Introduction
In an increasingly data-driven society, our ability to understand, interpret, and responsibly use data is an important skill set not only for data and computer scientists but every member of the public. Growing data literacy among our citizenry is a shared responsibility, where all members of the campus community can play a critical role in building this competency.
The Data Literacy Toolkit is a research-informed resource to support community college educators and academic librarians in fostering a culture of data literacy across their institutions. Whether your aim is to improve your own data literacy, integrate data-based thinking into your curriculum, or create engaging data events on campus to support community-wide data literacy skills, this toolkit provides practical guidance, case studies, and adaptable strategies to support your goals.
Learning Objectives
The purpose of the Data Literacy Toolkit is to empower community college educators to cultivate a culture of data literacy across their campus. We aim to provide flexible, modular resources to support lifelong data-informed thinking and decision-making that molds an educated and ethical community. By engaging with this toolkit, users will be able to:
- Define data literacy and articulate its value across the academic community.
- Identify foundational concepts and competencies required for data-literate thinking and behavior.
- Promote a campus-wide culture of data literacy through engaging initiatives, activities, and events.
- Integrate data literacy concepts into instruction and programming in alignment with institutional goals and learner needs.
How to Navigate this Toolkit
This toolkit is organized into five modules designed to introduce the concept of data literacy and how you can grow this skill set among students on your campus. The modular design allows you to review each module in order, or skip around to the modules that are most relevant to your interests and needs. Each module includes an overview of the topic, case study examples of the concept in action, a reflection activity to solidify learning, and additional resources to explore further.
- Module 1: The Foundations of Data Literacy – Core concepts of data literacy and their importance for information professionals.
- Module 2: Building a Data Culture on Your Campus – Strategies to engage stakeholders and promote a data-savvy mindset.
- Module 3: Data and Data Sources – Teaching about data types, sources, and quality evaluation.
- Module 4: Making Data Insightful and Actionable – Instructing others about the interpretation, analysis, and communication of data.
- Module 5: Managing Data Responsibly and Ethically – Addressing privacy, bias, and ethical data use.
By using this toolkit, you will be empowered to enhance the data fluency of individuals across your institution and equip your learning community with the skills and tools necessary to make informed and responsible decisions grounded in data!
Reusing and Citing this Toolkit
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. You may use, share, and remix this content with proper attribution to the creators of this toolkit, as long as it is not used for commercial purposes.
This toolkit was developed with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-256673-OLS-24