And just in this very final part of the event,
we wanted to tell you a little bit about what
we've done on this project to try and address
some of the challenges that we've been talking about.
So our primary audience was developing data skills training
for undergraduate social science students
with an interest or potential interest in working in global development.
And certainly that's the group that we're all guinea pigs.
I'm very kindly took part in a pilot of the training program
that we ran last September.
However, we think the resources have much
broader relevance for teaching data skills to non-specialist students.
So students on a course that might not have data statistics
in the name, but who are going to need to work with data
either in their careers or just going out into the world
where we're surrounded by data at an ever increasing volume of data.
And so kind of picking up a bet on what Sabina was talking about
in terms of actually, in an ideal world,
this data revolution would be open to everybody.
And Miguel's project in terms of data skills
aren't just for people studying for a degree level qualification
We hope some of the training program is going to be useful for a broader
audience, as well as people studying for degrees in university settings.
So I mentioned at the start that we built our program
around insights we got from interviews with development professionals
about how they saw data being used in their work,
what their projections were for the future of data and development.
And one of our interviewees, I think one of our interviewees from Spain,
encouraged the team to open the appetite of future professionals
to the possibilities of data for global development.
And by that, they meant get them interested
and give them some of the basics, but just make people curious
about what's possible with data.
And we thought that was a really great metaphor
for what we should be trying to do with a data skills program
for people, not on a specific data science program. So
as we as we kind of come a few times today,
it's not always everybody's favorite statistics, data
In the literature, it's often dubbed statistical anxiety
that the very idea of needing to work with numbers, data
can be quite anxiety inducing and potentially
we might link to failures in mass
education earlier in the education system,
that people come to a thinking like that.
But there is
sometimes a bit of apprehension and also sometimes just less
of an interest relative to the other exciting topics
they might be covering in their degrees
So we were interested in this idea of, okay, how can we spark
the interest of students around developing data skills,
but also how can we make it something that they'll be
willing to continue with?
So in our program, what we tried to do was master
the basics, give students that foundational training
but also just open them up to the possibility of there's
so much more you can do with data, and that's likely to evolve.
And that recognizes the fact that in, in one training course
for non-specialist students, we're not going to make them data
is able to do all the different types of data analysis.
And equally, even if we could in ten, 20 years
time, later on in their careers, things probably will have changed
and moved on a lot, just like they have over the last ten, 15 years.
So what we were trying to do with this program was to get
that foundational training, but just to spark that interest
and that confidence that they would be able to learn
new techniques, be able to read different types of data analysis.
And that opening the appetite phrase
became a theme for the program as I noted earlier.
Well said, sometimes data is difficult to digest.
We were using metaphors like that.
Quite a lot tends to have a let the students be the judge of that.
But we were trying to link data skills training to stages
of preparing a meal.
So we have quite a few videos of chefs in kitchens making links between
data and food and eating
food, preparing food that we hope makes the material
more entertaining but also more accessible for learners.
And there are several
key components to our training program
The first is an online self-study course,
and we're really fortunate to have UUNET as one of our partners,
the Spanish National Distance Learning University,
who are really experts in developing these sorts of programs.
And they run a massive online course
platform out of their university, UUNET Abierta.
And we were incredibly fortunate that they were willing to work
with us to put our training program onto their platform.
So that means that we have a course that is ready to go.
People can enroll on teach themselves
from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.
And we have an English language version of that that is live now.
But we're also developing Turkish and Spanish versions
that will be online by the end of the month.
And this is a course that anybody with an interest
in data skills, whether that's students, but also
perhaps
early career professionals, others interested in upskilling around data
can sign up for, and it's completely free to audit it.
And if you want to gain accreditation get the certificate at the end,
then there's just a very small fee
to to help you get a certificate at the end.
I think it's 15 year high tech to get to get a nice
certificate to say you've completed that.
So that is probably the most flexible part of our program that we hope
will have the biggest appeal in terms of who's able to benefit from it.
But alongside it, we also have a,
a program of online live tutorials
to consolidate learning and a plan for students who have been doing
the self-study course in different countries
to come together and work on a team project
with students in other countries.
And it's really designed for students to do over a one week period
where they do some modules
on their online self-study program in the earlier part of the day
and then jump on it on an online video call like this one later in the day
to do some tutorials and
depends where you are in the world, what time that ended up being.
