All tutoring companies know the specific demands for local face to face tutoring; simply put, it’s what customers ask for when they call you. But do different regions of the United States study different subjects?
Coursera, online course specialists, decided to take a close look at the geographical data collected for their online sign ups. Even if you can’t use the data to adjust your offerings to increase sales, the results are a fascinating read backed up with great graphics.
Coursera’s data analysis found business and computer science to be the two most popular topics in every state in absolute terms. However when looking at trends in relative topic interest a different pattern emerged. Based on those trends, they identified 12 Coursera learning regions, from the Tech Trail on the West Coast to the Business Basin in the East.
Scroll down for links to an interactive map.
Some highlights from the analysis include:
California and Washington are the top two states in every subtopic within computer science. Other states that show up high on the list for computer science include New Jersey, Virginia, and Oregon.
The District of Columbia leads the country in interest in a number of government-related topics, including governance and society, economics, and law. The neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland are close behind.
Relative to other states, Alaska shows the most interest in physical science and engineering; like many rural states, Alaska also shows high relative interest in environmental sciences and veterinary science.
Mississippi shows the highest relative interest in education. Many of the surrounding southern states show a similar trend, and are also highly relatively interested in common elementary and secondary school subjects like history and chemistry.
Compared to other states, a region in the middle of the country — best represented by Tennessee — shows a high level of interest in bioinformatics.
The far Northeast, particularly Maine and Vermont, has an exceptional interest in visual and liberal arts, including a number of subject areas across the arts and humanities.
Spend some time with Coursera’s interactive map to see the five most popular categories of online courses in your state and the specific topics of interest that make your state unique!
You can also check out a quick video