By Ryne VanKrevelen (Elon University)
Information
This presentation shares the results of a new process our department implemented in Fall 2023 for undergraduate statistics majors to satisfy our program’s senior comprehensive evaluation requirement. Our statistics program is situated within a mid-sized, private university and typically has around 40 declared majors. Our new process allows students to satisfy the senior comprehensive evaluation requirement by earning a baseline number of points through completing a variety of statistical experiences. Our process is designed to promote student autonomy and creativity. Experiences so far have included research presentations, tutoring, software certification, data competitions, and more. An added benefit to our process is that these experiences enhance students’ resumes and help them towards their career aspirations. In this poster, we will share details of how we created a list of possible experiences with point values, collected and maintained records of those student experiences, and communicated student progress toward completing the requirement. We will share feedback from IRB-approved student interviews that highlight the many ways our statistics majors have engaged with our process. Our poster also features lessons learned from the faculty perspective in implementing our process. In our second year, we have seen a growth in students completing experiences, and we have continued to add new eligible experiences based on student input.