Assessment Brief

Please take the time to thoroughly read this assessment brief. It outlines the methods of
assessment, deadlines for submission, and details on when you will receive your grades and
feedback.
Module Code BAE_4_DDM

Module Title Data for Decision Making

Module Leader Kasra Kassai

% of Module Mark CW (100%) - individual report

Distributed Week 2 - w/c 29th Jan 2024

Submission Method Submit online via this Module’s Moodle site

Submission Deadline 22/4/2024 at 4:00 pm

Release of Feedback Feedback will be available online from 15/05/2024

Provisional marks will be available in the Gradebook on

Release of Marks
Moodle from 15/05/2024

Assessment:
This module will be based on one component which will be 100% Coursework assessed.

Summative Assessment:

As the world undergoes rapid change, it is imperative that higher education adapt and evolve
to remain competitive and offer students an engaging learning atmosphere that facilitates the
acquisition of necessary skills and abilities.

For this purpose, in this assignment students will help the management of the LSBU Business
School identify ways to support students learning experience and, hence, improve their
outcome, by investigating one topic which will act as a basis for the assessment. Based on
student’s speculations/claims, students are required to design & conduct a survey to test other
students’ perception of their chosen topic and how it could impact their learning experience.

For this reason, you will help the management of the Business School identify ways to support
students learning experience and, hence, improve their outcome, by investigating only one
of the following topics which will act as a basis for your coursework:

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 1. Exploring Learning Styles and Modes: Enhancing Academic Accessibility
- Understanding (Visual, Auditory, and …) Learning Styles.
- Leveraging Online, Onsite, and Hybrid Learning Modes.
- Personalising Academic Marks (grades) and feedback to Suit Diverse Learning Needs.

2. Blockchain, Metaverse, Web 4.0 Technologies, and social media

- Using Blockchain & Metaverse for Innovative Learning Environments.
- Embracing Web 4.0 Technologies and social media for Educational Advancements.
- Importance of academic module marks (grades) and feedback.

3. Culture of Diversity and Inclusivity in Higher Education

- Inclusive Campus Communities.
- Building a Diverse and Inclusive Curriculum.
- Importance of academic marks (module grades) and feedback.

4. Gamification and Artificial Intelligence in Learning and Education

- Integrating AI for Personalised Learning and Assessment.
- The Role of EdTech in Modernising Education.
- Importance of academic marks (module grades) and feedback.

5. Awareness of Career Choices and Student Support

- Coaching, Mentoring, and Personal Tutoring.
- University Career Centre and Placements.
- Importance of academic marks and feedback.

Once you've selected your coursework (one of the 5 above) topic, your next step is to delve
into the latest trends and developments related to Higher Education in the UK and beyond
regarding your topic. This involves identifying the challenges that currently exist within this
context. Your task is to propose innovative ideas and solutions to address these challenges.
Subsequently, you should construct your speculations based on your ideas and findings.

With these speculations in place, you will then craft a set of research questions aimed at
testing whether your proposed solutions or predictions align with the real-world experiences of
students at LSBU Business School.

To accomplish this, you must design and conduct a survey to gauge students' perceptions
(students' personal viewpoints, opinions, and attitudes) concerning your chosen topic and its
potential impact on their learning. This survey will provide valuable data that will be crucial in
validating or refining your initial speculations and claims. This data may include demographic
information (such as age, gender, and academic year) and academic performance data (such as
their marks in the modules they've completed or their anticipated marks in different modules)
to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the student population's perspective and
its relationship to the topic under investigation. Once data is collected you would need to
cleanse and organise it.

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Ultimately, the primary objective of this assessment is to present the outcomes of your analysis
to the School's management. By doing so, you will contribute to their ability to make well-
informed decisions regarding any necessary changes or improvements to enhance the overall
learning experience and, consequently, the academic achievements of LSBU Business School
students.

You will need to prepare a report, using MS Word – 1,800 words (+/-10%) plus one Excel
workbook.
The report must address the following 4 objectives:
• Conducting a survey and collecting the data.
• Analysing the data using MS Excel using different techniques.
• Visualising and interpreting the analysed data.
• Test speculations/claims and make recommendations.

Requirements (2 files must be submitted)

One MS word file (.docx format)

Report Structure backed by research evidence in Appendices:

1. Aim of the report and & data collection (supported by Appendix A) 10 marks
2. Data analysis using Excel or Python 10 marks
3. Data representation and Interpretation 10 marks
4. Communicating results & conclusions to School’s management 10 marks
5. Ethical consideration (Supported by Appendix A) 5 marks
6. Academic Style (academic tone, word count, