Recently, I have been connecting with more and more educators around the use of Google Data Studio in schools. Google Data Studio (GDS) is a free resource from Google (of course). It allows users to create data visualizations through reports and dynamic dashboards. It was originally created as an advanced version of the Google Analytics tool used to monitor web traffic and users. GDS is now being used in many, many ways, including the field of education.
Internal & External Assessments
In my role as a Data & Innovation Specialist, I use GDS for many different purposes in school. We have been using GDS for the most obvious reason being to visualize and monitor academic data to improve student learning. We do this by triangulating both internal and external assessment data. Teachers use the interactive dashboards to identify certain groups of students so they can prepare for interventions and extensions. Click on the image below to be taken to a live example.
Student Profile Dashboard for Elementary School
Digital Placement Cards
We have also started using GDS for our digital placement cards. These cards were typically pieces of paper handed to teachers at the beginning of the school year. However, teachers needed to go through all of the individual pages. If there was any information they wanted to keep track of, they would have to create their own system. Through the use of the dashboard, we have been able to create reports for teachers with live, dynamic data. Much of the data comes directly from our Student Information System (SIS). As students join their class, their dashboard is updated automatically. You can see an example of that here.
Elementary School Student Placement Dashboard
Team Monitoring
As a member of a technology and innovation team in the elementary school, we wanted a way to check if the work we were doing was the right work. Were we spending the right amount of time on the right work? We developed a system to collect, analyze and visualize the things we do in school with our students and teachers by connecting Google Calendar, Google Sheets and Google Data Studio. With this data, we have been able to use this information as a starting point for discussions and as a way to reflect. The system for collection has not added anything extra to what we were already doing. The dashboard has helped us quickly see where we are spending our time and have conversations about making adjustments as needed.
Team Monitoring Dashboard using data from Google Calendar
GDS Course for Educators
Learning Google Data Studio can be a bit of a steep climb at first. You can really customize it to meet your needs and to showcase lots of different types of data. If you are looking for a way to learn about using Google Data Studio in an educational context, you can check out my course on the Team Monitoring Dashboard. Although this course is geared more towards an intermediate user of data and spreadsheets, I will guide you through the entire process, from start to finish. You can find out more about it here.
Recently I was working with my colleague, David Lee, on designing a grade 5 math unit for next school year. The unit is the first unit of the year for Grade five around the Number And Operations In Base Ten strand of the Common Core Curriculum. The basic concepts are for students to:
Understand The Place Value System
Perform Operations With Multi-Digit Whole Numbers And With Decimals To Hundredths.
We decided to use some data to help students understand the concepts of the place value system as well as performing operations with multi-digit whole numbers and decimals to hundredths. When preparing the teacher resources, we went through the following roadmap:
Provocation (sports data, weather data)
Guided Inquiry Context: iPad Screen Time Usage
Collect data
Analyze data
Identify the problem
Apply action and compare results
How do we organize it for students?
When we dove into the data collection part, we had a great conversation about how to collect data and where to put it. It made sense to have the data stored in a table or chart. This was a perfect chance to introduce students to some basic spreadsheet skills.
We then had a conversation about how to create a graphic organizer template for students. We came to the understanding that there are lots of ways to organize data. But which would make the most sense to students?
What kind of data are we collecting?
Data from: https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/singapore/singapore-climate
If we take the example of temperature, there are a few things we are measuring. For example, high temperature, low temperature and time (day, month or year.) If we were to put this into a chart or spreadsheet, we could use the columns to represent the different data points. The first column would be the date, the second column could be the high temperature and the third column could be the low temperature. As more data came in, a new row could be added with new information.
We could also switch this around, if we knew we had a specific set of dates. For example, we could put dates for a month going across the top so each column had its own date. We could then add a row for high temperature and a row for low temperature. Our data would be added column by column. The downside to organizing the data in a spreadsheet this way is that we would have to do a lot of scrolling right and left. Putting data into fewer columns and scrolling up and down is a bit more natural to read.
