Graduate Certificate in Statistics 2014/15. Course Guide

Transcription

1 Graduate Certificate in Statistics 2014/15 Course Guide 1 Introduction The Graduate Certificate in Statistics is a distance learning directed reading course designed to bring graduates in a quantitative discipline other than Mathematics or Statistics to a suitable level to commence our MSc in Statistics or MSc in Statistics with Medical Applications. It is composed of three modules, one in each of Mathematical Methods, Probability and Statistics. Reading from selected texts is introduced in a structured manner through the Sheffield University s MOLE Virtual Learning Environment (see below). This reading is supplemented by additional notes and use of computer software packages. Understanding is consolidated through a number of simple tasks and more searching exercises. Assessment is by coursework and examination. In this document, the course structure and ethos is introduced. Copies of all additional material referred to are available on the course MOLE page. 2 Course Aims The main aim of the course is to bring graduates in a quantitative discipline other than Mathematics or Statistics to a suitable level of competence in Mathematics, Statistics and Probability to commence our MSc in Statistics or MSc in Statistics with Medical Applications the following year. It is anticipated that many students will want to take the relevant MSc by distance learning and so a secondary aim is to familiarize students with this mode of study, as practised in Sheffield. 1

2 3 Course Structure The course is composed of three modules: MAS5050 Mathematical Methods for Statistics, MAS50501 Probability & Probability Distributions and MAS5052 Basic Statistics. Each is worth 20 credits. Each module is composed of the following elements: Lectures Despite the fact that no face-to-face lectures will take place in the course, with the material being delivered over the web, we retain this term to cover the basic units conveying material to be read, understood and learnt. The material is divided into small pieces, each akin to approximately the amount of material that might be covered in a familiar undergraduate lecture. Again following the undergraduate pattern, two lectures are to be covered in each module each week. The lectures all have exactly the same format. The aim is that this stylized pattern will soon become familiar and will rapidly enable you to understand what is required of you and where to expect and look for material additional to the text books. At the appointed time for each topic (see below), a MOLE page is made visible outlining the lecture subject, the material to be read and other activities to perform. Each lecture begins with a statement of the key facts to be assimilated on this topic. Typically the core text will come from one of the set books for the module (or occasionally one of the other modules) (the list of these is available in the Course Books document), but in some cases this core material is in separate document(s) released alongside the lecture. Sometimes supplementary reading is advised from set books or separate documents. Additionally, use is made of supplementary material, most usually modules from the CUSP package, to elucidate the ideas. The lectures also specify tasks to be undertaken to consolidate the material (see below). The section on related material is intended to indicate cross-referencing of topics within and between modules. Occasionally further notes of clarification are given. Tasks Most lectures will specify a number of basic tasks to be attempted to reinforce the reading. They might typically ask you to apply a given formula, fill in the gaps in an argument outlined in the text, etc. Often these will be self-test questions from the core texts, so that solutions are available. These tasks are not assessed in any way and no further solutions are provided. Exercises Supplied alongside the lectures are more searching exercises. These are typically taken from our undergraduate programme and solutions are not 2

3 available in the books. Their aim is to consolidate, but also extend, the material covered. Exercises will be provided at the rate of one sheet of (typically) 4 questions per week, i.e. per 2 lectures. They will be released alongside the lecture material. Solutions will be provided one teaching week later (in MOLE one will need to look back to the previous week s block to see the solutions now available alongside the lectures and exercises for these topics). All students are expected to mark their attempts informally on a simple scale (see document Course Grading Schemes ) and to report these marks to the Course Director. This permits a basic check on progress. At intervals, students are asked to submit copies of the marked exercises for a more formal review. The aim of these reviews is to encourage regular progress; the marks do not count towards the assessment of the module. Assignments The formal coursework element of the assessment (see below) comes through assignments. Following a preliminary assignment, which will be marked and returned for feedback purposes but not used in the assessment, 5 assignments will be released at 4-weekly intervals (with allowance for vacations). Each is worth 4% in the assessment of the module. The assignments will be marked on the scale specified in the document Course Grading Schemes and will be returned to students (with a copy retained) for feedback. The assignments will chiefly, but not exclusively, cover material since the previous assignment; knowledge of material from earlier in the module may be assumed. The assignments may simply be further exercises to be tackled, but will often attempt to pull together material from a broader selection of topics in a single question. Examinations A 2-hour examination on each module provides the remaining 80% of the assessment. Examinations will take place in June (see Course Schedule ) and students must ensure their availability. UK- and EU-based students usually come to Sheffield for these examinations; overseas students may be able to sit exams locally if they are able to make satisfactory arrangements to do so. Those who wish to use this service must contact the Course Director for further guidance during semester 1. Costs and arrangements for visiting Sheffield for the exams are the responsibility of individuals (details of possible hotels will be made available nearer the time). The style of the examinations will be outlined by provision of specimen papers in January. The examinations are restricted open book, i.e. annotated notes and other course material, but no books other than the course texts, may be taken into the examination hall. Statistical tables will be provided where necessary. The separate document Open-book Exams gives further guidance about open 3

