Teaching data literacy skills in a lab environment

Abstract

Equipping researchers with the skills to effectively utilize data in the global data ecosystem requires proficiency with data literacies and electronic resource management. This is a valuable opportunity for libraries to leverage existing expertise and infrastructure to address a significant gap data literacy education. This session will describe a workshop for developing core skills in data literacy. In light of the significant gap between common practice and effective strategies emerging from specific research communities, we incorporated elements of a lab format to build proficiency with specific strategies. The lab format is traditionally used for training procedural skills in a controlled setting, which is also appropriate for teaching many daily data management practices. The focus of the curriculum is to teach data management strategies that support data quality, transparency, and re-use. Given the variety of data formats and types used in health and social sciences research, we adopted a skills-based approach that transcends particular domains or methodologies. Attendees applied selected strategies using a combination of their own research projects and a carefully defined case study to build proficiency.