards for stakeholders.
While many of the Guiding Principles are applicable here, the Competence principle is paramount, specifically "Ensure that the evaluation team possesses the education, abilities, skills, and experiences required to complete the evaluation competently", since an evaluation dashboard's purpose is to communicate the results of an evaluation (and often different pieces of an evaluation) to stakeholders.
The Common Good and Equity principle is also very relevant here: Promote transparency and active sharing of data and findings with the goal of equitable access to information in forms that respect people and honor promises of confidentiality.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participant will be able to connect evaluation data to Power BI and build a simple data model, as well as data transformation strategies that maximize report efficiency.
Upon completion, participant will be able to build charts/visuals in Power BI in ways that communicate large amounts of data without overwhelming viewers with too much information at once.
Upon completion, participant will be able to identify the key principles of accessible and effective dashboard design.