But we're able to all come together at a time that works for everybody.
Do some activities consolidating the learning from those modules, but also
working towards team based projects.
And our students on the pilot program where research and development
data blindspots.
So areas we know we don't do very well on what what is out there
and what could we be doing better on that.
And as teams they gave us presentations over a video call
and have also written briefing papers that they coauthored
in their international teams and we've published on our website
and we saw
real value in that approach because students were not only
getting that training in in data skills and
some of that was technical data skills.
So learning new software, creating data visualizations
in particular is something we focused on,
but we were also teaching them about data strategy data ethics.
How do you communicate with data?
They were getting that knowledge, that new information
about data skills, but then they were also getting
to discuss it with their peers as some of the speakers were saying.
That's a really great way of enthusing students about it.
If they can be debating, discussing this content with each other,
but then also getting that experience of working internationally
and remotely with students in other countries which
figuring into a sector like global development is a really valuable thing
to get experience off.
So there's a few different parts
to this to that project and the resources we've created.
Ideally, you do it in one, we can do it all.
But depending on what your interest is, what your situation is, it's
entirely possible to mix and match the parts that are most suitable.
And as I mentioned just now,
all the English language stuff is up on our website available to download
now, and there will be Turkish and Spanish versions coming very soon.
And we do also have a find a collaborative tool on our website.
So if you are a university instructor, you're thinking
you'd like to get involved with that and you'd like to be put in
touch with other universities, potentially internationally,
to be able to run the remote team projects.
And then please complete our find a collaborative form
and we will do our best to match you up with the university
or several universities in other countries
who who'd also be interested in running the program
and so I'm
aware we're at three, a three.
But if anyone did have any,
any budding questions for the team about the resources,
please feel free to stick your hand up or put them in the chat.
I've just posted in the chat
information on our Twitter account and our LinkedIn account,
and we'd be really delighted if you wanted to follow us.
Join our LinkedIn group
have a look at our website
But if if not just
just with one eye on time,
I would just like to say a massive thank you again to all our speakers.
We have to be really fabulous
presentations and discussions and
I did see a hand for a stack there from eight 30
but it's gone again, so I'm going to keep going.
But if you do have a question, feel free.
Just a meet yourself. Interrupt me
but yes.
So just to say really, really big.
Thank you to all our speakers to you are our guest
for taking the time out to join the session today.
And for any great range of questions
and in particular massive thank you to the Development
Council project team and lots of the partners
you've seen today chairing sessions, but they also have been here
behind the scenes involved and in different
aspects of putting together the program and the project act.
I just like to say a massive thank you
for being such a dedicated team of partners.
It's, it's been an interesting one running through this project
through the pandemic, but I'm really fortunate
to have such dedicated and patient partners
to get us to the point of our end events,
and in particular in the context of today's event.
Massive.
Thank you to our Team United, led by Dr.
Tatiana Eremenko who have who have made this all possible
and put together a really fantastic event.
And I'll just hand over to you, Tanya,
to say a few closing words oh.
My closing word is it goes in the same direction.
It's been a very interesting
project.
And sometimes challenging, sometimes less so.
But anyway, I hope thank you to all the participants in this conference.
For taking the time to be here.
A great, huge thank you to the technical team at Unit
who helped us organize all this in three languages
so that everybody could understand everything that was going on.
That was really great.
Yes. So a lot of thanks to Rachel,
who had the great idea to start this project a while ago.
And Will.
Yeah, we hope that we yes, this event was recorded as we told you
right from the start.
So after we edited and
yeah, we get all the authorization will hope that we'll
be able to share it so you can go back and listen to your favorite parts
because yeah, a lot of first thought, a lot of interesting ideas here
and so we we can keep this discussion and everything open.
Thank you.
Great.
Thank you.
And what we'll do is send
a follow up email with all the link for a question in the chat
there about accessing the mic.
So we have everybody's details registered on this in this event.
So we'll send everyone a follow up
email with some more information on, on accessing the resources
but thank you again, everybody,
and I hope you have a good rest of the day.
Thanks, Rachel.
Thanks, everyone.
Thanks, Alex. Thanks for great questions.
Yeah, thank you.
My thanks for your effort, guys.
It was an awesome conference capture on our special.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thanks for putting
your background on Atkins.
