INF461 - Introduction to Data Management Assignment

Assignment Task

Purpose

This handout provides instructions and details for completing Assessment 2, further to the assessment description in the Subject Outline. It is necessary to read and use the information in this handout in order to successfully complete Assessment 2.

Scenario

For this assessment, you will work on a hypothetical scenario involving the School of Information and Communication Studies (SICS) at Charles Sturt University. Because the scenario is hypothetical, you are not required to contact SICS/CSU staff or conduct any actual interviews in order to complete the assessment.

As per the Assessment description in the Subject Outline, the School would like to review how its Research and Teaching staff are currently managing data relating to their work activities. Such reviews are common in professional data management practice, and aim to help an organisation assess the needs of its staff for data management support and services. For this reason, this exercise is often referred to as a needs assessment.

For a needs assessment to be successful, a methodology needs to be developed by a data management professional, which incorporates three key aspects:

• The types of data that the organisation collects (or would like to collect) in relation to one or more of its In this scenario, our interest is in data produced by SICS staff for research and teaching activities.
• The organisational context, its mission, vision and Organisational context also includes internal and external stakeholders that are involved in the management of data; as well as governance, policies and strategies that apply to data management.
• Methods for collecting information from staff about their current data management practices; as well as their needs and expectations for services and support that will help them achieve data management

Read the following sections for essential information regarding each of these three key aspects that you should take into account in developing your report.

Types of data

In order to conform with CSU policies and strategy, SICS needs to collect and maintain data relating to the research and teaching activities of its staff. SICS leadership uses this data for many reasons: to evaluate the quality of the School’s research and teaching; as a record of activity; and as evidence for reporting back to CSU senior administration.

For the purposes of the scenario in this assignment, you should assume that SICS collects the following types of data about its research and teaching activities:

• For each research project that SICS staff have been involved in, the School should maintain a copy of project documentation, funding agreements and budgets, deliverables and reports.
• For each subject taught in SICS, the School should maintain copies of subject plans, content in Interact sites, assignment information, subject reports and evaluations.
• Lastly SICS should maintain copies of dissemination, outreach and media activities that its staff have participated in -including photographs from events, audio-visual materials from public presentations and press clippings featuring staff

The needs assessment should address how this data is managed by the staff that produce it, so that SICS can identify issues that might cause data loss; and so that research and teaching staff can express their views on what how the organisation could help them manage the data better.

Organisational context and stakeholders

The School of Information and Communication Studies administratively belongs to the Faculty of Arts ad Education. You should learn more about the School and Faculty, so as to understand your ‘client’ better and be able to tailor your report to the SICS context.

• Learn more About the School. In consulting this link, make sure that you explore the School’s Staff profiles, the Programs offered, and what Research is currently undertaken.

• Learn more about the Faculty of Arts and Education

Data management practices in SICS should conform with the University’s policies and strategy; as well as with national policies and codes relating to research and teaching. The following resources provide you with a starting point to explore these further:

• Key Policies and Procedures for researchers, research students, and supervisors
• The Division of Learning and Teaching
• University Strategy

Stakeholders from other Offices and Divisions within CSU are involved in the management of data. Explore other Offices and Divisions that you might want to involve in your needs assessment methodology and who can assist the School with its review. You can find these at:

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