DEVENG 203
Digital Transformation of Development
As technology use proliferates globally, there exists significant potential to leverage such technology and associated data streams to further understand and improve the lives and livelihoods of people in low-resource settings. This course introduces students to data-intensive approaches to development. Students will learn methods from development economics, machine learning, information science, and computational social science as a means of gaining insight into development challenges and organizational decision-making. Students will gain an introduction to sensors as well as tools and methods for spatial modeling and spatial data analysis.
Topics
- To provide students hands-on experience in digital systems. Students will learn data sourcing, data cleaning, data analysis, and data visualization. To provide students with a “systems” perspective for understand data and how data is used within a development context. To strengthen students’ programming and analysis skills. To increase students’ capacity to use data to make informed decisions around development challenges.
- Develop proficiency in data analysis and data visualization techniques. Understand basic research design, construction of a large data set, and how to analyze towards research outcomes. Demonstrate skill in critiquing a data-driven research article or report.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027