Actually, right, Rachel?
Yes. I should have maybe said that
I thought the last bit
when you were talking about all the benefits
that those working students working in across.
And actually it's something I'm also doing.
But but focusing specifically on sort of cultural literacies
and sharing them.
And just to let you know, on Tuesday, next Tuesday, where
there's a discovery lecture with David Killick from Leeds University.
So any one that you agree is very welcome
to come along to that
is talking about that is competent these
student competencies due to competencies working
in a globalized world. So
interesting. Yeah. Because it's so true.
But we yeah, we've kind of seen people up in things to do with data.
But then, yeah, I think lots of the learning
that came out of it for our students in the pilot program was
how do we how do we work together?
But it's brilliant that you're actually putting this in into place
because I mean, I'm
doing a second iteration of what I did with the University of Girona.
We're doing a separate team,
but we kind of did it with teacher trainees,
and they work together in a virtual space
that was sort of eight months to reflect on their placements.
In particular.
And we looked at that, the dataset that they produced on a,
on a barely on our outward facing e-learning platform.
So this
is a second iteration, but we're going to be more
focused.
That's why I mentioned gamification, because I'm hoping
to bring bring some of that in as well.
But the fact that you are giving that opportunity for those students
to potentially work together, you know,
how that collaborative element is just wonderful.
So I'm really 30, so it's instantly recruited.
I think it is, but I'm sure we'll chop it before this.
This and a few people have stayed on the course
that people might be interested in the conversation as well.
But yeah, it's really interesting.
I think we were all a bit nervous how it would go
with having students in the different countries,
you know, working together.
But what we found is that they really got into it
and they were like having these zoom calls like late into the evening
working on their team projects.
Everyone had a WhatsApp group and yeah, they, they really
when we were really impressed how well they did at those team projects.
Fantastic.
Yeah. I'd love to know more about that.
And also because I'm actually going out again to join the first.
We can second, we can April 1st, whatever.
From the fourth onwards to military design, the second iteration is
the first one was pre-pandemic,
had our finger on the button there.
And then the second one,
obviously we've learned so much in the last two years.
Yeah, same for this we'd kind of envisaged
that we would all teach our students separately
and then maybe jump on a call together.
And it was the pandemic that forced us to think, Okay, no,
we need it to be all online.
What's the best way to do that?
But it wasn't in the, the proposal to I mean,
I think it's better as a result, but it did require a bit of a rethink.
But I'm so excited about the materials
because I've been racking my brains about how it's going to
work with the undergraduates to make them not so
frightened of statistics. And
so I can't wait to see
the resources and, you know, potentially incorporate them.
Yeah. Yeah.
We're I mean, it's been a lot of work
that we're super keen, but as many people are. Okay.
And then obviously, you know, get give you some feedback.
Yeah, yeah. That would be excellent. It'll be interesting as well.
Like seeing how it goes with different disciplines and
like, alright, we did actually
I think quite a few of our Turkish students were education students
on so yeah, it was.
It's interesting having how different disciplines,
everyone seems to have the statistical anxiety like even,
even the engineering students apparently, or they like.
You know, in our work
I've worked with big datasets, but I wouldn't call myself busy,
you know, contro you know, I think I'm pushing it.
We want to say mixed methods
yeah.
No, it's, yeah. It's.
Lovely to hear from your colleagues as well.
Anyway, I've, I've heard that you will go.
I know. Tatyana, thank you so much.
And really interesting to hear about the MOOCs that that's available.
I think I will sign up to that myself just to see what you've
what you've done there.
The same really wonderful.
Great thank you.
No. Yeah.
I don't know how
to finish this off
I'm just going to see with the the technical team,
we're probably ready to finish right.
The event, and we want to say something that was really good
nice finishing discussion there as well.
I think I think I think.
It's.
I think we've learned the recorder.
We need to revise the program.
And I'd like Stone as a final speaker.
Discussant. Let's see
thanks very much for that.
Well done, Tanya.
And the United team. That was great.
Yeah, really?
Well, did you and the translation was great.
Yeah.
Like, I was listening to it when we had the chap from Senegal.
They did really well.
If still on the call, the translators come
even when we have the slight technical difficulty with that
speaker in terms of the, the, the problem, the line from it was.
Yeah, really clear. Really good. Yeah.