INTEGRATING DATA LITERACY INTO UNDERGRADUATE COURSEWORK AT SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA.

At Saint Mary’s College of California (SMC), preparing the future workforce in aquatic sciences requires not only a strong foundational knowledge, but also proficiency in data literacy skills essential for collecting, analyzing, interpreting, visualizing and communicating data. Achieving this proficiency requires creativity. It also necessitates a deliberate design of undergraduate coursework that prioritizes these competencies. One of the key challenges is balancing the need to increase students' disciplinary knowledge and enhance their data literacy. A promising solution is the incorporation of real-time, real-life data to address these objectives. In this presentation, I will highlight the integration of data literacy into the learning objectives of upper division course syllabi at SMC. I will discuss the importance of tools such as Microsoft Excel in laying the foundation for students' data analysis and visualizing skills. Additionally, I will showcase specific exercises, such as analyzing wave characteristics using data from OOI Ocean Data Labs Project to cultivate students' data analysis and interpretation skills.  Finally, I will address the importance of developing students’ spatial data literacy skills as an important component of workforce readiness and the benefits of using tools such as Google Earth and the potential of ArcGIS Survey 123 to facilitate data collection. The audience will learn about the various tools and data sources employed primarily in the classroom, to equip students for graduate programs and for successful careers in the aquatic sciences

Presentation Preference: Oral

Primary Presenter: Nekesha Williams, Saint Mary's College of California (nbw1@stmarys-ca.edu)

Authors:

Nekesha Williams, Saint Mary's College of California  (nbw1@stmarys-ca.edu)