Strategies and Best Practices for Data Literacy Education Knowledge Synthesis Report
Chantel Risdale, James Rothwell, Mike Smit, Michael Bliemel, Dean Irvine, Dan Kelley, Stan Matwin, Brad Wuetherick, Hossam Ali-Hassan
Dalhousie University
2015
We begin with a definition, synthesized from existing literature and refined based on expert input: Data literacy is the ability to collect, manage, evaluate, and apply data, in a critical manner. It is an essential ability required in the global knowledge-based economy; the manipulation of data occurs in daily processes across all sectors and disciplines. An understanding of how decisions are informed by data, and how to collect, manage, evaluate, and apply this data in support of evidence-based decision-making, will benefit Canadian citizens, and will increasingly be required in knowledge economy jobs. Data literacy education is currently inconsistent across the public, private, and academic sectors, and data literacy training has not been approached systematically or formally at Canada'ʹs post-secondary institutions. There are also per-sector capability gaps, which makes it difficult to set realistic expectations of data‑based skills.
