Data Gets an A+

Numbers and figures have a starring role in the classroom: they’re the foundation of math. But how much behind-the-scenes work does data do in education?

A lot, it turns out. For example, Rosetta Stone's software is revolutionizing the way people learn languages. And they use massive quantities of—well, quantitative information—to understand and serve their user base.

InsideTrack, on the other hand, is a company that helps colleges and universities improve outcomes—both for students and the schools themselves. Over at InsideTrack, Eric Rynerson uses visual analytics to help employees get excited about answering their own questions with data.

Mater Health Services might not sound like an educational organization, but they support a thriving medical education program. They use a tool called SPOT—the student placement online tool—to match students for their clinical placements. Troy Forster manages the SPOT program, and he uses data to answer critical questions and learn how the program is performing.

In one way or another, each one of these organizations is using data to empower learning. They also know how important it is to be able to explore data to truly learn from it. Want to learn more about these educational leaders? Watch Rosetta Stone's interview, hear more from Eric Rynerson, or meet Troy Forster!

Of course, there are also the more obvious applications of data in education. Craig Butt is a data journalist and university lecturer. We interviewed him to learn how he communicates and teaches with data.

Tableau also runs academic programs to help empower university students with data. So whether you play a starring role in a classroom, or you're an analyst who helps people learn more from their data, we hope you try Tableau as you explore that data. We think you'll give it an A+.