{"id":10213,"date":"2022-02-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dvsnightingstg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=10213"},"modified":"2022-02-18T15:58:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T20:58:19","slug":"data-literacy-and-general-education-a-potentially-perfect-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nightingaledvs.com\/data-literacy-and-general-education-a-potentially-perfect-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Literacy and General Education: A Potentially Perfect Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2012, Harvard Business Review<\/em> declared data scientist the sexiest job in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one ever has declared general education the sexiest anything in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The differences don\u2019t stop there. Data-related skills are generally considered part of the ever-popular STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field and are some of the most coveted skills in the workplace today. General education courses are often considered less valuable than technical or major-specific courses. Students and their parents sometimes question, for example, why someone majoring in business or planning on becoming a physician needs to study Shakespeare or anthropology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, data and general education could be just the pairing we need to improve data literacy in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data literacy and general education defined<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being data literate is tremendously important for just about everyone, but what it means to be data literate is a little harder to determine.  First, there\u2019s the terminology. I\u2019m using data literate, but data fluency, graphicacy, and media literacy are also common terms. Then the definitions\u2013there are many. I think data literacy executive Ben Jones\u2019<\/a> thoughts are a nice place to start, in part because his definition focuses on data literacy as a process: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cData literacy encompasses a wide variety of skills, but ultimately it\u2019s the ability to read and understand data, and also create and communicate it. So there\u2019s a receiving end and there\u2019s also a delivering end. A transmission, if you will.\u201d  <\/p>Ben jones<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Be Data Lit<\/a> suggests a different way of looking at data literacy. It provides more of a list rather than a traditional definition. According to the article, some signs of data literacy include \u201cbeing curious about data\u201d and understanding how to balance data with other things\u2013such as critical thinking. The article ends with this critical point: \u201cData literacy is evolving and so, if you are committed to being data literate, know that it\u2019s an ongoing journey and you must keep working and evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General education is a little easier to define, but sometimes it is harder to articulate its importance. General education courses are simply the required\u2013or core\u2013courses at colleges and universities in the United States. General education courses focus on essential, but not industry-specific, skills (often referred to as soft skills). Think problem solving, cultural awareness and understanding, critical thinking, empathy, writing, research, and oral communication. Specific courses might be in subjects like English, psychology, communications, or anthropology. While general education courses can\u2019t be industry specific, they are valuable in that they are the courses all students seeking a bachelor\u2019s degree in the United States take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data skills have become\u2014much like what is taught in general education\u2014things everyone needs to know. Despite this, data literacy is often seen as lacking in recent college graduates\u2014particularly college graduates not majoring in subjects like data science or business analytics. Numerous businesses, organizations, and nonprofits are working to bridge this data gap.  Data visualization platform Tableau, for example, launched its Data Literacy One<\/a> curriculum in September 2020 (followed by Data Literacy Two in 2021). They even have a Tableau for Kids curriculum designed to inspire \u201ckids to explore the data that’s around them every day.\u201d Their programming matches their message:  \u201cWe need all hands on deck to bridge the data literacy gap.\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sample activities from Tableau for Kids<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

General education needs to be one of those hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While data literacy and general education might seem like an odd pairing, here are three reasons the partnership makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason One: Data literacy and general education are both essential<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

General education is all about teaching essential skills, and it\u2019s hard to argue that data literacy isn\u2019t essential.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A simple LinkedIn search validates that the ability to work with data is essential\u2014over 1.5 million job postings on LinkedIn ask for some type of familiarity with data, strongly suggesting that working with data is no longer a discipline-specific skill or something only data scientists or analysts need to know. Instead, it\u2019s simply another form of communication almost all professionals need to be successful in their chosen fields.  Business literature on the importance of data skills has become commonplace. Author and Content Manager, Paul Petrone<\/a> posits,  \u201c\u2026 today, data visualization is becoming an absolute must-learn skill. As all organizations become increasingly data-driven, the ability to work with data isn\u2019t a bonus, it\u2019s essential.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few more examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n