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What is Data Literacy?

Over the past few weeks, our series has focused on unpacking computer literacy and digital literacy. We’ve found that computer literacy differs from digital literacy, which is the ability to communicate or find information on digital platforms. Whereas computer literacy measures the ability to use computers and to maintain a basic understanding of how they operate. However one can’t assume that exposure to computers and digital tools and automatically equates to the knowledge of how to use these effectively. This is where data literacy comes in. All of them are interlinked and in many ways require an understanding of each other because they are so closely linked. For instance, one can’t begin with data literacy without any knowledge and understanding of digital literacy. It is an underlying component of digital literacy due to the usage of technology to drive better outcomes.

According to Gartner 2019, Data literacy is defined as “ the ability to read, write and communicate data in context, including an understanding of data sources and constructs, analytical methods and techniques applied…” This is the core definition but data literacy can be defined differently in line with the specific contexts. In a business context, Forbes defines data literacy as “Using data effectively for business actions and outcomes”.

If you’re at school, data literacy could just be how to read charts and graphs, drawing correct conclusions, and recognizing when data is misleading. In Mathematics, there is often a huge focus on data and problem-solving. Some of you might remember but this is where you are taught how to calculate the mean, mode, median, and range. Of course, it gets more complex once you enter the working space but essentially this is the most basic foundation of understanding data.

Why is Data Literacy important?

From a business point of view, data helps organizations to create digital business opportunities to improve efficiency, accuracy and help employees develop greater outcomes. Secondly, it helps give your company a competitive edge in this everchanging market.

However, schools and universities are often ill-equipped to solve the problem of data literacy holistically. The responsibility is often on you to ensure that your data literacy is up to date. People leave institutions and change workplaces every now again still being unable to use data literacy tools. For instance, Excel – a popular and relevant data literacy tool used in the workspace is only used by one in five people on the planet. And those who do use it, only a certain percentage truly know how to optimally use its features for data literacy.

A Data Literate person should be able to:

• Analyze using data
• Use data to communicate ideas and plans for new projects, products, or even strategies,
• Understand and create dashboards (spreadsheets, databases, visualizations for example),
• Make data-based decisions rather than based on intuition. Therefore, be able to make “fact” based decisions supported by data.

Data Literacy in the workplace

Over the years, data literacy has become a vital skill for organizations seeking to transform into data-driven teams. The issue is that not all staff members are trained to use data to make strategic decisions.

Organisations Need Data Literate Employees to:

• Communicate in a common language of data to better understand conversations about it
• Identify unexpected issues and come up with data-driven solutions
• Prevent making poor decisions due to data misinterpretation
• Have the framework and support to integrate new tools and ways of thinking into their everyday work lives

Becoming Data Literate

Get training and understand the importance of data literacy:

As an employee or future worker, you must understand how vital data literacy is to the success of the organization you work for. Once you understand why data is crucial for your business objectives, you will be less likely to resist gaining additional knowledge about how to interpret data. Unless you’re fortunate to work for a company that advances data literacy then you will have to take ownership of your own training so take advantage of free online courses. The Data Literacy project offers several free e-learning courses and the amazing thing is that training on critical thinking and data skills can be fun and casual. The more fun you make it, the more engagement you will see. Every employee must at least know how to ask:

• How the data was collected
• What can be learned from the data
• Consider the reliability of the information.

As discussed in the previous post – Digital Literacy and Why It’s Important Today in this increasingly digitized world, demand for digital literacy skills has surged over the past few years. However, ways to upskill yourself can sometimes be inaccessible and expensive. Above that, there are so many platforms available out there, where do you begin finding a credible and suitable course for your needs? Luckily for you, Standard Bank has partnered with Microsoft and Pioneering Solutions Studio (PSS) for a FREE online digital literacy training course.

Microsoft Digital Literacy course

The course aims to help South Africans thrive in the digital world while building their confidence and online skills. To unpack what the course entails and what is required, we’ll be answering some key questions for you.

What is the key focus of the course?

The course focuses on few key components including how to use a computer, the internet, how to protect yourself and your computer in the often unsafe online world and how to navigate Microsoft Office suite including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

What resources are required for the training?

All you need is either a phone, tablet or computer that has internet connectivity, a web browser and a valid email address.

Will I obtain a certification after I complete the course?

Yes, you will receive a certificate at the end of the course. You will however need to obtain 50% or above for the online assessment which is taken after you complete the course. Another big plus is that the certificate is issued by Foundation for Professional Development and this means that you can add this to your CV or LinkedIn as an indication to recruiters that you have certification for digital literacy.

Where and how do I register for the course?

