45 - Bit by Byte: Building Best Practices in Data Literacy

Background: In February, 2020, in an effort to provide university students with access to the programs they need to work with data, our library opened a data makerspace: the Data Studio. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. To reintegrate the Data Studio, and to support students and faculty in emerging technological data competencies, we hosted a "Train-the-Trainer" workshop, made available to faculty and library staff, to promote an integration of data skills into course curricula.

Description: Our primary objective was to partner with other stakeholders on campus to host an initial workshop in collaboration with skilled data instructors. Interested faculty applied to the workshop by providing a brief statement of interest and a proposal for a course assignment integrating future data skills. Following the workshop, a community of practice was established to support faculty and teaching library staff in incorporating data competencies. As faculty incorporate data skills into their course assignments, more and more students will gain data competencies, and other faculty will have model assignments that they too can adapt and incorporate into their syllabi. By sustaining the community of practice, and continuing to promote and teach appropriate programs and skills, we hope to create an environment that will enhance the fundamental data literacy proficiency of librarians, faculty, and students.

Conclusion: In addition to a needs assessment to determine the desire for future programming in this area, we will also conduct pre-/post-surveys around the data workshop to assess learning outcomes. Faculty who successfully integrate an assignment into their courses will be asked to provide feedback on the process, and to share their assignments, with permission, with their peers by way of the community of practice and our institutional repository. Measures of success will include attendance at the workshop, positive feedback, and sustained interest in subsequent opportunities.