Case Study: University of Bielefeld engages students and uncovers demographic insights with Tableau Software

University of Bielefeld engages students with demographic data lab

The University of Bielefeld’s Institute for Population and Health Research, led by Prof. Dr. Ralf Ulrich, faced the challenge of teaching demography and health from very large, complex datasets while engaging students beyond basic Excel and SPSS workflows. Faculty needed a way to give students hands-on experience with business intelligence and data visualization, overcome the initial “toy” enthusiasm for new tools, and produce real, actionable insights from demographic data.

Ulrich integrated Tableau into a summer dashboard course, a winter “demographic data lab,” and project seminars, supported by Tableau Academic Program licenses. Students learned to build interactive dashboards, publish to Tableau Public, and uncover new findings—most notably identifying that delirium patients were far less geographically dispersed—results that were presented to hospital management. The program boosted student engagement, BI skills, and continued use of Tableau for theses and career preparation.

University of Bielefeld

Ralf Ulrich

Professor for Demography and Health