Doing data literacy outreach and assessment with a social justice lens

Having the skills to find informative data when developing and answering research questions is an important aspect of data literacy, and for the social sciences, these skills need to address issues related to data about race, gender, and underrepresented populations. I want to share an effort to bring in a critical data literacy component at a small, liberal arts college (Reed College) by exploring instructional opportunities and assessing student and faculty needs. We are also interested in questions about prior interest, subject relevance, and scaffolding in data instruction.

Improving and integrating data literacy in curricula is vital to ensure that students with no background in data become capable of finding and interpreting the data they need in their field. Standalone units or workshops can also be effective, which in different libraries have run the gamut from special topics workshops to foundational data literacy 101s.

The goal of this project is to map out and understand where among the students and programs at Reed can data literacy instruction live. Reed students are highly motivated and interested in social justice topics, which raises some questions: Would students be interested in the topic of data and social justice? Can using a social justice lens to teach about research data pique more interest? How can discussing the historical and political issues of data collection and discovery enhance students’ data literacy? What form should/ could such a session take and what would the learning objectives be? Can it serve as a module for different subject areas or is subject specificity a need?

This talk will discuss the use of ad hoc student outreach activities, syllabi review, and faculty surveys; and possibly, blueprints for a workshop.