Teaching non-technical skills in a data analytics program in higher education.

Recent literature shows that non-technical skills are as critical to success in the data analytics field as technical skills, but academia does not always include or highlight the teaching of non-technical skills in data analytics courses. This study explored the perceptions of faculty members who teach data analytics in regard to the non-technical skills they find critical, techniques they use for teaching non-technical skills, and their perceptions on the importance of non-technical skills for the entry into the data analytics profession. Ten faculty members in data analytics programs from seven colleges/universities in Pennsylvania were interviewed. Findings indicate that participants found non-technical skills to be of high importance for the data analytics field. Critical non-technical skills were identified as interpreting data effectively, communicating verbally, translating to different audiences, communicating to a non-technical audience, understanding what data to include in a data visualization, and working as part of a team. Recommendations for techniques to use to teach non-technical skills are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]