Data 304: Visualizing Data and Models

Spring 2025

Instructor

Randall Pruim
office: North Hall 284
E-mail: rpruim@calvin.edu

Time/Location

  • Monday, Wednesday, Friday @ 12:15 in NH 295

Course Description

An introduction to principles and applications for visualizing data and models. Students will learn how to design static and interactive visualizations that accurately, effectively, and aesthetically display information about data and models.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to

  1. Prepare data for use in visualization software.

  2. Create visualizations that reveal insights into data and models, using appropriate visualization tools.

  3. Describe a data set, present a visualization of it, and communicate the insights it reveals, along with underlying computational and statistical details, (a) in writing and (b) orally.

  4. Write about or discuss social or ethical issues related to the collection and analysis of data sets, informed by a Christian perspective.

Internet Resources

Email

We will maintain an email list of all students registered in this class and will occasionally use it to distribute information and reminders of various things pertaining to this course. If you prefer to read your email from an account other than your Calvin student account and do not have it set up to forward automatically, send us an email with the email address you prefer.

Please check your email daily. You are responsible for any information communicated via email.

It is very helpful if you include 304 in the subject line of any email you send me. That helps me locate email from this course in a sometimes overflowing email inbox.

Web Pages

In addition to this home page, I will also maintain a list of web resources pertaining to this course. You are responsible for any information appearing on the course web pages. Items we have prepared and maintain online include

  • a calendar of daily readings, lecture topics, etc.

  • notes related to topics in the class

  • a list of homework assignments and due dates.

For quick access to these and other resources, see the navigation bar at the top of this page.

Other Important Information

See me

If you are having difficulty with any portion of the course, do not hesitate to contact me. Do this as soon as possible, certainly well in advance of any deadlines so that we can work to fix the problem.

Textbook

There is no textbook for this course, but we will use a number of different online resources.

Technology

To some extent this couse will be technology agnostic. Our primariy visualization platform will be vega-lite, but there are APIs to use this in many languages, including R, Python, and Javascript. For code editing and document creation, posit Workbench/RStudio and VS Code are good choices, but others exist for this as well.

RStudio via posit Workbench

You should be able to access r.cs.calvin.edu using your usual Calvin credentials. This is a new posit Workbench server that includes access to RStudio (and other things).

Installing software locally

I encourage you to also download and install

on your personal computer if you haven’t already done so.

In addition, you will want to install a number of R and Python packages, including packages related to vega-lite and data wrangling. You shouldn’t need to install these on posit Workbench – I’ll get them installed at the system level.

Working Together

At times in this class you will be asked to work together with other students. Sometimes I will assign groups. Other times I will let you select your own partners.

Working together can be a good experience both for your learning in this class and for your future career, where you will almost certainly be required to work with others. It is also a good way to get to know others in the class. But it can also be intimidating, uncomfortable, or frustrating if your group doesn’t work well together. Some keys to working well together include:

  • Communicate clearly about who will be doing what (and by when), and also about how you are experiencing working in your group.

  • Do your fair share.
    This means both not doing too little and not doing too much. Each member of the group should should be a contributor. If you tend to be a talker, use some of that talking to ask others questions. If you tend to be more reserved, make sure you don’t neglect sharing your good ideas with the group.

  • Benefit from each person’s strengths. Each of us has different background, preferences, etc. This means different people may approach the same tasks differently, or find the same task easier or more challenging than others do. You can learn a lot from each other – but not if you just let other people do things for you. Learning to teach others and to learn from others is another important life skill.

Generally, I have found that my students do well in groups, but if you are having difficulty working with your group(s), let me know so we can work to make things better.

Special Circumstances

Calvin University is committed to providing access to all students. If you are a student with a documented disability, please notify a disability coordinator in the Center for Student Success (located in Spoelhof University Center 360). If you have an accommodation memo, please come talk to me in the first two weeks of class.

Occasionally there are special circumstances that require that the usual rules and guidelines for the course be adjusted for a particular student. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the student to inform instructors of the situation as soon as possible, so that the appropriate arrangements can be made. This includes, but is not limited to, students with documented disabilities.

Class Environment

It is my intent that students from all backgrounds and perspectives are well served in this course, regardless of gender identities, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background, immigration status, sexual orientation, disability, age, or religion. I also realize that it is possible to fall short of this goal, perhaps without even realizing it.

If you or someone you know in the class is hurt by something I say or do or something that happens in this course, please let me know so we can work together to make things better. Because this kind of feedback can be uncomfortable for all involved, I’ll take it however it comes: in public or in private, on the spot or days later, directly from you or indirectly through another student or another professor.

Join me in creating a class that respects everyone in it.