Deliver A Curriculum That Emphasizes Communication Skills
The curriculum will provide students with opportunities to develop the appropriate speaking and writing skills to function as a professional in the area.
Objective
Communicating Mathematical Ideas - Oral
Students will be able to prepare and deliver oral presentations of mathematical material based on a statistics practicum. Students will devlop the ability to critique problems, and provide their own solutions based on statistical analysis.
Indicator
Statistics Practicum
A statistics practicum, under the guidance of one of the faculty members, and assessed by a committee of four faculty members, will be administered to candidates for the degree of M.S. in Statistics which will examine the candidate's knowledge of the primary areas of concentration within the program, as well as the candidates own communicative abilities. The committee will then judge the candidates' ability to effectively communicate mathematical ideas according to a previously agreed upon rubric with three levels of comparison: High Pass, Pass, and Fail.
Criterion
Practicum Assessment
All candidates will receive a rating of either "High Pass" or "Pass" by the members of the examining committee during the practicum assessment according to the attached rubric.
Finding
Practicum Assessment
Five students completed their practicum this academic year. Three received "high pass", two received "pass." Weaker areas tended to be in preparation, knowledge base, and articulation.
Action
Efficacy Of Practicum
The statistics faculty firmly believe the MS practicum is essential as a capstone experience for our students. Whether a graduate will continue their education in a doctoral program or seek employment in industry, the experience of formulating a problem, designing an experiment and using the appropriate statistcal tools for analysis are skills they all need.
Goal
Deliver A Curriculum With Appropriate Discipline Specific Skill Sets
The curriculum will provide students with opportunities to develop the skills typically required of professionals in the area of study.
Objective
Foundation Areas In Probability And Statistics
Students will have a working knowledge of the foundational topics including regression analysis, design of experiments, multivariate analysis, and mathematical statistics (Bayesian analysis, biostatistics, quality control, nonparametric statistics, sampling theory, and statistical computing).
Indicator
Comprehensive Oral Examination
A comprehensive oral examination, given by a committee of four faculty members, will be administered to candidates for the degree of M.S. in Statistics which will examine the candidate's knowledge of the primary areas of concentration within the program, as well as the candidates own communication abilities. The committee will then judge the candidates' knowledge of the material according to a previously agreed upon rubric with three levels of comparison: High Pass, Pass, and Fail.
Criterion
Mathematical Statistics
All candidates will receive a mark of either "High Pass" or "Pass" for the Mathematical Statistics component of the comprehensive oral exam.
Finding
Results: Mathematical Statistics
All candidates received a "high pass" in Mathematical Statistics.
Criterion
Design Of Experiments
All candidates will receive a mark of either "High Pass" or "Pass" for the Design of Experiments component of the comprehensive oral exam. The rubric used is the same one shown in the "Mathematical Statistics" criterion.
Finding
Results: Design Of Experiments
Four of five candidates received a "high pass", one of five received a "pass." This person's issue seemed to be in preparation for the exam.
Criterion
Mulitvariate Analysis
All candidates will receive a mark of either "High Pass" or "Pass" for the Multivariate Analysis component of the comprehensive oral exam. The rubric used is the same one shown in the "Mathematical Statistics" criterion.
Finding
Results: Multivariate Analysis
Three of five candidates received a "high pass", two of five received a "pass". The ability to articulate answers made it unclear how strong th knowledge base was.
Criterion
Regression Analysis
All candidates will receive a mark of either "High Pass" or "Pass" for the Regression Analysis component of the comprehensive oral exam. The rubric used is the same one shown in the "Mathematical Statistics" criterion.
Finding
Results: Regression Analysis
Three of five candidates received a "high pass", two of five received a "pass." Again, articulation of knowledge base indicated adequate, not exceptional, knowledge
Action
Usefulness Of Oral Comprehensive Examinations.
The statistics faculty have discussed the comps a number of times and after each discussion, they arrived right back at the same conclusion: the oral comps appear to be best for our purposes. In their opinion, it appears that the oral exam permits exploring more of each student's knowledge base, we can pursue a variety of differing directions while, at the same time, making sure to cover the fundamental material. It causes the student to perform on their feet and it gives the faculty the flexibility to pursue more topics in a shorter period of time; we've done it so many times now that, if we sense some nervousness here and there, we can direct them along a path that permits their settling down a little. Still, assisting students to communicate effectively what they know will require some practice the skill to some extent before the actual exam.