Variety in Statistics Assessment (ViSA)

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This page will contain information and updates about a new international project that is designed to collect examples of a wide range of different assessment methods from tertiary level statistics teachers worldwide. Following a widely circulated call for contributions at the end of 2007, 40 authors were invited to submit papers. These papers are being refereed and, after any necessary revisions, will be compiled into a book. The editors are pleased to announce that Wiley-Blackwell have agreed to publish the book, which is scheduled to appear early in 2010. Further details will appear here in due course.

Background

It is widely recognised that it is beneficial to employ a variety of methods when assessing students. Since students have different strengths and different approaches to learning, the assessment process should give them opportunities to demonstrate their abilities and achieve the relevant learning outcomes. Also, different topics in statistics can require different assessment regimes. However, even for identical topics, non-specialist students of statistics specialising in a range of other subjects can require different teaching techniques, and consequently will need different assessment methods.

With these issues in mind, the ViSA project, which is funded by the Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) under the auspices of the UK Higher Education Maths, Stats and OR Network ,aims to gather accounts of recent successful experiences in assessment of statistical learning at tertiary level, from around the world.

The project is expected to be completed by late 2009 with the publication of a fully refereed book of contributions

A related project was completed in October 2007, Plagiarism in Statistics Assessment (PiSA). Information about this and a final project report on the project can be obtained from http://mathstore.ac.uk/projects/index.shtml#pisa

Project leaders

Penelope Bidgood,
Faculty of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics,
Kingston University
p.bidgood@kingston.ac.uk

Neville Hunt
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Coventry University
n.hunt@coventry.ac.uk

Flavia Jolliffe
Institute of Mathematics, Statistics, and Actuarial Science
University of Kent
F.Jolliffe@kent.ac.uk