3 Basic Data Visualizations L&D Pros Should Master

Datavisualizations are a valuable tool for L&D pros to use withineLearning and in performance support tools. They are also an excellent way tomeasure and demonstrate the effectiveness of training, showing managers thevalue of eLearning and performance support. L&D pros can choose from dozensof ways to visualize data. Mastering these three basic data visualizations canget developers started with using visualizations to explore and communicatedata stories.

1. Timelines
   

   Timelines, which are simple tocreate using freestorytelling tools like TimelineJS, are a fabulousaddition to eLearning. A timeline can turn a chronological story into aninteractive activity with images, video, sound bites, links, and more.

   But the use of timelines goes farbeyond storytelling and eLearning. A timeline can show development over time—ofthe company, of a product, or even of learners’ skills. Timelines built withgraphs can pull in data that an LMS or LRS collects on learners’ progress andshow their training history, their quiz scores, or even display their trainingprogress alongside performance data, which can help managers evaluate theimpact of training.

2. Flow
   

   Flow charts and cycle charts areuseful for demonstrating cause-and-effect or showing the steps of a process. Acycle diagram can show repeating actions or processes. These charts should bekept simple and the text in each block or section should be short.

   Flow and cycle charts let learnerssee the relationships between elements or steps in a process; visualizing theserelationships can improve learner comprehension.

   An interactive chart can revealsteps as learners progress and understand the earlier stages of a process or asthey make certain decisions.

   Many eLearningtools include a flow-chart maker or template. Excel includestemplates for various types of flow charts, and many versions of MicrosoftOffice 365 include Visio, an easy-to-use flow-chart tool.

3. Data comparisons or change over time
   

   Dozens of styles of charts andgraphs can show changes in values over time or compare values from differentsources. Pie charts divide a single total and show where each chunk—of abudget, of a learner’s hours, of company resources—is spent. Excel offers morethan a dozen chart styles, including area, bar, scatter, and line charts. StorylineJSenables creation of an annotated line chart with hundreds of data points.

   Choosing a chart type requiresknowing the goal of the data visualization:

   • Tocompare values, choose a scatter plot, a bar chart, or a line chart.
   • To show thecomposition of something—the budget, the time spent on each project in adepartment—choose a pie chart, a stacked column or bar chart, or a waterfallchart.
   • To showthe distribution of data or show relationships between two sets of datavalues—how many employees are in sales, marketing, and tech support or howmany top performers are in each region—use a scatter plot chart. It’s a goodway to see trends or identify outliers.
   • To show relativesize, use bubble charts. Rather than each dot representing a single datavalue, the size of the bubble depends on the number of responses match thatvalue, for example, a map with bubbles showing the relative numbers of newhires in each regional office.
   • To showcompletion rates or results for each step in a process or series ofeLearning pages or exercises, use afunnel chart; these are often used in marketing.

Developers can create basic data visualizations using freeor low-cost tools. Those with coding expertise and other dataskills can explore data more deeply. If you’re interested in adeeper dive into how data can enhance eLearning, download The eLearning Guild’sresearch report, PuttingData to Work, and register for the Data& Analytics Summit, August 22 & 23.