Interactive Statistics: can we use experience from a large diverse student cohort to provide professional development for a wider population?

Statistics pervades everyone’s lives, whether it is through media coverage, reading reports, weighing up internal risks or evaluating decisions. Most managers are swamped by endless targets, dashboards and spreadsheets, but few organisations have enough employees with statistical skills to support the requirement for evidence based decision making. The need to equip today’s workforce to deal with the increased amount of data is imperative. The shortage of mathematics and statistics teachers is also likely to increase as the Government aims by 2020 to provide all post 16 students with continued mathematical education until the age of 18. At The Open University we have devised a highly successful first level statistics module which is simultaneously studied by students across a range of different disciplines, many of whom encounter statistics at some point in their qualification. This has been achieved by using topics which are of interest to everyone rather than being discipline specific. The module has produced some impressive results particularly when analysing the progress of different cohorts of students, not just from varying disciplines, but also across a broad spectrum of students with differing backgrounds. It is thought that by adapting these techniques it is possible to produce high quality statistics provision to be widely used as professional career development for employees

The Triple Whammy: Gendered Careers of Geographically Marginalised Academic STEM Women

In this paper we explore how gender, non-standard job roles as well as location create a triple whammy affecting the visibility and therefore the career paths of women STEM academics. Drawing on data from interviews and surveys at a distributed university with locations across the UK, we examine the experiences of a group of ‘Regional Academics’ who are located at a distance from the main university campus, either in regional centres or as homeworkers, and show how gender intersects with distance and status to exacerbate inequalities. In their narrative accounts, they describe themselves as the ‘glue that hold the bits of the university together’, mediating between part-time tutors, students and other academics and researchers. We explore how career progression has been limited for these liminal academics, but how small steps to increase visibility and provide recognition for achievement can result in strategies that overcome these inherent obstacles

Improving retention for all students, studying mathematics as part of their chosen qualification, by using a voluntary diagnostic quiz

This case study demonstrates the issues and advantages in encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning and to be better prepared both in terms of knowledge and expectations for their study. The study outlines the improvement in retention achieved when students were encouraged to use a voluntary diagnostic quiz on a first year university mathematics module. Initially the power of the diagnostic quiz, in predicting future success on the module, was identified using predictive analytics. Students were contacted by experienced Education Guidance staff who encouraged them to take the quiz prior to course start with the aim of using their results to steer them to start on the “right” course. The diagnostic quiz total score was made available to the student’s course tutor prior to course start to enable further tailoring of support to individual students. Early indications show an improvement in early module retention. The module in this case study was for distance learning students on an open access mathematics course

Creating an online mathematics and statistics community of learners

There is an increasing focus within Higher Education on the wider student experience. Student engagement and a well-developed community are associated with greater levels of retention, student satisfaction and success. Whilst creating opportunities for students to engage with each other and staff may be easier in a face-to-face environment, the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The Open University has a long tradition of engaging distance learning students outside the ‘classroom’ environment. As the opportunities for face-to-face engagement have declined over time, the School has needed to adapt how this support is provided. One such initiative was to provide a subject forum with the specific remit of offering advice on module choice – the module advice forum. This paper shows how the forum fulfils a set of criteria which define a bounded learning community. Since its creation in the early 90’s the forum has flourished and now provides students with the opportunity to engage more fully in issues such as curriculum development and delivery of student support. The key to its success is the wide-ranging community which contributes, besides the students themselves: this includes academics, part-time tutors and advisory student support staff, who all have their ‘academic home’ in the School of Mathematics and Statistics. The forum is housed on a Study website which provides dedicated resources to which students are referred via the forum to answer specific questions regarding module choice at the appropriate point in their student journey

Reducing the effect of noise on chaos synchronization without capping

Research in electronic communications has developed chaos based modelling to enable messages to be carried by chaotic spreading sequences. When such systems are used it is necessary to simultaneously know the resulting chaotic sequence at both the transmitting and receiving stations. This is possible using the idea of synchronization providing there is no noise present in the system. When noise is present in the transmission channel, recovery of the spreading sequence may be inaccurate or even impossible and the resulting sequence may no longer lie within the chaotic map range. A usual method of dealing with this problem is to cap iterations lying outside the range at their extremes, a procedure which increases the loss of synchronization. This paper discusses how synchronization can be improved by the transformation of the spreading sequence to be transmitted; the method uses knowledge of the invariant distribution of the chaotic spreading sequence, before noise corrupts it in the transmission channel. An ‘inverse’ transformation is applied at the receiver station with the result that the noise has a reduced impact on the synchronization and also on the subsequence recovery of the message

