The first Unit aims to provide some activities and tools helping improve your digital skills of browsing, searching and filtering data, information and digital content. The focus is on the use of open data and open datasets in order to meet teachers’ needs.
Activity: Examine the Unit Learning Outcomes
The overwhelming amount of data, information and digital content that exists on the World Wide Web and on the Internet in general, gives the opportunity for everyone to become “owner” of various pieces of knowledge at almost no cost. But is this true? Can we handle all this information? Are we capable of getting the proper and right amount of data for the topic that interests us? Or, even better, are we capable of asking the right question in order to get the proper data and then turn them into information?
Activity: Review the video on Data literacy and identify key issues you need to address.
The emerging challenge is that it is now more important than ever before to be able to identifying one’s personal information needs in the “chaos” of digital content. We thus need to improve our skills in browsing, searching and filtering this “chaos”.
The use of open data by many organisations nowadays has created a lot of new opportunities, not only in creating new knowledge but also in facilitating the education process. On the other hand, accessing open data and relative datasets is not as easy as it sounds, therefore most of the time additional skills are required by school teachers.
The activities discussed in this unit highlight the importance of identifying one’s personal information needs, also proposing a methodology and related tools for building a personal search strategy in order that the teacher can be more effective in dealing with the enormous amount of digital content in the era we live in.
The subject of online security is also taken into consideration and a related activity is proposed. There are also activities that introduce open data in order to become familiar in searching, identifying and accessing them.
Explorer Level
Activity: Review the presentation on identifying information needs and building a simple searching strategy
Explorer level presentation Information Needs
Open Data Portals and Platforms
Activity: Look at the information provided about Open Data Portals and Identify their key features.
Complete the activities which explore the European Data Portal and the OpenDataMonitor project. Explore different open data portals on the Web.
Online Safety Rules 
Activity: Look at searching and browsing activities related to Online Safety.
Carry out the activities and explore the resource links provided.
Expert Level 
Activity: Review the Expert level materials on Assessing information needs. Assess how Search Engines work and on establishing effective searching strategies
Look at the searching activities provided and the tips and tricks.
Access Data in a Dataset 
Activity: Open the accessing data in a dataset information. Find out how to access information when using Tableau and then Excel.
The activity will help you to work with and manipulate data as well as enable you to deal with filtering information.