Statistics Projects and Their Importance in Developing Written Communication and Dissemination Skills

Higher education is changing with soft skills being implemented into the curriculum to prepare students for life after university. Students can be taught some of the soft skills by using a final-year, project-based assessment. One of the most valued soft skills by industry is communication. A statistics project is an essential component in ensuring that students have mastered communicating statistical findings in a non-technical manner suitable for a general audience. Students can become engaged in learning about communicating statistical results with carefully planned learning activities and project assessments. In this paper, we present scaffolded learning activities for improved statistical communication skills along with examples from student assessments.