Module manager: David Wong
Email: d.c.wong@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
As per programme entry requirements
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module introduces students to visualisation as a technique for communication of and interaction with health data. Students will learn the key principles of data visualisation and gain the knowledge required to determine appropriate visualisations for different communication and interaction scenarios in the health domain. Students will gain familiarity with and practical experience of the data visualisation pipeline, from the selection and ‘wrangling’ of health data to the generation of static and interactive visual representations.
The module objectives are:
- Introduce students to the key principles of data visualisation as a technique for communicating and interacting with health data.
- Enable students to select and generate appropriate visual representations of health data to communicate with different stakeholders.
- Enable students to critically appraise the use of visual representations in the health domain.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1- Describe and apply the data visualisation pipeline.
2- Communicate complex information graphically, using appropriate software to generate static and interactive visualisations from publicly available health data. (e.g , https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/practice-level-prescribingdata/ presentation-level-july-2017)
3- Critically evaluate the applicability of different visual representations to specific communication and interaction scenarios in the health domain.
4- Articulate and critically appraise the different ways in which data visualisation is used in the health domain.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
1- Create visualisations that most effectively communicate key findings from health data sets
2- Demonstrate use of digital technology to create accessible digital tables and charts that help to answer questions
3- Create and tailor digital tables and charts that effectively communicate key information to different audiences
- Data Wrangling
- Principles and elements of visualisation
- The Grammar of graphics
- Creating visualisations in R
- Styling for Accessibility
- High dimensional data visualisation
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 14 | 1 | 14 |
| Practical | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| Seminar | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Private study hours | 119 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 31 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 150 | ||
In class discussion and practical work will provide opportunities for rapid face-to-face feedback from the tutors.
Formative individual presentations will provide students with an opportunity to receive feedback from peers and staff on their choice and implementation of data visualisations. For the formative ‘poster’ presentation, students are asked to analyse a health data set and produce suitable visualisations for a pre-specified audience of their choice. They present this in a conference poster style session, in which they receive peer feedback and feedback from tutors. The visualisations are shown on computer screen, and students will present at their screen.
Students will have the opportunity to submit an outline plan of their report, including sample visualisations, for formative feedback. This is a draft (500 word) version of the full report in which they produce and comment on one visualisation. Written feedback is provided.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Summative - Summative report - development of a range of visualisations, critical appraisal of visualisation, and code (2000 words) | 100 |
| Coursework | Formative - Individual ‘poster’ presentation | 0 |
| Coursework | Formative - Draft outline of summative report (500 words) | 0 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Report: data visualisation case study (2000) words – the full report asks the student to develop a range of visualisations that showcase proficiency in developing static and dynamic visualisations. Students are asked to justify the choice of the overall visualisation and individual design decisions, including how those choices affect those with different levels of accessibility. Students submit both the final report and the code used to generate the visualisations. Students who fail the first attempt at the summative coursework will be offered an opportunity to resubmit. The resubmission will take the same format as the first attempt.
There is no reading list for this module
Last updated: 08/05/2025
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