Training Badges Now Available!
Organizations that have been implementing our online training courses have asked for badges, or “micro-credentials,” to enable their employees to track and show progress in their learning journey. We’re excited to announce that we’ve responded to this request and rolled out an Open Badge solution that is available for all. Anyone who completes all of the steps and quizzes of the on-demand courses we offer via our online learning academy will be awarded one of our four training completion badges – Data Citizen, Visual Interpreter, Data Explorer, and Data Communicator.
We’d love to tell you more about these badges and the courses that go along with each of them:
Data Citizen
Learners who complete our Data Literacy Fundamentals course, Understanding the Power & Value of Data, will be awarded the “Data Citizen” badge. This “Level 0” course is designed for anyone who is beginning their developmental journey in data, and seeking to lay a firm foundation in basic, critical concepts. Those who complete this course obtain an understanding of what data is, how it applies to them, different ways people display and analyze data and their relative strengths and use cases, and more.
Visual Interpreter
Learners who complete our Data Literacy Level 1 course, Learning to See Data, will be awarded the “Visual Interpreter” badge. Each one of us needs to read and interpret charts, graphs and maps on a daily basis in our world, and most of us did not receive a formal education that adequately prepared us to absorb so much information in this way. This course teaches people how to decode the visual language of charts, and it teaches them more than two dozen of the most common chart types they will encounter.
Data Explorer
Learners who complete our Data Literacy Level 2 course, Working Effectively with Data (coming in on-demand format in Fall 2022), will be awarded the “Data Explorer” badge. It’s often necessary to go beyond simply reading charts that others have created, and to dive into the raw data ourselves to find key insights so that we can apply them to our most important decisions. This hands-on course teaches a tool-agnostic framework that can be used to convert raw data into wisdom no matter what tool they choose to use.
Data Communicator
Learners who complete our Data Literacy Level 3 course, Communicating Clearly with Data, will be awarded the “Data Communicator” badge. Situations arise in which we need to present multiple charts in the same view (a dashboard), and other situations require us to craft and deliver presentations that form a compelling narrative (a data story). Organizations need talented “data translators” to communicate the situation and point a way forward. This course gives people approaches and techniques that help them overcome stage fright and turn presenting data into a super power.
Showcasing Your Skills for Prospective Employers
We’ve set up our badges as verifiable digital credentials, meaning they are Open Badge Compliant. We have also implemented built-in social sharing functionality, so that once the badge has been earned, it is easy to share news of the credential on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Additionally, with a couple clicks, badge earners can add the new credential to their LinkedIn profile in the “Licenses & Certifications” section. In this way, they can turn their LinkedIn profile into a “digital backpack” that provides evidence of their achievements so that current and prospective employers can see a clear track record of continuous professional development.
We hope you find these badges as exciting as we do! We’re working hard to become the best data literacy training organization in the world, and we’d love to know what other ideas and suggestions you have for us that will help us raise the bar even farther. Reach out to us any time at contact@dataliteracy.com to share your thoughts, or to get the conversation started about how you can make these courses available for your own team!