Dialoging about data with the iSchools: exploring curricula trends

Our rapidly growing data driven culture is motivating curriculum change in nearly every discipline, including information science. This paper explores this change specifically within the iSchool community, where information science is a major unifying discipline. A cross-institutional analysis of data related curricula was conducted across 65 iSchools. Results show that a majority of iSchools examined (37 out of 65, 56.9%) currently offer some data related education, particularly at the master's level, and that approximately 15% of the formalized degree offerings have a data focus. Overall, iSchools show a greater emphasis in data science and big data analytics, with only a few select programs providing focused curricula in the area of digital curation. Recommendation are also made for iSchools to leverage the interdisciplinary of information science, publish curriculum, and track graduate success so that iSchools may excel in educating information professionals in the data area. Future data education in iSchools may benefit from more interdisciplinary data education, including data curation curricula.

Dialoging about data with the iSchools: exploring curricula trends Articles