1 Assessment of a Writing Course in Statistics Larry Weldon Statistics & Actuarial Science Simon Fraser University Canada 2007/08/20

2 Recent Focus on Communication Gal,I (2002) “Adults' statistical literacy: Meanings, components, and responsibilities” ISR 70 Sydney IASE/ISI Theme (2005) " Statistics Education and the Communication of Statistics” Assessment of Communication …?

3 Assessment - the context A writing course in Statistics Third year students with ≥2 stat courses Verbalization of concepts required Oral verbalization as well as written Risk-free critique of written work Some ESL students Authentic Assessment?

4 Assignments and Class Activities Discussion of Concepts (and report) Precis of Published Paper Report of Original “Research” Prepared Oral Presentation of Topic Group Experiment - execution & report All Include oral participation in class, and written submissions in and out of class For example: why unbiasedness? For example: “ Summary of a Survey of Consultant Statisticians ” TAS 60 “Diurnal Pattern of Reaction Time” Seven minute oral presentation based on IASE paper from IASE/ISI Sydney 2005 Based on Statistics Canada Data - own topic Verbalization of Statistical Concepts

5 How to Assess? Tests, Exams? Not realistic, not “authentic” Tests memory rather than concept (no “new” content) Misses oral component Writing original script Assessment? Oral presentations or discussion Assessment?

6 What is to be assessed? Communication Clarity Conceptual Understanding Examples of clarity with misunderstanding! 1.“An unbiased parameter estimator is better than a biased one.” 2. “Since it is a large sample, it will have an approximate normal distribution.” 3. “The 95% CI contains about 95% of the measurements.” (MSE a better criterion) (only means approx normal) (contains mean not measurements)

7 Communication Clarity AND Communication Content BOTH MUST BE ASSESSED Assessment of a statistics communication course should include Assessment of a student’s conceptual understanding.

8 Assessment Overview 20% - Timely submission of draft reports for reviewing 20% - Participation in class discussions 20% Response to review of draft 20% Statistical and scientific logic 20% Layout and language clarity ) Final Reports

9 Difficulties Overcome? Writing at Home - Is it original? Subjective Evaluation of Discussion - Is it fair? Draft Writing Not Marked - Do students work hard on it? Students were assigned different material to write about - Is it fair? Many components unlike other STAT courses - did students value it? Some in class. Draft not marked. Response marked. No complaints. Corr’n with student assessment. Draft to final in one day - draft needs to be good Multiplicity of tasks. Accounting in assessment. Student evaluations of usefulness were high

10 Conclusion Statistics Communication Course: Taught as a seminar course Useful for a clarifying concepts Valuable for career preparation Not easy for students, but appreciated Assessed with simple techniques Thank you