The ONE Overall Goal of Data

Lesson 1 Overview

Welcome to the first lesson of the Data Literacy Fundamentals course! In this first lesson, we’ll “begin with the end in mind” by considering how we can use data to ultimately grow in wisdom. Data all by itself can’t help us. We need to learn how to convert it into more meaningful forms in order to put it to good use. We’ll use a very visual and practical model – the DIKW Pyramid – in order to learn how to unlock the power and value of data, step-by-step.

Click here to download the Lesson 1 Exercise Worksheet in .docx form.

Course Project Next Steps

• For your course project, start by picking a topic or area of either your personal or your professional life for which you want to use data in order to grow in wisdom. For now, all you need to do is decide on the topic. Pick one that’s important to you, that way the learnings will stick! It could be your level of fitness activity, your moods throughout the week, the number of emails in your inbox at the end of each day, or your work team’s quarterly performance goal. Soon you’ll begin tracking data about this topic, but don’t worry about that just yet. Those steps will come in latter lessons.