Abstract:

Objectives
Statistical consulting is a 10 credit elective module for fourth year undergraduate, higher diploma and masters students in the School of Mathematical Sciences. The aim of this module is an introduction to the skills required to (1) formulate appropriate statistical analysis procedures to quantitatively address questions of scientific relevance; (2) construct written reports that successfully communicate statistical analysis results and (3) develop oral presentation skills.

The objective of this paper is to describe the process employed by the students to develop these consulting skills in a team environment. There are fifteen students enrolled. These students consulted with senior management staff at University College Cork on a problem-driven team project.

Classroom Environment
Senior management staff, acting as clients, presented their study on “The Student Experience at University College Cork”. Students were required to conduct an analysis of the data to address client questions. Students were divided into three teams by study programme and each team selected a coordinator. The lecturer in scheduled classes identified the relevant deliverables based on the problem and statistical analyses. The deliverables included (1) identifying the objectives of the client’s study, (2) understanding the study’s methodology, (3) preparing the data for statistical analysis, (4) performing a descriptive analysis, (5) applying dimensional reduction techniques and (6) status reports to the lecturer. The presentation of the deliverables was a team report written in a manner accessible to the clients, an individual abstract adhering to conference standards, and an individual conference poster.

Team Process and Results
Each team held meetings to identify the tasks required to complete the assigned deliverable. Actions included agreement of the necessary tasks, and once consensus was reached, the coordinator in consultation with the team members, assigned a team member to specific tasks with a given schedule. Each coordinator devised a Pert chart detailing the team structure and a Gantt chart outlining the specific tasks and timelines. Team members circulated their task results for peer-review. Each coordinator was responsible for organising a follow-up meeting to discuss, finalise and submit the deliverable.

The students reported that they enjoyed working with clients and real data and using industry-standard statistical software. Students felt that a positive team learning environment resulted from clear team management, individual and collective engagement within the team, individual responsibility, a positive attitude and the necessity to be open to constructive criticism. The students reported improved problem solving, oral and written communications, time management, and interpersonal skills, resulting from their involvement in this problem-driven team project.

Conclusions
The module learning outcomes require that the students be able to apply and master transferable skills such as data management, data analysis, problem solving, statistical computing, oral and written communication (both technical and non technical), report writing and presentation delivery. In effect many of the skills required to work as a statistical consultant. Students felt that in ST4050 authentic learning, using real clients and data, through a team-based environment has successfully enabled them to achieve these learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Team-based learning environment, problem-based learning, transferrable skills, statistical consulting, client interaction.