Data and AI Storytelling Certificate

Data and AI Storytelling 101 offers an introduction to the concept of Data and AI Storytelling, why it matters, and how it can transform the results of your research into impactful narratives through which your audience learns new things, remembers important findings and then acts on them. **

Students do not individually register for the Data and AI Storytelling 101 course but must register for one or all of the remaining three courses. Data and AI Storytelling 101, is free for students who register for a paid course.**

Learning outcomes: 

Provide examples and justify all core techniques in storytelling, including challenging prior assumptions, providing alternative explanations, balancing timing versus immediacy, and transforming each story into a teachable moment. 

Data and AI Storytelling 101 is an introduction course that is required prior to taking the remaining three courses. Students do not individually register for the Data and AI Storytelling course but must register for one or all of the remaining three courses. Once registered for any other course, the student will also receive notification for access to Data and AI Storytelling 101. 

This course teaches students how to think about research – from data collection to data analysis to reporting results – as a narrative process. Rooted in basic statistics, the course provides students who have some numeric literacy a clear and direct path for advancing from reportable results to stories with impact. Students will especially learn how to construct numeric stories that demonstrate causality. 

Learning outcomes: 

Enumerate and defend the core relationships between research design and story-building, as well as define a valid causal inference and possible fallacies. 

Generate hypotheses based on data, explain how the hypotheses could be tested, and show how to translate different experimental designs and data pools into stories 

This course provides key strategies for visualizing results and enhancing the visual communication of data stories, followed by a deeper dive into how to go from analysis of results to a compelling story enhanced with visuals. 

Learning outcomes: 

Create specific data visualizations that carry forward casual narratives, such as stacked bar charts, time series, and multidimensional causal chains, using effective and recognized visual and charting building blocks. 

Become familiar with how to avoid common pitfalls in designing visual content with narrative goals. 

Identify story elements that map onto the five narrative techniques learned and demonstrate through written compositions the ability to use them effectively. 

In this course, students learn how to create data stories that use ethical research and protect basic human rights: autonomy, fairness, trust, beneficence, and non-malevolence. 

Learning outcomes: 

Define and use appropriate checks and reasoning processes for ensuring data transparency, validity, and ethical use. 

Identify the effect of a story by the amount of belief change it induces in an audience, determine the threshold of significance for various audiences, and use the amount and type of learning for each story to predict the degree to which it could be an actionable story or not. 

Understanding and communicating data in a way that informs, compels, or reassures is a core personal and professional skill for anyone who wants to be a successful member of the 21st century community. We believe, and we will help students learn how and why, data stories should surprise, provide a new, more convincing explanation for time-worn ideas, and propose a course of action. These skills can be applied directly to careers in data storytelling and data science but are also essential in a variety of other professions, including communications, public relations, journalism, academia, STEM, and business.

We use a four-step learning approach in this program. For each content area students will first engage in active reading of selected articles. Next, students will be asked to reflect on what they learned by posting to a course discussion board. Students will then practice the concepts learned in a quiz. Finally, students will have the opportunity to apply skills and knowledge learned by crafting written assignments in which they analyze data and use it to weave stories.

This means that there are no due dates, and students can choose how much or how little time to spend on course readings, discussions, and assignments each week. This is intended to provide students with the flexibility needed to make the course work for their individual circumstances. In addition, the course won’t be actively driven by the instructor. Students will find everything they need to understand the course content, discuss, and evaluate their learning within the Brightspace page. However, a learning manager and the course creator will periodically monitor the course and will be available if any students need assistance.

This course is similar to a standard 3 credit hour class, meaning that students should expect to spend 8-9 hours per week to complete the full certificate program (all four courses: Data and AI Storytelling 101, Causal Data and AI Stories, Narrative Visualization, and Data and AI Storytelling as an Ethical Choice) in 16 weeks. However, because the course is self-paced, students can decide how much time to allocate to the readings and assignments each week. Students purchasing courses individually will have 12 weeks to complete each course; students who purchase the full certificate will have access for a full year.

There are no prerequisites for the Data and AI Storytelling program, though familiarity with basic statistics is encouraged.

Credit courses are usually taken to work towards a degree program. Non-credit courses are taken for personal or professional interest and do not usually offer college credit.

However, there is a noncredit to credit pathway for students who complete the full certificate program (all four courses: Data and AI Storytelling 101, Causal Data and AI Stories, Narrative Visualization, and Data and AI Storytelling as an Ethical Choice).

Upon satisfactory completion of the full certificate program (all four courses: Data and AI Storytelling 101, Causal Data and AI Stories, Narrative Visualization, and Data and AI Storytelling as an Ethical Choice), students will have the option to apply 3 credits for this course to Purdue University’s Online Master of Science in Communication. For more information about this program, see here.

No. This program is open enrollment, meaning that students can enroll at any time and that course access begins the date of enrollment.

The full certificate (all four courses: Data and AI Storytelling 101, Causal Data and AI Stories, Narrative Visualization, and Data and AI Storytelling as an Ethical Choice) can be purchased for $1,000. Causal Data and AI Stories, Narrative Visualization, or Data and AI Storytelling as an Ethical Choice can also be purchased individually for $350. Data and AI Storytelling 101 is a free course that will be included with the purchase of any paid course and must be completed first.

Students who enroll in the full certificate program (all four courses: Data and AI Storytelling 101, Causal Data and AI Stories, Narrative Visualization, and Data and AI Storytelling as an Ethical Choice) will have a year of access to course content.

While a Purdue student in a non-degree seeking program is not eligible for federal student aid there are other funding options that may be available to you.

Financial assistance may be available from alternative loan programs. There are many private commercial education loan options available to assist students in meeting college costs. You can obtain more information about alternative loans here