course outline

The course will be organised in three blocks. The core learning activity throughout these three blocks will be the creation of weekly (nine in total) hand-drawn visualisations, with accompanying written reflections linking your work to the course themes. This will be supported by group discussions and synchronous group video tutorials. There will also be additional interactive tasks linked to the themes in each block. At the end of the course, you will produce a final assignment: the ‘digital essay’ (see the assessment section for more details).

Introduction (weeks 1 & 2)
The introductory two weeks of the course will support you in two key ways. Firstly, in developing a critical understanding of the central term and idea in this course: data. Through engagement with selected readings and group discussion, this part of the course will provide you with a foundational sense of the topic, working across technical and social understandings of data and their associated technologies. Secondly, the introductory period will assist you in preparing for subsequent course activity: setting up your personal course blog space, and preparing for the data visualisation task (more on this below).

Block 1: ‘Learning’ with data (weeks 3-5)

This first block will consider data in education from the perspective of ‘learners’ and ‘learning’, focusing on how data-driven technologies are shaping, not only the student experience, but the underlying assumptions of being a ‘learner’. During each week of this block, you will produce a hand-drawn data visualisation depicting some aspect of your activity around the course. These visualisations should be posted in your blog each week, and be viewable by your peers (more about this below, in ‘Assessment’). You will begin the block by participating in a ‘Tweetorial’ (week 3), progressing to the ‘track some personal data’ task (week 4), and finally producing a reflective blog post on the theme of ‘learning’ with data (week 5).

Block 2: ‘Teaching’ with data (weeks 6-8)

The second block of the course will shift to considering ‘teaching’ and the perspective of teachers in relation to educational data, focusing on how particular data-driven technologies are being design and deployed to assist with, and intervene in, pedagogical practices. During each week of this block, you will continue to produce hand-drawn data visualisations depicting some aspect of your activity around the course. These visualisations should be posted in your blog each week, and be viewable by your peers. You will begin the block by participating in a group video tutorial (week 6), progressing to the ‘build a teaching dashboard’ task (week 7), and finally producing a reflective blog post on the theme of ‘teaching’ with data (week 8).

Block 3: ‘Governing’ with data (week 9-11)

The final thematic block will consider the ways data have informed policy and educational governance, examining the ways data-driven approaches align with broader shifts in the sector towards management, measurement, and accountability. Again, you will continue to produce hand-drawn data visualisations each week depicting some aspect of your activity around the course. As before, these visualisations should be posted in your blog each week, and be viewable by your peers. You will begin the block by participating in a ‘Tweetorial’ (week 9), progressing to the ‘visualise some public data’ task (week 10), and finally producing a reflective blog post on the theme of ‘governing’ with data (week 11).

Conclusion (week 12)
The final week of the course will be devoted to two activities: firstly, preparing and submitting your data visualisations blog posts, along with your final written reflection (see ‘Assessment’ below); and secondly, planning your final assignment: the ‘digital essay’ (again, see below for further details). You will work independently on this task, with the opportunity for an individual support from your tutor.