Learning development in statistics education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52041/iase2023.103Abstract
Educators and employers value statistical and data analytics skills and the ability to infer meaningful conclusions from a wide variety of data, with these skills in demand in many companies and industries globally. Employability is complex and does not only reflect a person's ability to obtain employment, but it also encompasses their professional capacity within a particular field. Final-year statistics students were asked to complete a graduate employability survey to assess subject-specific skills, networking skills, the target job market, and extracurricular activities. When asked what useful skills they developed through their programme all students identified programming skills and statistical analyses. When asked what characteristics they believe would help them in employment, students responded with a combination of communication skills, writing skills, insights into the industry, willingness to learn new things, organisation, and computing skills. By offering more authentic developmental learning opportunities, we may better support students in future employability.References
Baird, A.M. & Parayitam, S. (2019). Employers’ rating of importance of skills and competencies college graduates need to get hired. Education + Training, 61(5), 622-634.
Crawford, J., Cowling, M. & Allen, K. (2023). Leadership is needed for ethical ChatGPT: Character, assessment, and learning using artificial intelligence (AI). Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 20(3), 1-19.
Farrokhnia, M., Banihashem, S.K., Noroozi, O. & Wals, A. (2023) A SWOT analysis of ChatGPT: Implications for educational practice and research, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 0, 1-15.
Izenman, A. (2013). Recursive Partitioning and Tree-Based Methods. In Modern Multivariate Statistical Techniques. Springer Texts in Statistics, Springer.
Jackson, D. & Bridgstock, R. (2021). What actually works to enhance graduate employability? The relative value of curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular learning and paid work. Higher Education, 81, 723-739.
LinkedIn. (2023). Data Analyst jobs in Glasgow, https://uk.linkedin.com/jobs/data-analyst-jobs- glasgow?position=1&pageNum=0, accessed 4th April 2023.
McQuaid, R. W. & Lindsay, C. (2005). The Concept of Employability. Urban Studies, 42(2), 197-219.
Pang, E., Wong, M., Leung, C.H. & Coombes, J. (2019). Competencies for fresh graduates’ success at work: Perspectives of employers. Industry and Higher Education, 33(1), 55-65.
Ritter, M.R., Starbuck, R.R. & Hogg, R.V. (2001). Advice From Prospective Employers on Training BS Statisticians. The American Statistician, 55(1), 14-18.
Saldana, J (2021). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. 4th Edition, Sage Publishing.
Succi, C. & Canovi, M. (2020). Soft skills to enhance graduate employability: comparing students and employers’ perception. Studies in Higher Education, 45(9), 1834-1847.
Tomlinson, M., McCafferty, H., Port, A., Maguire, N., Zabelski, A.E., Butnaru, A., Charles, M. & Kirby, S. (2022), Developing graduate employability for a challenging labour market: the validation of the graduate capital scale, Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 14(3), 1193-1209.
Tomlinson, M. (2017), Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability, Education + Training, 59(4), 338-352.
Tomlinson, M. (2012). Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes. Higher Education Policy, 25, 407-431.