I used Tableau to analyze course data from Udemy, focusing on variables like course price, duration, number of lectures, reviews, and total subscribers. The dashboard is designed to explore what makes a course popular, how different subject areas perform, and how course trends have evolved over time. It surfaces key relationships between content quality, engagement levels, and pricing, offering a broader view of how learners interact with online education.
(Summary of dashboard insights below visualization)
Dashboard Key Insights
The dashboard shows clear differences in how learners engage with various topics. Web Development leads by a wide margin, with courses like The Web Developer Bootcamp and The Complete Web Developer Course earning tens of thousands of reviews. These courses are typically longer, more in-depth, and priced above average, yet they continue to attract large audiences. This suggests that learners are willing to invest when the content feels valuable.
Subjects like Graphic Design and Music see lower overall engagement, often centered around a few highly rated courses. These categories tend to attract more specialized audiences, with content focused on specific tools or skills rather than broad overviews.
The average course runs just over seven hours and costs around $66. Top-performing courses often go well beyond that, offering more than 20 hours of content and hundreds of lectures. These longer courses appear to succeed by offering structured, comprehensive learning experiences.
Subscriber growth began rising steadily around 2016, alongside increases in course prices and reviews. This trend may reflect greater trust in online learning and a growing demand for career-focused education.
Courses with fewer than 200 lectures tend to receive the most reviews. While longer courses exist, those that strike a balance between depth and clarity seem to resonate most.
Altogether, the data suggests that learners respond to more than just price or length. The structure, subject matter, and clarity of the course all play a role in how successful it becomes.