Online Program

Creating Data Pathways at Universities (306424)

Keywords: undergraduate education, longitudinal data

The demand for people educated in statistics and data science has grown tremendously over the past decade. Jobs related to statistics are expected to grow by about 27% between 2012 and 2022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). To respond to this increased attention to statistics in society and work force, as well as to contribute to improved career preparation for students, it is imperative that we foster data proficiency in our undergraduate population. This is particularly important given that Statistics is the fastest growing STEM major over the last several years. There has been a 95% increase in majors granted in statistics from 2010-2013 nationwide (AMSTAT News, 2015). In this talk, we outline the processes undertaken for achieving data proficiency across disciplines on a typical university campus and outline common learning outcomes in statistics and data science across disciplines focused around important themes of data science. Using longitudinal enrollment data from 2013-2018 of approximately 8,000 students, we show that universities are far from offering pathways for data proficiency to their students. Instead, students are bl