More detailed data
What if we had a more detailed data set? Consider iPad Screen Time. This is what we used for our guided inquiry model. All students have an iPad at school and have access to their Screen Time statistics. We thought this would be an appropriate and practical place to start for our students.
Although there is an overwhelming amount of information about Screen Time on the iPad, we chose to focus on weekly overall statistics to look for trends. Within the weekly view, we can see a few different data points. We have date, category, app, and amount of time. Depending on what the student wants to find out, some of this information might not be important. The question comes around how to actually put this into a system to organize it so that students will be able to continue to add to the data set as time goes on.
What a data specialist uses might not be best
As someone who uses data often, I prefer to organize my data very similar to a database. I treat each data point as a entry. I would have all columns starting with date, then the bigger umbrella of category, followed by the app, which falls under a category, and then finally time duration, or time spent on the app. Students might not understand why it is organized this way and would prefer a different organizational structure.
Different ways to organize Screen Time data
Perhaps they are not concerned about the category and they just want to know about the time spent on each app each day. For this, we can still have our date in the first column and then put the name of each app into its own column. Time can be added in the appropriate cell that intersects with date and app.
A third way it can be organized is similar to the second way if we wanted to look at the categories instead of a specific app. We can replace the app with the categories and add in the time in the correct cells. New dates will be added to the first column as new data comes in.
Finally, we can transpose (switch around) our data by giving the dates their own column going across the top. The app or category can be in the first column with each app or category in its own row.
Visualizing different data organization structures
Here are the basic graphs that get produced from the different types of data organization. Please note that these are not the default graphs in Google Sheets. I have made a few simple modifications. On a side note, whatever you do, don’t rely on the default chart. You can do some simple tweaks with font, color and decluttering to make a clear message.
Give students the choice
These are not all of the ways data can be organized, however they are probably the simplest for students to understand and keep track. During this project, we will allow students to organize the data in a way that makes sense to them. We will also encourage students to use a spreadsheet. The main reason for this is due to the ease of reorganizing and restructuring data with simple formulas such as TRANSPOSE. I look forward to following up on the results of this unit and the student reactions and takeaways.
If you are also interested in the results, please be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you know when the next article publishes.
Thanks to David Lee for letting me use some of his photos and slideshow images he created for this project.
I often talk with fellow educators that work in district offices or technology departments at their schools. They ask for advice on getting their data organized so it can be useful. It is clear that schools are collecting data. Lots and lots of data. Collecting it doesn’t seem to be a problem. There is a general void in the understanding of collecting data to visualizing data for information.
Most questions I get go along the lines of “What system do you use?”, “What program do you use?” “How do you connect it all together?”, “Where do you keep it?”, “Who manages it?” While these are all great questions, my response is usually something along the lines of “It’s complicated.” In order to be able to answer these and similar questions, it’s important to know the context of the situation. For the people that want to work with data or have been designated to work with data in schools, they need to understand the process or the data ecosystem, data road map, data pipeline, or whatever term you would like to call it.
data process
What can data be?
Data doesn’t have to be just numbers and test scores. There are tons and tons of different forms of data we collect in educational institutions. We collect demographic information such as addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, citizenship, and so on. We also collect information about relationships such as parent names and contact information, brothers and sisters, whether a child has an IEP or other types of special reports. These are just some of the pieces of data we collect.
On top of that is the data that an individual teacher might collect about a student. This could be assessment information, anecdotal notes, reading levels, attendance, friendships, reading groups, and the list could go on and on. Keep in mind though, more data doesn’t always mean better data.
Schools collect lots of data, but then sometimes they don’t know what to do with it. They might not know how to distinguish what is important. There are a few things to keep in mind when deciding what data is going to be useful.
Not all data is good data
accurate valid complete
According to Harvard Business School’s Data Science Ready Program, data worth using is accurate, valid and complete. Data that is accurate is free of errors. Therefore, you know that the data is reliable and comes from a trusted source. Data is valid. This means that the data is providing us with the information we are expecting. Complete data does not have missing values. Finding data that is 100% perfect is nearly impossible. There will usually be something wrong with it. However, even if data is not perfect, it can still be used.
