Frameworks for a Data Management Curriculum for Science, Health Sciences, and Engineering Students

Objectives: This poster illustrates the Frameworks for a Data Management Curriculum intended for undergraduate and graduate students studying science, health sciences, and engineering disciplines. Methods: An Education Committee composed of librarians, faculty, a curriculum consultant, an evaluation consultant, and an instructional design consultant collaborated in the development of these frameworks. At the two partnering schools, consultants collected data from students regarding their current data management practices and interviewed faculty about their students\u27 data management skills and learning needs. A literature review of current data management courses was conducted. From these resources learning objectives were identified, a simplified data management plan was developed, and a lesson plans for seven course modules were created. The evaluation consultant and an Education Committee librarian interviewed faculty to develop real-life research case scenarios that illustrate data management practices in the lab and clinical settings. Results: The curriculum frameworks are mapped to the data management plan requirements of the National Science Foundation and include lesson plans for seven instructional modules, a simplified data management plan, course readings, research cases in medicine, biomedical lab research, clinical behavioral health, and aerospace engineering. The Education Committee fully developed course content including readings, activities, research case excerpts, and assessment questions and answers for the fifth module, Legal and Ethical Considerations for Research Data, as proof of concept. Conclusions: Faculty and librarians have responded that the curriculum frameworks, when fully developed, will be a useful tool for providing data management instruction to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in diverse science, health science and engineering courses. The modular format of the curriculum and variety of research cases is flexible ; allowing faculty to select modules that are relevant to their course programs. When completed, the curriculum can be delivered in multiple ways: face-to-face, as online interactive modules, or hybrid. Implementation funding for full development of the course modules, additional research cases, and piloting the curriculum modules is proposed

Teaching Research Data Management: An Undergraduate/Graduate Curriculum

Objective: With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the University of Massachusetts Medical School Library and Worcester Polytechnic Institute Library collaborated on a plan to expand the scope of science library practices and promote, among medical and graduate/undergraduate science students, the preservation of scientific data in relevant repositories/archives. This poster identifies user requirements and interface design elements for a system that can host student research data; outlines curriculum frameworks and learning needs for research data management instruction that can be delivered through a variety of methods; and presents a communication plan to inform others about the curriculum planning process and results. Methods: A steering committee and education board with representatives from each campus provided input into the new curriculum. Outside consultants also collected data from students at both schools via interviews, reviewed literature and course materials relevant to existing data management curricula, translated the findings into learning modules, and evaluated the planning process. Faculty with students doing research for capstone projects at both institutions will pilot the new curriculum in the spring of 2011. Student feedback will be recorded through pre- and post-testing and used to revise the curriculum prior to full scale implementation. Results: The curriculum focuses in nine areas: the data life cycle, data sharing requirements, naming conventions, metadata, storage, data ownership, security, privacy, and long-term access. Learning objectives were identified for each focus area and modified for the appropriate audience (undergraduate, graduate). Course content has been revised to be delivered in person over fifteen weeks in a classroom setting and also online in short self-paced modules. Conclusion: The need for research data management curricula was confirmed by students, literature review and external experts we spoke to. Collaboration pointed to a need for differing strategies as to how this curriculum and repository might be implemented successfully at the partner schools. Collaborative planning process can be strengthened via formative evaluation techniques

Teaching Research Data Management: An Undergraduate/Graduate Curriculum

With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Libraries of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute collaborated on a plan to expand the scope of science library practices and promote among medical, graduate, and undergraduate science students the preservation of scientific data in relevant repositories and archives. This paper outlines curriculum frameworks and learning needs for research data management instruction that can be delivered through a variety of methods. Individual modules are based on faculty and student interviews, as well as a comprehensive literature review