Get to Know Tableau for Teaching

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe Tableau Academic Programs.
  
• Explain who qualifies for the Tableau for Teaching (TFT) program.
  
• List the different license types offered through the program.
  
• Describe how to connect with educators and data enthusiasts in the Tableau Community.
  

What Are Tableau Academic Programs?

On a mission to close the data literacy gap, Tableau Academic Programs provide instructors and students with free Tableau licenses and learning resources.

Tableau for Teaching (TFT), part of the Tableau Academic Programs, gives educators around the world Tableau licensing and curriculum to seamlessly implement Tableau in their classrooms. The program provides tools and resources for teaching Tableau and data skills in the classroom with the goal of making data skills education accessible for all. Assignments cover basic data literacy concepts, introductory and intermediate Tableau skills, and open-ended exploratory assignments for the data curious.

Tableau for Teaching also fosters community for educators and data skills learners. Verified instructors in the program can connect, message, and exchange ideas in the TFT user group. The user group is part of the broader Tableau Community of data enthusiasts around the world who help each other learn, build data skills, and share knowledge.

Who Qualifies for Tableau for Teaching?

To be considered for the Tableau for Teaching program and the various complimentary license types and resources, requestors must meet at least one of the following eligibility requirements.

• You are teaching at an accredited, degree-granting institution.
  
• You’re conducting unpaid, noncommercial, academic research at an accredited, degree-granting institution (eligible to request an individual researcher license only).
  
• You’re teaching at a K–12 school.
  
• You’re an IT professional at an accredited, degree-granting institution or K-12 school and are responsible for installing software on physical or virtual machines (eligible to request lab licenses only).
  

Explore License Types

The TFT program offers various Tableau license types. Verified instructors can request any license type. Academic researchers may request an individual license for their own non-commercial, academic research purposes. And IT professionals may request lab licenses to deploy at a school computer lab.

Let’s take a closer look.

Individual Instructor or Academic Researcher License

Products included: Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder.

Instructors can request a 1-year renewable Tableau license for each year that they’re teaching Tableau in their courses. Academic researchers can do the same. The license key is meant for the individual only and is not to be shared. The key is valid for 1 year upon activation and can be renewed each year by completing the request form.

Student Course License

Products included: Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder.

Student course licenses are termed licenses valid for the duration of a specific course, with defined start and end dates as specified on the request form. Instructors are issued a single key with enough activations to accommodate the number of students in their course. The instructor is responsible for distributing the single key to the entire class. And the students are required to download and install Tableau on their personal machines. A new student course license must be requested for each course. An instructor can request up to three course licenses in one form submission.

Tableau Cloud Site

Product included: Tableau Cloud. Login-Based License Management and Tableau Pulse can be enabled on Tableau Cloud sites.

Instructors can request one Tableau Cloud site, and they become that site’s owner and site administrator (and can assign another site admin). The Cloud site is valid for 1 year upon activation and is renewable each year. Each site includes 100 available seats, and instructors add students as Tableau Cloud site users through email invitation. It’s important to note that the email address is the only user data that the Tableau Cloud sites collect.

As the name implies, this offering is in the cloud (no software to download). It’s a secure, fully hosted, web-based product that can be accessed by any device with an internet connection. Site administrators are responsible for site setup, user maintenance (adding and removing students), and renewing the site yearly. Teaching assistants or IT admins can be added as secondary site administrators to assist with admin responsibilities.

Lab License

Products included: Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder.

Academic lab licenses are for use in computer environments that only students and instructors have access to and are valid for 1 year from the date of distribution. Instructors or IT professionals are issued one lab license with enough activations for all of the computers in the lab environment.

Note: Lab licenses work best in persistent environments on virtual or physical machines. No user registration information is collected with lab licenses.

Which License Type Is Right for Me?

Review the table to see which license type we recommend for your use case.

How Do I Request a TFT License?

If you meet the eligibility criteria we’ve listed here, you can request a TFT license by completing the request form at the top of the TFT home page. You must provide verification documentation in the ‘Link to instructor/academic researcher profile’ field on the request form. If you’re unable to provide a publicly facing link, you can email other document types to tft@tableau.com. If you email your verification documents separately, be sure to note this in your email and provide the email address that you used in your request.

While You Wait

Allow 3 to 5 business days for us to respond to your license request. If you have an immediate need for a license, we recommend the following.

• Download the free 14-day trial. If you receive your TFT license key while still using the trial, you may update your license key within the application by navigating to the Help menu | Manage Product Keys and entering your new license key there. Activating your license key overrides the remainder of the trial period.
  
• Explore our free product, Tableau Public.
  

More About Verification Documentation

Verification documentation must include the following.

• First and last name
  
• Affiliation to institution, for example, “teacher” or “instructor”
  
• Current year or school term
  

Some examples of documentation can include the following.

• A publicly facing faculty webpage hosted on the institution’s website (a link can be included on the request form)
  
• A copy of a current course syllabus, or screenshot(s) if within a password-protected LMS
  
• A letter of employment or appointment letter on institution letterhead (salary information can be redacted)
  
• Links to published academic research (to be considered for an academic researcher license)
  

Once accepted to the program, you’ll receive information by email about the next steps, including how to request curriculum. You’re also invited to join the Tableau Community and the Tableau for Teaching User Group, a place to ask questions and share knowledge among peers.

Check out the Tableau for Teaching FAQ in the Resources section for more information about eligibility and accepted verification documents. You can also find information on how to use and renew license keys in the FAQ. Next, learn more about TFT curriculum and teaching resources.

Resources

• Tableau for Teaching: Home page
• Tableau Public: Home page
• Tableau Community: Welcome page
• Tableau Community: TFT FAQs
• Trailhead Help: Getting Started with Tableau for Teaching
• Trailhead Help: How to Request or Activate a Tableau for Teaching License
• Trailhead Help: Tableau Academic Programs in the Classroom