Data by itself isn’t very helpful to most educators or people in schools. It doesn’t provide any real information. In order for it to be useful, it needs to be organized. There are lots of ways to arrange data depending on what is being collected and what the potential outcome is to be. In a recent article, I wrote about different ways to collect and organize the same data for students. Data is regularly ordered by date, time, or location. Data can also be categorized by demographics like age, citizenship, or gender.
Filling in the gap
data workflow
Let’s take a look at the entire process and the various parts in it. This will help shed some light on how data gets from “data” to “information.” This is what we need to make informed decisions. There are a number of steps along the way. Depending on what type of data you are working with, some of these steps might not be necessary. However, these are the main parts of the process.
1. Data sourcing & collecting: Where the sources of data are and what raw data is taken from those sources.
2. Data wrangling: Raw data from the data source needs to be put into a form that is usable. This is where data wrangling comes in. This might also include where the data will actually be stored.
3. Data cleaning: (some people combine data wrangling and data cleaning) This is where the raw data gets organized. Missing data is checked and and errors are located. The formatting of the data becomes consistent between data sources. The data becomes easier to process.
4. Data analysis: This is where you start to transform and explore the data to help answer your questions about the original data. As data from multiple sources can be complex, those with skills and training such as data scientists, can help tremendously in this area.
5. Data visualization: this is the final product where you see the charts, reports, and dashboards that help people interpret the data as information. If set up well, the visualizations should reduce the cognitive load needed to understand the data.
Graphs don’t just happen
There is a lot of work that goes into setting up and using data correctly. Collecting data and creating data visualizations are only a small part of the entire process. Therefore, it is important to think carefully about the types of data that are being collected by schools. Remember, just because you have the data, doesn’t mean you need to use all the data. Consider what types of questions you have as a school or as a district. Then, seek the help of your school’s data team to assist you in answering these questions.
If you don’t have a data team or someone responsible for data at your school, I would highly recommend looking into the role as a critical step moving forward in ensuring your school is using data to inform instruction. You should also consider the current staff you have. Perhaps someone on your team is eager to be able to do more. Seek out those Data Knights and Data Dreamers. Look for ways to give those people more opportunities to grow by learning and helping your school.
If you are not sure where to get started, feel free to reach out to our team and we’d be happy to give you some guidance and training.
Recently, I wrote about using Datawrapper for creating choropleth maps. Hopefully, you had a chance to look around Datawrapper and see some of the other cool graphs and charts that could be made. All for free.
Another request from teachers and students was to be able to make maps about their local area. There is another map in Datawrapper that can help accomplish parts of the following C3 Framework Standards:
D2.Geo.1.3-5. Construct maps and other graphic representations of both familiar and unfamiliar places. D2.Geo.2.3-5. Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
Video
I’ve created a video that explains how to walk through the process. You can watch the video for yourself and you can also share it with your students. This, along with the handout, makes planning for this lesson very easy. There is very little for you to do besides printing out the guide or sharing the video link with your students.
Directions
Time needed: 15 minutes
How to make a locator map with Datawrapper
Getting started
In your web browser go to datawrapper.de. Click on the start creating button and it’ll open up a new window.
Choosing a map
At the top of the page click on new map. From there, we have three choices. We are going to use the locator map.
Adding Locations
Let’s add our items to the map. Think of the search bar as being like using Google maps. Look at the search bar and start typing your location. If it is a well-known location you can try to type it in. You’ll see it starting to think about it. Once the menu pops up, if you find the one you want, you can go ahead and click directly on the one that you want and it will automatically add a marker to your map and zoom in to that location.
Customize markers
Let’s go ahead and customize our marker. We might not need all of this information. You can erase the address and leave just the title. There are lots of presets that we can use if we want to highlight our location. If you click on the symbol you can change what the symbol looks like. This will become helpful when you create a legend later on.