4 book examinations. 4 Course Schedule The course commences on Monday 22 September 2014 and the last activity is on Thursday 4 June In fact, we shall usually be working on a weekly cycle from Wednesday to Wednesday. The precise arrangement of the course is given in the separate document Course Schedule and submission deadlines specified there (12 noon on the days stated) are formal, unless officially varied. The work listed falls under four main headings: Preparatory Computing Activities and the three course modules. Specific details of the requirements for each aspect are given on the course MOLE page. Naturally, the preparatory computing activities (which are described in exactly the same stylized format as the lectures) are to be completed at the outset of the course and the times allocated to them have been arranged so as to introduce a stagger into the work required for the main three modules. This means that assignments are offset and the formal assessment load is spread. Volume of work is dictated by international convention at the rate of a nominal 10 hours for each credit. Thus each module should take around 200 hours to complete and the overall course 600 hours. These timings include time to set up computing facilities, read lectures, carry out tasks, complete and mark exercises, complete assignments, revise and take the examination. Since the course is designed to have approximately 30 teaching weeks (excluding vacation), this amounts to a commitment of around 20 hours per working week; a very substantial load. Naturally the actual time needed will depend on personal aptitudes and prior experience, but these timings should serve as a rough guide which previous students have indicated is fairly realistic. Pacing the work is ultimately a responsibility of the individual. However, we see it as a very important part of the provision of a distance learning course to facilitate and encourage good practice in this regard. For this reason, the material is broken up into lecture-sized blocks and released (made visible to you in MOLE) sequentially at 8am each Wednesday morning. Further, the stagger mentioned above is introduced to offset the assessment loads. Regular weeks with no assessed work to complete add some relief, as do vacations (roughly aligned with the undergraduate teaching calendar). We do recognize that the majority of distance learning students have external family or work commitments that may make a completely regular pattern of 4

5 work impractical. We have two additional devices to assist in overcoming any resulting problems. Firstly, the teaching material is not released simply in the week scheduled for tackling the topic in the Work Schedule, but in fact one week in advance. This allows the possibility of getting ahead of the planned schedule in case a future busy period is anticipated. As a result, at any time, the work scheduled to be tackled will constitute the penultimate block visible in MOLE, while only those wishing to look ahead should view the ultimate visible block. Anyone seeking even earlier release of a specific block of material should discuss the possibility with the Course Director, but it is rarely desirable to move far from an even pacing. Secondly, in case of anticipated difficulties (as well, of course, as in the case of illness, etc), it may be possible to grant extensions to deadlines. This is at the discretion of the Course Director. The procedure is described in the separate document Procedure for Requesting Extensions. Unfortunately, some students find themselves unable to complete the Certificate as scheduled. In some instances they will need to withdraw, but often transient difficulties can be managed by taking, say, a one year leave of absence and returning to complete the following session. Students who find themselves in such circumstances should contact the Course Director as soon as possible. 5 MOLE The vehicle for delivery of the course to students (who are all at a distance from Sheffield) is the MOLE (My OnLine Environment) Virtual Learning Environment. Registered students are permitted access to dedicated course web pages, hosted at the University of Sheffield. VLEs provide a variety of features to facilitate learning and teaching. We will not be using many of the more elaborate features of MOLE (chiefly we will simply use it to display documents as pdf files), but we will make use of discussion boards and of electronic submission facilities. You should note that we will not use the internal facilities of MOLE, but instead those of the general University of Sheffield system. Details of this system and your University account address will be provided in the pack sent on registration. Students should implement this system immediately on receipt and check the account frequently (at least every 3 days). Instructions for use of MOLE are provided in the separate documents MOLE 5

6 Checklist and Introduction to MOLE. The first week of the course is dedicated to practice in using MOLE. Discussion Boards One feature of MOLE that we shall use extensively is the discussion boards. These permit students and staff to post messages relevant to the group; for example questions about course material and subsequent answers or clarifications. We have found that these are a very powerful way of learning, as knowledge and expertise are shared amongst the group. Usually staff will delay in answering queries for some time, in order to encourage communication and help from within the class, though they would, of course, step in if no answer is forthcoming, or if misconceptions need correction. During semester time you can normally expect a staff response (if necessary) within three working days, but this may not be possible in every case and naturally may not apply in vacations. Separate boards will be provided for the course as a whole (for general matters) and each individual module (for more technical queries related to the modules). A further board will be available for confidential discussions among the course students; this will not be read by staff. Electronic Submission We expect to receive assessed coursework electronically, through the special facilities in MOLE. This is, obviously, only possible for work which is readily converted to electronic format. The level of mathematical wordprocessing required may be formidable and so we will not be expecting students to learn to type mathematics in, say, LaTeX or Word. Those students who are already familiar with these packages may choose to use them, but this is not necessary. Typically we will expect students to have access to a scanner and to use it to turn handwritten or word-processed mathematics into a single pdf file for submission. Occasionally, individual students may not have access to suitable facilities and in such cases we will accept postal submissions. However, to allow for vagaries of the postal system and facilitate formal record keeping, we will ask all such students to use the MOLE submission mechanism to send a small document including a formal declaration that each assignment has been posted by the submission date. Further details of the procedure are available in the document Electronic Submission Procedure A trial run will be conducted in week 2. Please ensure that you keep a copy of all submitted material. 6 CUSP Software Interactive computer demonstrations and simulations are an important aid to clear understanding of mathematical concepts. In this course we use the CUSP 6

