1. SUPPORTING NON-STATISTICIANS TO LEARN STATISTICS Alun Owen Mathematics Education Centre

2. SUPPORTING NON-STATISTICIANS TO LEARN STATISTICS Provision of a Statistics Advisory Service at: Coventry University Loughborough University Beyond statstutor a sigma pilot study

3. PROVISION OF A STATISTICS ADVISORY SERVICE Loughborough University: http://mlsc.lboro.ac.uk/servicesstat.php Drop-in statistics help Consultancy appointments Disability and Additional Needs Service Eureka Centre Short courses (research students)

4. GROWTH IN NUMBERS OF SAS APPOINTMENTS Number of appointments 2004 baseline 2005/06 (target) 2006/07 (target) 2007/08 (target) 2008/09 (target) Loughborough063 (50)136 (60)125 (70)165 (75) Coventry066 (50)98 (60)92 (70)95 (80) Total0129 (100)234 (120)217 (140)260 (155) Note: one-hour appointments at Coventry University half-hour appointments at Loughborough University In 2007/2008 both institutions had staffing shortages

5. ACCESS TO STATISTICS ADVISORY SERVICE BY STAFF Sigma’s aim NOT to provide a statistics advisory service for staff But demand from staff significant Roberts funding and staff development funding enabled us to widen support to staff An unexpected outcome of sigma’s work Brings additional benefits

6. WHAT SUPPORT IS REQUESTED? 1. Topic based: help with understanding part or all of a statistics topic Conceptual Practical application 2. Problem based: help with various statistical aspects of a problem Study design Data collection Analysis Practical application Interpretation of results

7. TOPIC BASED SUPPORT Mainly provided via the drop-in centre First need to diagnose the students learning needs Opportunities to develop students self-learning skills Help identify suitable resources they can refer to Encouraged to work in centre and ask for help

8. PROBLEM BASED SUPPORT “We will NOT do the work for you” Again need to diagnose the students learning needs Again develop students self-learning skills Again identify suitable resources they can refer to Consider other aspects of collecting and analysing data such as planning, choice of technique etc. Pragmatic approach sometimes needed (gold-standard not always possible/necessary)

9. HOW DOES LEARNING TAKE PLACE? Learning is student-centred Problem based We act as advisors But also act as facilitators Fits with aims of project work and research training Also fits with recent developments in the HE agenda

10. PROVISION OF STATISTICS ADVISORY SERVICES Significant growth in institutions developing their own mathematics learning centres Some of these supported by sigma Targeted statistics advisory services appear to be not so well developed Aware of Coventry, Loughborough, Sheffield and Cardiff and others?

11. STATISTICS SUPPORT FOR DISTANCE LEARNERS What about students studying/researching “off- campus” e.g. distance learners? Loughborough and Coventry universities making use of Elluminate for this http://www.elluminate.com

12. statstutor Online resource for statistics Alternative to drop-in and consultancy For undergraduates and postgraduates Make use of existing resources Pilot at this stage Anticipate go live Easter 2010

13. CONTENTS Topic-based resources using STEPS Glossary as a basis Case studies using RSS CSE materials as a basis

14. MATHCENTRE mathcentre http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk/students.php mathtutor http://www.mathtutor.ac.uk

15. STEPS GLOSSARY STEPS Glossary http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/steps/glossary

16. RSS CSE CASE STUDIES