Registration is a relatively easy process but in order to gain access to the content, you have to register your account on the ICTED.online platform. You will be asked to register with a valid email address and create a password, thereafter, fill in information about yourself. After completing this stage, you will receive an account confirmation email from ICTED.online. Once all is set you can then access the course by logging in with your user details.

Should you have any issues, the ICTED.online platform has an available support team from 08:00 to 16:00. The support team can also be contacted via email at support@ps.studio and contacted on 012 111 7001.

You can also download this guide (Click here to download) which answers more of the frequently questions before starting the course.

More than ever, Digital literacy has become extremely vital for navigating your personal and professional life. Once you get to a stage where you feel confident in your computer literacy, it becomes easier to transition into learning about digital literacy. Similar to computer literacy, it has become more compulsory for higher education students and employees to be digitally literate and this is why it is best to capacitate yourself with digital skills early as possible. Fortunately, other institutions may embed digital skills into the first-year courses as part of the first-year experience because they recognize its importance.

What is Digital Literacy?

According to Developing Employability, “Digital literacy is the ability to identify and use technology confidently, creatively and critically to meet the demands and challenges of life, learning and work in a digital society”. In other words, it is having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information occur more and more through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and smartphones.

Why is it important?

It’s important to understand the being digitally literate is more than just knowing how to use technology, it’s knowing how to navigate effectively in a digitally enhanced environment. This may be in your social, cultural life, learning life, and/or working life. It’s about recognizing the ability to transfer digital skills that you’ve learned from one situation and moving across one platform to another application seamlessly. All you need to do is to build a solid foundation and then working on strengthening your digital footprint.

It also becomes really important in the future when you enter the professional world. The requirement for digital skills is higher in professional careers. A 2017 study from the European Commission found that 90% of professionals are required to possess at least basic digital skills. In your workplace, you’ll be required to interact with people in digital environments, use information in appropriate ways, and create new ideas and products collaboratively. Above all, you’ll need to maintain your digital identity and wellbeing as the digital world continues to change at a fast pace.

Without these digital literacy competencies, people struggle to thrive in a technology-driven society. For instance, the working world needs graduates and employees who are able to:

• Utilize digital tools for communicating, collaborating, and solving problems
• Find, evaluate and use online resources
• Produce and effectively share knowledge
• Create online content, not just be consumers of content
• Curate data and media sources

5 Key Digital Literacy skills and how to Apply them

1. Photo-visual literacy: This is the ability to recognize a photo or infographic and be able to understand the symbolism behind them. So, you’re able to “read” the photo on the screen intuitively and understand the instruction and the message behind the visual. For example, if you see a photo of a small trash bin, you immediately understand that it means “delete”.  
2. Socio-emotional Literacy: This is the ability to identify the advantage of working in the digital space but also identifying the “traps” and dangers that may come with working in cyberspace and how to avoid them.
3. Information Literacy: The ability to know when there is a need for information and using that information for the problem at hand. It’s also having skepticism when consuming information. For example, knowing how to identify fake news in the age of misinformation.
4. Reproduction literacy: Digital reproduction literacy is the ability to create a meaningful, authentic, and creative work or interpretation, by integrating existing independent pieces of information.
5. Branching Literacy: Branching literacy is understanding the complexity of cyberspace. For many, it might come quite naturally after years of understanding how the digital world operates. It is the ability to navigate the internet and databases without getting “lost” in cyberspace.  In simple terms, it involves making a mental note of how you got to a certain page once you are there, how to leave it, opening other tabs, choosing options based on visuals, etc.

Digital skills that can make you employable in the workplace:

1. Social Media skills
2. Analytics
3. Understanding collaboration and project management tools – Google Drive, Asana, Trello
4. Content Marketing – blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, social media status updates
5. Strategy and Planning
6. Emails, google calendar
7. Fluency in choosing the right device and software
8. Awareness of digital trends

How do I learn digital skills?

The inevitable part of living in the digital era is that being digitally literate can help you advance your ability to participate in the economy. All organizations in the digital economy, are coming to realise that digital skills are vital for employees in the digital era. Especially in the covid-19 shifted world, it is more important than ever that new employees are cross-disciplined and have both hard and soft skills.  Whatever the specific job you are interviewing for, recruiters will be looking out for a wider skill set and broader experience in their recruitment.

• Watch YouTube

Another way to learn about digital is online (i.e. digitally)! And you don’t even have to read. There are YouTube videos for everything and it’s not just a website – it’s the world’s second-largest search engine

• Take a course

If you find it hard to dedicate time to self-learning, then committing to a course – either free online or classroom-based – might be what you need. Another option is presenting it to your manager as being relevant for your career development then it’s worth asking if your workplace will fund it.

• Find a teacher

If you’re a working person, ask someone digitally savvy in your office to help you learn. Or you can ask someone in your family, community, varsity to teach you.