Data and Information Literacy Education: Methods, Models, and Challenges

Data and information literacy (DIL) is a set of critical skills for every citizen in the twenty-first century. It is important to help both college students and other individuals become skillful data/information users, creators, and lifelong learners. As DIL has a profound impact on education, employment, and quality of life in today's data-intensive and information-rich environment, it is essential to make everyone aware of the importance of DIL and to deliver effective DIL education. Currently, DIL education confronts multiple challenges including insufficient instruction, heterogeneous student groups, inadequate faculty, out-dated instructional materials, etc. To overcome these challenges, effective generic and specific education methods and models are desired to be proposed and applied. The goal of this panel is to further discuss these challenges, methods, and models of DIL education. Innovative development strategies are put forward. The importance of enhancing educators' teaching skills are also emphasized. This panel will include two main activities. First, the panelists will give presentations about recent efforts to improve DIL education. Second, the moderator will host a discussion among the panelists and the audience, drawing on previous presentations.