Enhancing the student experience with the use of a dedicated subject website

It is crucial not only to support students at all stages of their student journey, but also to create a space where they can benefit from peer support and interact with the wider mathematics and statistics (M&S) community. In a society awash with social media, it is possible to create online spaces that complement and enhance existing communities available in traditional face-to-face courses, or to provide such an environment for students who learn at a distance. The School of Mathematics and Statistics at The Open University (OU) has recently consolidated existing resources into a website resulting in an active and vibrant community of learners. The site contains resources, which students access at appropriate points in their student journey through M&S modules and qualifications. These resources are complemented by a number of dedicated and well-used online forums. In particular, a forum providing course choice information. Discussions in the forum have ultimately led to improvements in the structure of M&S qualifications, influencing the content of new modules, more effective assessment strategies, and better ways of supporting students. It is a true community of learners, where everyone - students, academics and educational advisors - all contribute, learn from each other, and shape the student experience

Academic and pastoral teams working in partnership to support distance learning students according to curriculum area

The Open University has provided distance learning opportunities for 50 years and succeeds in offering its students many of the attributes of flexible learning. This article is a case study of the development of a highly successful partnership model of academic and pastoral support in mathematics and statistics at The Open University, and its application to flexible learning. The model involved reciprocal governance structures and equal status in the making of curriculum related decisions. The model is illustrated by three examples throughout the student learning journey before, during and after study. The partnership model is applicable regardless of the curriculum area; hence the article is relevant to all disciplines. Equally, although the model was developed in the context of distance learning, its ethos remains relevant in the face-to-face context, all the more so given the prevalence of flexible learning and the growing number of distance learning courses being offered at traditional Higher Education Institutions across the sector

A statistical perspective on the dynamics of bivariate chaotic maps for communications modelling

Statistical and dynamical properties of bivariate (two-dimensional) maps, are less understood than their univariate counterparts. This paper will give a synthesis of extended results with exemplifications by the contrasting bivariate logistic and Arnold cat maps. The use of synchronization from bivariate maps in communication modelling is also described

A quality of life measure for limb lymphoedema (LYMQOL)

Background: This paper describes the validation of a 'condition-specific' quality of life (QoL) assessment tool for lymphoedema of the limbs (LYMQOL). Aims: To ascertain whether the tool could accurately assess QoL in this patient group. Methods: Face and content validity were assessed by patient questionnaires; criterion validity by comparison with European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire - Core 30 questions (EORTC QLQ-C30); internal validity by Cronbach's Alpha and split half-testing of each domain; reliability by the test-retest method; construct validity by comparing LYMQOL score with initial limb volume and responsiveness by measuring changes in score following treatment. Results: The tool was validated in a total of 209 patients. Face, content, criterion and interval validity were supported. However, there was no correlation between initial limb volume and LYMQOL score (construct validity), a finding which is similar to that from other studies. The validation of responsiveness was limited by the small numbers of responses at three and six months after the initial assessment. Conclusions: LYMQOL is a validated condition-specific QoL assessment tool which can be used for lymphoedema of the limbs both in clinical assessment and as an outcome measure

When one size does fit all: Simultaneous delivery of statistics teaching to multiple audiences

In 2019, The Open University celebrated its 50th anniversary. For most of its fifty years it has been delivering statistics education to both specialists and non-specialists, simultaneously and at scale. A single module must deliver statistics teaching across multiple qualifications in many different disciplines which means it is not possible to tailor module material and examples for each individual qualification. This is contrary to the way many service teaching modules are designed. For example, the introductory statistics module at The Open University delivers basic statistics and probability to around 1500 students a year. By structuring the material around topics to which everyone can relate; money, education and health, the module is able to engage students across a range of different qualifications from mathematics to economics, business studies, computing and natural sciences. Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive. Students are provided with printed material, which is supplemented with a variety of interactive elements, which will be described in this paper. Online forums provide a place for peer support. Small group tutorials, both face to face and online, are provided by tutors. Each tutor will typically support 20 students and provide feedback to those students on their assessable work. The students in an individual tutor’s group could be studying one of many different qualifications. All the module material, including all the interactive elements, are embedded in the university’s virtual learning environment which has made it possible to monitor how students engage with the material. This knowledge, and qualitative feedback from students, has provided support for the idea that by teaching through a narrative approach, with examples based on scenarios which have a broad interest to everyone, it is possible to engage all students with statistics regardless of their qualification. By taking this same narrative approach a new module is being created which will be studied concurrently by students in the final stages of their qualifications in mathematics, statistics, data science and economics. This paper will outline how the module will utilize Jupyter notebooks to deliver practical modelling with real data sets chosen to be of interest to all the different cohorts of students. During the last 50 years The Open University has always had to deliver modules at scale to students across many disciplines. With the increased use of data across qualifications, and the need for people to upskill in data analysis, it is essential to explore ways in which statistical training can be delivered at scale