What's Needed to be a Data Scientist?

Hyde Park, The Serpentine Lake, London, UK

Photo by Jonathan Acuña

What’s Needed to be a Data Scientist?

In language learning and education

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Post 330 / DS Log 3

     After putting together all pieces of information in the infographic I created to see what’s needed to be a data scientist, lots of thoughts came into my mind as to how this relates to me as a language instructor and educator. What’s really behind all this new knowledge linked to Data Science (DS) and Big Data (BD)? Let me explore some of my ideas regarding DS and BG and their connection with education.

     With a bit of curiosity, all teachers can become data scientists of their own data. Each of our courses is a unique situation that will generate data that must be comprehended to cater for student learning and coaching needs. Teachers have the capacity to analyze, provide solutions to class situations, and spot ways to interpret the data, e.g., exam results, platform grades and performance, etc. Basic statistical analysis is needed to go into mining data for analysis and interpretation, and in the end, we can provide better teaching and coaching to learners. Educators need to become data miners and explorers to provide students with ways to develop skills and competencies.

     Mining our own data also reflects our ability to tell the story behind what is being analyzed and understood. In a school situation, where lots of data pertaining grades (and other pieces of information) is stored in a data base, a teacher or school administrator can analyze, interpret, and tell the story that data tell him/her. Finding ways to present discoveries among the analyzed data is something that with a bit of exercise any educator can do. The identification of new revelations in data can be a happy, joyful moment since it can be the identification of a path to follow to help students in their learning process.

     Dr. Murtaza Haider (2018) stated that a great sense of humor is needed by anyone working as a data scientist, and I bet it is the same principle for any educator. The teacher can laugh at him/herself because of the “crazy ideas” that can arise from the interpretation of data in the school data base. Seriousness in data mining, interpretation, and analysis is not always good because humor can be a great part of team building that can erase worries from the face of educators. The teacher has to be good at laughing at his/her “odd” ideas that can help comprehend what is happening in a class, course, or school year.

     There are more traits a teacher data scientist needs to embody. What was introduced here was a good account of characteristics needed by a miner in data science. It is our task to see how they become relevant to our teaching profession and how we can use these data to help the learners, the institution, and the educators with ways to correct paths and provide guidance towards success.

References

Haider, M. (2018). Specific Skills to Hire a Data Scientist. [Video File]. Retrieved from Laureate Edcuation, Inc. at https://dtl.laureate.net/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_165016_1&content_id=_801204_1&mode=reset