Data literacy and digital technology in education: A systematic literature review

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Abstract

In 2018, the literature review titled "Data literacy training and use for educational professionals" (Henderson & Corry, 2021) showed the lack of literature related to technology and data literacy for educators and suggested the need for future work that investigated data literacy in relation to technology, like big data systems. This work is timely as big data AI systems become more commonplace in both K-12 and higher education settings, requiring educators to have the appropriate skills and knowledge to be an effective human-in-the-loop as a check on these systems.
In this literature review, we analyzed and synthesized the current literature at the crossroads of data literacy, technology, and education by focusing on the research question, "What is the role of data literacy in the education literature on digital technologies for teaching and learning since 2019?"
A systematic literature review was conducted using PRISMA standards. A search was conducted in the academic databases Academic Search Complete and ERIC/EBSCO using the keywords "data literacy" AND "education" AND "technology".
A total of 50 peer-reviewed journal articles written in English since 2019 were returned with 31 found eligible for deeper analysis based on the abstracts. Preliminary results found four major categories of education literature on data literacy and digital technologies since 2019. The first category was conceptual work focused on developing consistent definitions of data literacy and/or frameworks for data literacy and technology. This literature was typically grounded in relation to ethics and ideas of critical data literacy for digital technologies. The second category was empirical research investigating teacher perceptions of their data literacy skill. The third category was quantitative research that investigated data literacy as a variable in relation to technology acceptance, student empowerment, and within the DigComp framework. The final category was pedagogical pieces that highlighted lesson techniques for developing student data literacy in relation to digital technologies. These pieces spanned K-12 and higher education and included perspectives from both STEM and the humanities/art.

Authors

• Jessa Henderson, University of Bergen

• Natalie B. Milman, The George Washington University