Data visualization is becoming an integral tool within many of the industries and media that impact us on a daily basis. As more and more of our digital resources turn to data to fuel intelligence and analysis, we are constantly driven by the need to interpret and showcase data in meaningful ways. This is becoming increasingly apparent within the field of education.
As data-driven analysis continues to reshape our perception of education, it is data visualization that will help us decipher and share information with our stakeholders and learners alike. When used properly, data visualization can be a powerful communication tool.
Education is not alone in its use of data visualization. Trailblazing companies are constantly seeking future opportunities for data visualization and are focusing their resources on the development and refinement of data visualization tools. We expect to see tremendous growth within the data visualization market as well the emergence of synergetic relationships with peripheral technologies such as immersive technologies, data analytics, AI and mobile learning.
Opportunity statement:
From showcasing performance, to identifying early intervention opportunities to making informed operational decisions, data visualization will continue to lead the charge when it comes to data analysis within an educational setting. With the growing use of digital resources, online learning and educational technology we expect data visualization to become more readily used throughout all levels of education.
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In leadership education, there’s been a need to define leadership traits that are successful and within these traits is the need to want to be able to quantify what were the skills, competencies, experiences and judgements needed to get to that trait. In my field, the use of self-assessment and learning conversation tools take on the realm of finding key words that could fit into an algorithm. Words and self-assessment values such as “Keen”, “team-player” and “empathetic” take on a whole new meaning as these traits become values to be used to create leaders going forward.
Using different data gathering tools, the use of AI to harness key terms in interviews and social media like LinkedIn and future data sets we’re not even dreaming of, there’s an opportunity to be able to harness set data points to provide those who were wanting to improve themselves to get started somewhere.
This is the emerging market I am most excited about. Not because it represents something particularly futuristic or novel, but because it is both conceptually basic and yet prohibitively challenging to successfully implement.
Data visualizations from analytics are a staple of contemporary life. I wake up and my watch displays sleep metrics, my phone visualizes my activity throughout the day, and my kindle displays my reading habits. Visualizations are seeped in the world of sport, finance, tech, and video games. Despite this ubiquity, my professional and student experience leads me to feel as though the world of higher education is lagging behind when it comes to data visualization.
There are many good reasons for this – privacy and security, organizational complexity, technical complexity, etc. In some scenarios, the data exists and is accessible, but visualizing and telling a meaningful story with it in a way that benefits learning is either neglected or is too challenging.
New technologies are constantly emerging to help solve these problems, and I am excited to witness (and hopefully participate in) the potential they unlock.
Efforts are well underway to incorporate more data-driven approaches in teaching and learning in K-12 schools. On the one hand, this approach offers to vastly improve the experience and quality of learning in any classroom by targeting specific gaps and needs in learning. For instance, my school district has experimented with a tool built into the LMS we use that enables learners and teachers to visualize the level of student mastery of specific learning outcomes. Though not perfect, this tool has been reported by teachers to be useful in their reflective practice and helps students see their own successes and areas for improvement by shifting their focus away from a simple grade.
On the other hand, teaching requires a certain level of intuition and tact that is applied through the formation of relationships with students. Therefore, this area seems like a highly important one for focus given the rapid pace of AI development and integration. The promise of data visualization is exciting and real, but we must also not lose sight of the limitations of data, especially as AI technologies develop.
I was torn between a few choices for my third selection but it’s hard to ignore the gulf between the potential impact that data visualization can have in k-12 education and the current state of affairs. I just completed ETEC 543 (Understanding Learning Analytics) and it’s abundantly clear that there is much work to be done when it comes to providing teachers (and other stakeholders) with useful information in the form of data visualizations and actionable insights. The tools and platforms that really get this right are few and I think there is a real opportunity to move the needle here.
I also believe that teachers are being severely underserved when it comes to preparing them to use data effectively in their classrooms. Bachelor of education programs offer little in the way of data literacy and school districts frankly have too much on their plates to include those kinds of training in their ongoing Professional development offerings. Any data analytics that tools provide for k-12 teachers must therefore take this into account and ensure that they don’t overwhelm teachers (who are already overwhelmed) with reams of data that they can’t use immediately.