Online Data Literacy Courses

Learning PathData Literacy Foundations

This path is for anyone looking to build foundational data literacy and analytical thinking skills, and learn how to interpret, manage, analyze and communicate with data.

41 hours

5 courses

3 projects

Google Sheets

Excel

Start learning this path

Overview

We live in a world that runs on data.

Whether you’re a teacher using test scores to improve lesson plans, a sales manager tracking monthly quotas, or a marketer exploring customer trends, data can help you work smarter and make better, more impactful decisions.

In this path, we'll set the stage by discussing what data literacy means, share resources to help you assess and benchmark your skills, and review key elements of the data ecosystem, including democratization, strategy, architecture and governance.

From there we'll introduce foundational skills for interpreting, managing, analyzing and communicating with data. We'll walk through frameworks for strategic thinking and measurement planning, review case studies and best practices for data prep, exploratory analysis, visualization and storytelling, and explore powerful use cases for leveraging Generative AI.

Finally we'll dive into two of the most ubiquitous tools in the data landscape: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. We'll cover everything you need to get up and running, including spreadsheet fundamentals, formulas, pivot tables, charts, and collaboration tools, then showcase the power of Excel PivotTables, one of the most flexible and intuitive tools for exploratory data analysis.

You'll also get a chance to apply your skills and build your portfolio by solving unique, real-world projects and business cases, like designing a CRM sales dashboard and analyzing transactions from a New York City coffee shop.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS PATH?

Everyday people looking to build confidence and use data more effectively
Leaders seeking to upskill or empower teams with critical data skills
Data professionals who want to sharpen their data visualization and storytelling skills
Anyone looking to work smarter, earn more, and make more impactful data-driven decisions

WHAT ARE THE PATH REQUIREMENTS?

This is an entry-level path (no prerequisites)
Excel 365, ideally on Windows/PC (some functionality may be unavailable on other versions)
Some experience working with Excel or Sheets is helpful, but not required

Curriculum

Course

Data Literacy FoundationsBuild foundational data literacy skills to interpret, manage, analyze and communicate with data, and make smarter, more impactful decisions

Course

Thinking Like an AnalystCrash course for aspiring analytics & BI professionals looking to build the foundation for a successful career

Course

Microsoft Excel FoundationsMaster foundational skills for managing, analyzing and communicating with data in Excel, with hands-on, real-world projects

Guided Project

Traffic Safety AnalysisAnalyze traffic collisions in NYC to identify seasonal patterns and top contributing factors

Course

Intro to Google SheetsLearn how to manage, analyze and visualize data with Google Sheets, and build practical data literacy skills by completing real-world assignments

Guided Project

CRM Sales DashboardBuild an interactive dashboard for Sales Managers to track their team's quarterly performance

Course

Excel Pivot Tables & ChartsLearn how to explore and analyze your data using Pivot Tables & Pivot Charts, with 10 real-world case studies

Guided Project

Coffee Shop DashboardBuild an interactive dashboard to explore and analyze coffee shop sales

Instructors

Chris Dutton

Chris DuttonChris is an EdTech entrepreneur and best-selling Data Analytics instructor. As Founder and Chief Product Officer at Maven Analytics, his work has been featured by USA Today, Business Insider, Entrepreneur and the New York Times, reaching more than 1,000,000 students around the world.

Aaron Parry

Aaron ParryAaron is a professional analytics consultant and Microsoft Power BI expert, with 10+ years working in business intelligence and marketing analytics. He's an instructor, coach and mentor for aspiring analysts, and has deep experience helping companies develop and implement full-stack BI solutions.

Enrique Ruiz

Enrique RuizEnrique is a certified Microsoft Excel Expert and top-rated instructor with a background in business intelligence, data analysis and visualization. He has been producing advanced Excel and test prep courses since 2016, along with adaptations tailored to Spanish-speaking learners.

John Pauler

John PaulerJohn brings over 15 years of business intelligence experience to the Maven team, having worked with companies ranging from Fortune 500 to early stage startups. As a MySQL expert, he has played leadership roles across analytics, marketing, SaaS and product teams.

Overview

We live in a world that runs on data.

Whether you’re a teacher using test scores to improve lesson plans, a sales manager tracking monthly quotas, or a marketer exploring customer trends, data can help you work smarter and make better, more impactful decisions.

In this path, we'll set the stage by discussing what data literacy means, share resources to help you assess and benchmark your skills, and review key elements of the data ecosystem, including democratization, strategy, architecture and governance.

From there we'll introduce foundational skills for interpreting, managing, analyzing and communicating with data. We'll walk through frameworks for strategic thinking and measurement planning, review case studies and best practices for data prep, exploratory analysis, visualization and storytelling, and explore powerful use cases for leveraging Generative AI.

Finally we'll dive into two of the most ubiquitous tools in the data landscape: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. We'll cover everything you need to get up and running, including spreadsheet fundamentals, formulas, pivot tables, charts, and collaboration tools, then showcase the power of Excel PivotTables, one of the most flexible and intuitive tools for exploratory data analysis.

You'll also get a chance to apply your skills and build your portfolio by solving unique, real-world projects and business cases, like designing a CRM sales dashboard and analyzing transactions from a New York City coffee shop.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS PATH?

Everyday people looking to build confidence and use data more effectively
Leaders seeking to upskill or empower teams with critical data skills
Data professionals who want to sharpen their data visualization and storytelling skills
Anyone looking to work smarter, earn more, and make more impactful data-driven decisions

WHAT ARE THE PATH REQUIREMENTS?

