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MICROCREDENTIAL

Data Literacy: Telling Data Stories

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$1,595.00

START DATE

 Enquire now

MODE

DURATION

 8 wks

COMMITMENT

 8 wks avg 6 hrs/wk

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Data literacy is increasingly important across our jobs and our participation in society. In this microcredential you will develop essential quantitative literacy and critical thinking skills to make well-supported claims with data, skills which you will then apply to craft your own data story.

About this microcredential

We work with numbers every day, hear claims based on data and make decisions that can be informed by data. But how do we know if we’re being data informed, or misled? And how do we work effectively with data to support good decision making?

In this practical microcredential you will learn key concepts of developing a data story including visualisation, narrative and descriptive statistics. You’ll also explore what can go wrong with data storytelling and how you can avoid falling into common traps in your own work.

Throughout the microcredential you will learn how to obtain and navigate data for a purpose, how to summarise and describe data and how to make and fact check claims based on data. You will apply these skills to construct a narrative that uses graphical and numerical data to tell a story, or support an argument, based on the principles explored in the course.

Key benefits of this microcredential

This microcredential has been designed to equip participants with quantitative literacy and critical thinking skills that are fundamental for informed citizens to participate in discussions of significant issues in culture and society.

This microcredential aligns with the 2 credit point subject, Data Literacy: Telling Data Stories (68027) in the Master of Professional Practice and the Master of Technology.

This microcredential may also qualify as recognition of prior learning at this and other institutions.

Who should do this microcredential?

This microcredential will benefit anyone with an interest in developing their data literacy skills, both from the perspective of building skills of working with data and in taking a critical approach to reading and developing data stories and narratives.

Price

Full price: $1,595 (GST free)*

*Price subject to change. Please check price at time of purchase.

Discounts are available for this course. For further details and to verify if you qualify, please check the Discounts section under Additional course information.

Enrolment conditions

COVID-19 response 

Additional course information

Course outline

This course is delivered fully online, with self-paced interactive modules supported by live virtual sessions where you will have the opportunity to discuss and ask questions.

The following modules comprise the key stages of developing a data story:

Module 1: Understanding your context

  • Understanding the problem context
  • Asking the right questions
  • Types of data stories.

Module 2: Collecting data

  • Data collection methodologies
  • Sampling approaches and pitfalls
  • Cleaning and wrangling data.

Module 3: Exploring data

  • Descriptive statistics
  • The shape of data
  • Data visualisations.

Module 4: Analysing data

  • Correlation
  • Statistical methods
  • Advanced analysis techniques.

Module 5: Building a data story

  • Supporting data claims
  • Fallacies and bias
  • Evaluating data stories.

The key assessment task – writing your own data story – is threaded throughout the whole course, so that the self-paced online activities contribute to your final assignment piece. There are opportunities to receive feedback on your progress during the course. 

Course delivery

This course is fully online and self-paced to provide flexibility to your studies. Participants work through individual and collaborative online activities designed to help research and create a polished data story, which forms the final summative assessment challenge.

Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in live Q&A sessions with an academic expert, who will provide guidance and support in crafting the data story.

Course learning objectives

Upon successful completion of this microcredential, participants should be able to:

  • Inform others through developing a data story with a critical lens on the collection and collation of data
  • Apply key concepts in statistics, probability and graphical representation of data that are of direct relevance to quantitative literacy, in order to tell a data story
  • Critique and explain the use of quantitative arguments and evidence in social or professional contexts to demonstrate the quantitative literacy capacities of informed and ethically aware citizens.

Assessment

Assessment task: Build a data story (weighting: 100%)

This individual written assessment aims to get you thinking about how you can use data and statistics to construct arguments, tell stories and influence people. You will conduct an investigation using data that involves:

  • Sourcing a dataset of interest and formulating a question you would like to answer using that dataset
  • Critiquing claims made by the various stakeholders you identify in the field from which the dataset is sourced, that might answer your question
  • Analysing your dataset to extract a set of key statistical measures that might support or contradict the claims that both you and your identified stakeholders might choose to make
  • Developing an argument (i.e. a data story) to support the position you chose to adopt with respect to your question, using the statistical measures you extract.

You will receive feedback from both peers and instructors as you work to produce your data story.

Participants will need to score at least 50% on the assessment to pass this course.

Requirements

Mandatory

  • To complete this online course, you will need a personal computer with spreadsheet functionality (such as Excel), reliable internet access, web conferencing capability and an operating system with a web browser compatible with the Canvas Learning Management System.

Discounts

Discounts are available for this course as follows:

  • 10% discount UTS alumni and staff.

Discounts cannot be combined and only one discount can be applied per person per course session. Discounts can only be applied to the full price. Discounts cannot be applied to any offered special price. 

How to obtain your discount voucher code (UTS alumni)

  • Please contact the team at support@open.uts.edu.au with your student number to obtain your discount voucher code. 

How to enrol and obtain your UTS staff discount (UTS staff)

How to apply your discount voucher 

  • If you are eligible for a UTS alumni discount, please ensure you have provided your UTS student number in your UTS Open Profile (under “A bit about you”). If you have forgotten your UTS student number, email support@open.uts.edu.au with your full name, UTS degree and year of commencement.  
  • Add this course to your cart 
  • Click on "View Cart" (blue shopping trolley at top right of screen). You will need to sign in or sign up to UTS Open 
  • Enter your eligible code beneath the “Have a code?” prompt and click on the blue "Apply" button 
  • Verify your voucher code has been successfully applied before clicking on the blue "Checkout" button. 

 

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UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.

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