7 (Conceptual Understanding in Probability & Statistics) software, developed in the School some years ago, to underpin and reinforce the core texts in many areas. An important feature of the package is that it was developed for the teaching of maths students, so precise mathematical notation is used and the technical level is somewhat higher than many apparently similar packages designed for service teaching. A zipped file containing the material will be made available in MOLE. Installation and operation is described in the document The CUSP Modules and time is set aside for this in week 2. 7 R Software The statistics package used for the course (and the main one for the MSc) is R (we have previously used S-Plus and you may still see occasional reference to it). The package is powerful and widely used in academic statistical work. It is gaining currency in the professional applications areas, though the main players there are still SPSS and SAS. Students are able to download the package free of charge. Further details, installation and operation are described in the documents Installation of R and Introduction to R (several sessions) and time is set aside for this in weeks 2, 3 and 4. 8 Assessment Each module is assessed in the same way: 20% from coursework and 80% from an unseen examination. The coursework element will be built up from 5 equally weighted (4% each) Assignments (see above). An initial assignment (Assignment 0) will be delivered in each module, to establish procedures and allow for feedback, but this will not count in the assessment. Assignments will be marked and feedback will be returned to the student along with a preliminary mark on a percentage scale. It is important to note that these marks are subject to moderation before the final coursework contribution is calculated. The examinations will take place in June (see Course Schedule ). The style will be outlined by provision of specimen papers in January. Each examination will last 2 hours. The examinations are restricted open book (see the separate document Open-book Exams ). Once again, the raw examination mark may be moderated before combination with the coursework mark. 7

8 The overall mark for the Graduate Certificate will be based on the average of the (moderated) marks from the three modules. It will be considered, and further moderated if necessary, by the appropriate internal examination board and external examiner. Students gaining final marks of 40 or more will pass the Certificate; those with final marks of 70 or more will be awarded the Certificate with Distinction. The University must give final approval for awards, subject to debt checks, etc. 9 Progression to MSc Although intended to give access to our MSc in Statistics or MSc in Statistics with Medical Applications, taking the course does not guarantee an MSc place. Students should apply for the MSc (distance learning or residential) in the usual way in January or February 2015; an offer will then normally be made conditional on achieving a suitably high standard on the Graduate Certificate. Students who pass the Graduate Certificate, but do not achieve the specified level, will only be accepted at our discretion. Possible award of MSc funding is a separate matter and should be discussed with the MSc Admissions Tutor. Students should note that the Graduate Certificate does not, on its own, provide sufficient mathematical background for direct access to our MSc in Statistics with Mathematical Finance. Interested students should enquire of the MSc Admissions Tutor at an early stage whether other aspects of their personal background will permit access to this course. The final day of the course (4 June 2015) will include the chance to meet the MSc Admissions Tutor and resolve any outstanding issues about progression to the MSc. 10 Regulations The University of Sheffield regulations relating to undergraduate programmes are applicable to this course. Further details may be found in the University Calendar at In registering for the course, students agree to abide by these regulations. 8

9 11 Course Staff The Course Director is Dr Jonathan Jordan. General queries about the course structure and operation and any requests for extensions to deadlines should be directed to him. The actual course lecturers are still to be confirmed. Details will be provided shortly. The Course Director is also personal tutor for all Graduate Certificate students and any difficulties in this area should be directed to them. They will be establishing a separate mechanism for contact with all students and will want to be assured of your satisfactory progress or alerted to any problems on a regular basis. The University also offers a variety of support services. Contact details for the main ones are given below. You may also have some limited contact with our course secretary Stacey Dickin, our course admissions tutor Dr Kevin Walters, our course development assistant Peter Derlien and other members of the School of Mathematics and Statistics (see SOMAS web page). Contact Details Dr Jonathan Jordan: jonathan.jordan@sheffield.ac.uk Tel: Dr Kevin Walters: k.walters@sheffield.ac.uk Tel: School: School of Mathematics & Statistics University of Sheffield Hicks Building Sheffield S3 7RH Tel: Fax: Web: Head of School: Professor John Greenlees University: 9

10 University Health Service (Tel: ) University Counselling Service (Tel: ) Students Union Welfare Section (Tel: ) Student Services Information Desk 10