This is an entry-level path (no prerequisites)
Excel 365, ideally on Windows/PC (some functionality may be unavailable on other versions)
Some experience working with Excel or Sheets is helpful, but not required

Instructors

Chris Dutton

Chris DuttonChris is an EdTech entrepreneur and best-selling Data Analytics instructor. As Founder and Chief Product Officer at Maven Analytics, his work has been featured by USA Today, Business Insider, Entrepreneur and the New York Times, reaching more than 1,000,000 students around the world.

Aaron Parry

Aaron ParryAaron is a professional analytics consultant and Microsoft Power BI expert, with 10+ years working in business intelligence and marketing analytics. He's an instructor, coach and mentor for aspiring analysts, and has deep experience helping companies develop and implement full-stack BI solutions.

Enrique Ruiz

Enrique RuizEnrique is a certified Microsoft Excel Expert and top-rated instructor with a background in business intelligence, data analysis and visualization. He has been producing advanced Excel and test prep courses since 2016, along with adaptations tailored to Spanish-speaking learners.

John Pauler

John PaulerJohn brings over 15 years of business intelligence experience to the Maven team, having worked with companies ranging from Fortune 500 to early stage startups. As a MySQL expert, he has played leadership roles across analytics, marketing, SaaS and product teams.

Curriculum

Course

Data Literacy FoundationsBuild foundational data literacy skills to interpret, manage, analyze and communicate with data, and make smarter, more impactful decisions

Course

Thinking Like an AnalystCrash course for aspiring analytics & BI professionals looking to build the foundation for a successful career

Course

Microsoft Excel FoundationsMaster foundational skills for managing, analyzing and communicating with data in Excel, with hands-on, real-world projects

Guided Project

Traffic Safety AnalysisAnalyze traffic collisions in NYC to identify seasonal patterns and top contributing factors

Course

Intro to Google SheetsLearn how to manage, analyze and visualize data with Google Sheets, and build practical data literacy skills by completing real-world assignments

Guided Project

CRM Sales DashboardBuild an interactive dashboard for Sales Managers to track their team's quarterly performance

Course

Excel Pivot Tables & ChartsLearn how to explore and analyze your data using Pivot Tables & Pivot Charts, with 10 real-world case studies

Guided Project

Coffee Shop DashboardBuild an interactive dashboard to explore and analyze coffee shop sales

Testimonials

Real. Happy. Students.

We've helped thousands of students land dream jobs, launch new careers, and build powerful data skills. Start writing your own success story today!

"Thinking like an analyst" course is a very complete compact course if you have to go through the process of getting to know your customers business till building an insightful dashboard for them. I did a lot of courses the past year but this one is totally different. Key is satisfying your customer by giving them strong insights. I really enjoyed the course and put it on pause many times to check or use it directly in my own ongoing project. I can recommend this course to anybody working as a consultant in the data area.

Marjolein Opsteegh

Maven's Pivot Table & Charts class was a great intro to dashboard design but Advanced Excel Dashboard Design will take your approach to a whole new level. You'll learn the importance of formula-based dashboard design and how to manipulate colors, charts, and KPI metric cards to tell your story. By far one of my favorite Maven classes!

Nate Dunn

Thinking like an Analyst course has helped me to clearly understand what it takes to have a successful career in data analytics. I have learnt that my focus should be on the skills I acquire while learning and not the tools. I have also learnt a data analysis workflow for high quality analysis that drives actionable outcomes. I had fun while learning during this course. It is self pacing and elaborate.

Eniola Dada

For all aspiring or converted analyst out there, stop looking around, this is the way to get the role you are looking for. I am truly impressed with the quality of the information and the completeness of the package Maven Analytics put together. In this well rounded package you have everything you need, from finding your own path, writing or re-writing your resume, marketing on LinkedIn, to building the so needed project portfolio, and even interview skills and approaches.

Radu Tecuceanu

Love the Maven courses! The instructors always have great slide content to help solidify the concepts and drive home the key aspects. The examples and very relatable making it so much easier to understand how to apply my own projects.

Joseph Collins

Maven Analytics changed my life, I found a better job position taking the Excel and Power BI paths, nowadays I can apply my skills in my company innovating everyday. Thankful forever.

Rodrigo Chavez

An excellent course with top-notch data sets to work around with. As usual, Chris Dutton did a fabulous job of covering each element with a simplistic but analytical approach. Although I've been using pivot tables for 5+ years, the new learnings will open a whole array of opportunities for extracting actionable insights. Thank you!

Faizan Qadri

Before deciding to join this learning platform, I struggled to understand and figure out what direction I needed to take for my skill development to be a Data Analyst. This first course helped ease some of my fears and confusion. I am more passionate about my decision to become a data analyst. THANK YOU Chris, John, Aaron, and Enrique , and I look forward to learning more through Maven.

Angie

The Maven Analytics Courses are packed full of practical lessons and useful pro tips that can be immediately applied to data in the workplace. One of the best trainings I've ever taken!

Randy McCauley

Once again Maven blows it out of the water. In this fantastic, well structures course about the way to "Think Like an Analyst". It has so many good points and actions to take when putting together a project. I found it very useful and was able to put it into practice at work straight away. Thank Guys!

Catherine Taylor

Maven really makes it possible to get into data analytics without taking (and paying for) a traditional education program. The courses I took left me with a better understanding and deeper knowledge of what I like most: analyzing data.

Erik van’t Ende

The course is fantastic and highly recommended. It gave me the confidence to perform the logical analysis in any given data source and of course build kickass visuals business dashboards for my clients :). Loved the course from the first second to the last.

Tonmoy Hashmi

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WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS PATH?

WHAT ARE THE PATH REQUIREMENTS?

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS PATH?

WHAT ARE THE PATH REQUIREMENTS?

Real. Happy. Students.

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