by Sinsi Jiang and Rico Niedo
“The purpose of data is insight, not just pictures.”
Ben Schneiderman, Founding Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland
In this week’s OER we’re going to introduce to you Data Visualization in Education and Storytelling. Our apologies for misreading our dates and please take your time to complete this, we understand how much time these OERs take.
Click on the banner below to access the OER.
After going through our OER, please discuss the following with the rest of the class:
- What were some of your takeaways after learning a bit more about data visualization and its application to education and storytelling?
- What do you wish you knew more about after completing this module?
Thank you so much for your participation
Hi Rico and Sinsi!
Great job on this OER. I liked the multimodal format you took with this (images, videos, interactive presentations, etc.) Your banner was very clever in that it showed us a data visualization of what to expect for your OER!
I never connected data visualization with storytelling, so I appreciated learning about that in your OER. I am a huge visual learner, so I enjoy seeing my information in as many different visual formats as possible to increase understanding. Reading about the benefits of data visualization has further convinced me to continue presenting data to my students in a visual manner, as many of them are also visual learners like me. Especially in ESL contexts, sometimes images are easier to understand than words.
I think your OER touched on all the important aspects of data visualization! However, I would have liked to learn a little more about the potential misuse of data, especially when we think about user privacy and data for young learners. Adding AI into the mix, we definitely need to understand all the drawbacks before we head straight on into implementing such technology/tools.
Hey Didy!
Thank you 🙂 so much for your kind observation. I’m glad you got to take away something that will be helpful in your day to day work.
And yes, data visualization tools can definitely have some harms in it, especially in the social media and meme space. Insight is one of the greatest gifts of data visualization, but just like any good story, it can be manipulated to meet the story. Harvard Business Review (HBR) did a great introduction to the misuse of data 12 years ago that I think is still pertinent today:
https://hbr.org/2013/03/when-data-visualization-works-and
It’s a great short read 🙂
Hi Rico and Sinsi,
I really enjoyed your OER and how you incorporated data visualization in it to aid your storytelling–especially how you guys used it in your “About Us” section!
One of my takeaways from your OER, especially your Genially, is that different forms of data visualizations have different purposes and effects. Understanding when to use each type of data visualization to convey the intended message is crucial to effective storytelling through data.
For your second question, I think it would have been interesting to include an example of an ineffective use of data visualization. Overall, great job!
Hello Annaren,
Thank you for engaging with the OER and the Genially. I appreciate your thoughtful insight. You are right; each form of data visualization serves a unique purpose, and knowing when and how to use them is important. This will significantly impact how information is understood. Data storytelling is not just about displaying numbers, but it is about choosing the right visual to guide the audience toward the message. I am glad that this stood out to you. Your takeaway truly captures the core of data visualization.
I appreciate your comment on the second question. I want to share with you this article about bad data visualization. It discussed five ways how data visualizations are poorly crafted and mislead data.
https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/bad-data-visualization
Thanks for the great OER Rico and Sinsi. I really appreciated your focus on the storytelling element of data visualization. It also made me think about the power of interdisciplinary approaches to problems. I also appreciated your ethical exploration of the topic. After completing you OER it made me want to understand more about data collection. I am still wondering whether we understand well enough what types of data need to be collected to provide us with the insights that we need to leverage the AI technologies that you discuss. It seems a balance is needed to collect enough data so that algorithmic systems can be effective, and not too much data where learners or teachers begin to feel like they are being surveilled.