Changing fonts
When you click on more options you can adjust the font size and the color of the font. You can make it bold or italics, make it all capital or even change letter spacing. You can outline it with different colors if you like. Then, you can put a box around the words, a rounded box, or have just the text.
Connector Lines
You can also choose to draw a line between the marker and a text. There are different arrows to choose from and different line types. You can also decide how far away you want your line to be.
Finding locations that don’t show in search
Sometimes, you’re typing something and it might not show up on your map when you type it in. If this is the case, you can find the address in Google maps and type in the direct address. Then your item should appear.
Map Styles
Once you have added all of your locations, go down to the proceed button at the bottom of the screen. This will take you to the map style section. There are several options to choose from. You can change to an earth view, a gray view, a maritime view.
3D buildings and tilt
When your map is complete, there are some other neat things you can do like tilting and rotating. As you start tilting and then zoom in on areas that have buildings, you’ll see how the 3-D buildings show up. Depending on the type of map that you want to have this to be really useful.
Rotating your map
The rotate button allows you to get the exact view that you would like to have. You’ll get a completely different view depending on how you rotate and how you zoom. Make sure you take the time to align it so that you include all of the parts that you like on your map.
Map Extras
Another neat feature is the map extras. Here you can add a scale bar, a north arrow, and an inset map depending on your location.
Add a title and description
Next is the title section. Choose an appropriate title for your map and add a description with more details. You can add your name in the byline.
Add a map key or legend
If you would like to add a key or legend for your map, in the add key for marker section click on show key. Here you’ll get options for all of your markers. You’ll see them automatically in your map. In the section below you can click and then assign each marker a name. As you assign the markers the names they will show up in your map. When you are done adding your markers at the bottom of the page click on proceed.
Saving your work
From here you can decide to send an email to yourself with a picture, or you can also just take a screenshot of your map and save it that way. When you have the screenshot you’re able to upload this to another website or use it in a slide deck or however you would like to choose to use it on your own.
Conclusion
You can find a free teacher and student guide for creating location maps just below this article.
I hope you found the tutorial helpful. If you would like to know more about how to make choropleth maps in Datawrapper, you can check out my article here and also get the free download guide for teachers and students.
I would love to see what kind of maps you created. You can follow me on Instagram @smithvisualizations, or you can follow me @smithrchris. I hope to see your maps soon. Good luck!
A short story John is an elementary school classroom teacher. He is responsible for teaching the core subjects of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. In addition to this, he needs to keep track of a variety of student and family information. Some of his students are ELL students, others are receiving learning support. He also has a few students who are working above grade level in some areas. He is faced with a lot of data coming from many different places that need to be collected and stored in a variety of ways. Some of these include formative & summative data, anecdotal notes, checklists, and scores from rubrics. He is told to use this data to inform his instruction, but he doesn’t really understand the power of spreadsheets and isn’t sure how to use them effectively. So, instead, he uses it as a glorified table in a word processing document. Although he knows spreadsheets can help to make charts and graphs, which are easier to interpret, he doesn’t know how to do this. He doesn’t know the basic functions or why they would be helpful to teachers. All of this information is intimidating and leads to frustration around using and collecting data.
Teachers have to collect a variety of data from multiple sources.
As a classroom teacher, he is expected to assess his students in multiple subject areas and at various times throughout the year. John is asked to collect data in these areas and to put the scores in a spreadsheet provided by the administration. Once he entered the data, he wasn’t really sure how to use it to help him in the classroom. He ended up taking notes in a system that he created that worked for him. He wanted to be able to see how the students were doing over time in certain areas. He also wanted to be able to quickly group students to provide individual instruction. The spreadsheets were hard to read and to make sense of. He now was entering data in the spreadsheet for administration but using his own system to make decisions. He didn’t have the time to try and figure out what the numbers in the spreadsheet were telling him. What if there was a way to take the data and turn it into something that can be easily understood and interpreted? Something that could help guide instruction and also increase efficiency, especially for teachers like John that are stuck to strict time constraints and often don’t have long sustained blocks of uninterrupted time to process information.
