Teaching Data Storytelling in a Computational Thinking Course for Students in Communications Careers

Data storytelling is an emerging, multidisciplinary field that employs data to change pre-conceived notions of audiences using pieces of information and data visualization. Traditionally considered a technical skill for engineering, it has proven beneficial for disciplines in Humanities and Social Sciences. This work-in-progress is based on the experiences gathered from two classrooms of a new course titled “Computational Thinking for Communications”, taught in a Peruvian university. The 16-week course involved one theoretical and two practical hours weekly. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the 50 enrolled students who were creating data storytelling projects using open data sources. The students’ experiences, motivations, and challenges were explored, such as a perceived disconnection between theory and practice. Future evaluations aim to refine the curriculum, addressing these challenges to enhance the integration of data storytelling in Communication education.