Communicating Research Data – DIGI 845

CG • Section 8WK • 07/01/2018 to 12/31/2199 • Modified 02/01/2024

Course Description

Effective use of communication channels in the age of digital media requires extensive understanding and knowledge of data visualization and presentation. This course focuses on the principles and practices of video, graphic and online visual persuasion.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

The purpose of this course is to enable students to evaluate the communicative impact of data visualizations and to conceptualize and create unique and clear data visualizations that communicate meaningful insights to the designated audience.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in Course Overview.

In the first discussion, the student will record a 2–4-minute video introducing himself/herself to the class. In addition to the thread, the student will provide a written reply to 2 fellow student video introductions. Each reply must be at least 200 words.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, for each discussion, the student must provide a thread in response to the provided prompt (please see the discussion instructions). In addition to the initial thread, the student must reply to two (2) other classmates’ threads. Please see the discussion instructions for the specific parameters for each discussion.

This final discussion assignment is focused on students giving and receiving constructive feedback. Students will upload their final research-based essay assignment from Module 7 as the initial post for this module’s discussion. Then, each student will offer substantive feedback on the final essays of two classmates. Please see the discussion instructions for the specific parameters.

The student will conceptualize and visualize the provided dataset to communicate essential insights embedded within the dataset. Please see the assignment instructions for specific parameters.

The student will organize, clean, and analyze a large dataset (with over 4000 data points) and communicate essential stories embedded in the data. Please see the assignment instructions for specific parameters.

This assignment is a proposal for the student’s final research-based essay that they will write in Module 7. This assignment will introduce the topic of the proposed essay, it will discuss the problem to be explored, the purpose and significance of the research-based essay, and will introduce the dataset on which your research-based essay will be grounded. Please see the assignment instructions for specific parameters.

In this culminating assignment, the student will integrate and synthesize the course materials and assignments to write a cohesive communication-focused research-based essay grounded in current communication literature and centered around findings from the quantitative dataset selected by the student.

Central to this assignment will be six (6) student-generated data visualizations that clearly communicate the findings of this research-based essay to the reader. Please see the assignment instructions for specific parameters.