Personal Experience Before moving into my current role as Data & Innovation Specialist, the above story was very much what my life was like as a teacher. As a classroom teacher, I had been collecting data on my students in a variety of ways. With my passion for spreadsheets and making my job automated, I learned more each year. When I moved into the role of headteacher for the grade level, other teachers began to notice some of the systems I had created. They asked to use them. Cool. When delivering a SMART Goal presentation for the end of the school year, the curriculum development office was pleasantly surprised by the way the data was presented for our grade level. They asked me to share with others on how to organize and present this. Over time, I was asked to do more and more.
When I moved into my role of technology and innovation specialist, teachers wanted to have information about their students coming up. I used the data I could find to prepare a grade level demographics overview. Teachers and admin loved it. They asked for more.
At around the same time, the school was in the point of hiring new staff. Our former data specialist had moved on and the position was vacant. We ended up hiring two data scientists. This was great. However, they had no background in education or how to work with teachers and present information visually for others. Because of the work, I had already been doing and my background of being in the classroom for 17 years, I was asked to join a newly forming data team in the school. I would be the bridge between the data scientists and the teachers. My job was to train the data scientists and get them up to speed on what we needed for academics.
Why is it important? Every school uses data in some way. and collects data in some way. Mainly through academics and assessments. However, we also have other data, demographic, medical, behavioral, social/emotional, etc. More and more, teachers and schools are expected to collect data on students. There is plenty of information about what data to collect, how to collect data and what should be done with the data. Unfortunately, there is very little information on how to turn the data into information.
We have instructional coaches that help teachers with curriculum and instruction. We have counselors and psychologists that help teachers with social-emotional learning and behavior needs We have learning support specialists that help teachers with our struggling learners. We have technology coaches that support the use of tech integration and STEM.
different support personnel in schools
We DON’T have anyone, standard issue, that helps teachers decipher, navigate and understand data clearly to help inform instruction and make efficient decisions. Because of this, we need to provide a system to allow teachers to obtain the skill set to make data work for them. The step of increasing data literacy skills with our teachers is the missing link. Schools are not leveraging and using educators that might have an expertise in data analysis and data visualization. We need to teach people working in schools how to interpret and analyze data in a way that provides insights and information. This is hard. Having experts in this field, that also have a background in education, are important bridges in the conversation of actually using data for instruction. Training and resources for these types of individuals is the next step. Once this door is unlocked, the real benefits of data collection can shine through.
What I am doing in my school As part of the Data Team at my school, my responsibility is to work with the teachers and administration on organizing and interpreting academic and social-emotional learning data. I am also the bridge between the data scientist and data warehouse personnel in the school. Together, we meet every other week to discuss data collection in the school and to move our work forward while making sure the team is aware of what is happening.
I also work closely with grade-level PLC teams during Data Day sessions. These are two to three-hour sessions where small groups of teachers gather to discuss the academic progress of students in various subject areas. They use the dashboards provided for exploring the data to help plan for interventions and extensions. My role is to assist them in data literacy and data coaching.
I also work with small PLC teams during Kid Chat sessions. These are sessions where teachers come together to discuss social emotional learning behaviors for concerned students. The session is mainly led by the grade level counselor and principal. I am available for technical support and to gather feedback on the KidChat dashboard.
How I am helping outside of my school I am very thankful for the networks I have been able to create and become a part of through Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Through these platforms, I have learned from others and have also helped to build capacity for educators around the use of data literacy and data visualization. This website (visualizeyourlearning.com), in collaboration with other data specialists in the region, provides tools and strategies for the use of data in education. We will also be launching a series of lessons and tutorials based on both theory and how-to’s, in addition to more detailed tutorials on issues related to privacy and data protection. Please continue to check out the website with new content coming out each month.
