Dynamic Data Visualization for CSEdResearch.org using Tableau and MySQL.

With the increase in research in the field of computer science education over the last decade, there are datasets with valuable information for researchers, educators and policy makers. Oftentimes in large datasets, it can be difficult to tell what the data represents and this can get more difficult as the datasets grow every year. To help people understand and interpret what is happening in the landscape of computing education research, data visualization can be an important tool. For this study, we used Tableau with CSEdResearch.org's database to show how effective data visualization can be to understand the data. We first used data curated from over 500 articles across 10 publication venues (2012-2018) to analyze the research trends in K-12 computing education in the United states as a sample case. We then expanded the dataset to include 2019 data and created a separate page on the site that presents a portion of this data visually. We then used JavaScript and Tableau "short codes" to provide the capability for users to customize the data represented in the visuals. Data now presented on the site includes a heatmap of the locations of students involved as participants in research studies, the types of research reports provided, and the grade levels, gender, race/ethnicity, and other demographic data. This research provides a glimpse of our techniques and outcomes in working toward the ultimate goal of generating a visual representation of data on the website.