The DINS Seminar Series is pleased to welcome Dr. Aditi Mallavarapu to its next session, slated for February 1, 2023. Dr. Mallavarapu will discuss "Designing a Critical Data Literacy Toolkit: Centering Youth Experiences," at this in-person session to be held from 11 am to 12 noon in the Conference Room (538-539) in the 130 N Bellefield facility (across the street from the IS Building). If you can't attend in-person, the Zoom information is provided below.
Abstract: Data literacy (DL) competencies can play a critical role in addressing the underrepresentation of Black youth in technology workforce pathways. Designing inclusive data literacy resources and technology to match the expectations and needs of historically marginalized youths is essential for reimagining a more inclusive technological workforce. In this talk, I discuss our partnership with nine Black high school students from a historically marginalized community to reimagine the design of a critical DL toolkit, positioning them as advisors for our research project, DATA (Data Analysis to Action) project. Through youth participatory action research (YPAR) the youth engaged in facilitated data advocacy activities analyzing data via a data analysis technology and creating artifacts for advocacy using community-based data. Our advisors identified refinements for DL technology design and activities that better align with their needs. Further centering critical DL, we analyzed advisors’ interactions during the hands-on activities through the data feminism lens to understand how the activities manifest critical thinking with data. We identified technical affordances that can support the advisors in this endeavor. Our major findings highlight that: engaging youth with data that aligns with their lived experiences can empower the youth; moreover, flexible technology and curricular design that supports critical thinking with data can expose the youth to the potential of using data and technology as an empowering tool for advocacy. I discuss these findings and the implications about the data, learning technology and curricular activities that the youth highlighted.
Speaker Biography: Aditi Mallavarapu is a Technology and Learning Sciences Postdoctoral researcher at Digital Promise, working as a part of the Center for Integrated Research in Computing and Learning Sciences (CIRCLS) where she specializes in creating data-driven resources to drive research innovation for researchers in the community. She is also a visiting scholar at the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh, where she uses participatory design to develop culturally responsive technology for young learners to learn data literacy and advocacy skills. She earned her PhD in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work uniquely investigates the underexplored space of applying human-centered learning analytics and machine learning techniques for exploration-based learning that takes place in complex open-ended learning environments (e.g., museum exhibits). Combining the human-centered approach working alongside interdisciplinary researchers, educators, learners, and policymakers, with the technical data-driven approaches, Aditi reimagines open-ended learning environments as data-driven systems designed to engage learners with real-world complex problems.
February 1, 2023
11:00 am to 12 noon
In person -- Room 538-539 130 North Bellefield Building (Conference Room)
Zoom information for those who wish to attend remotely: Join Zoom Meeting: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/98850768917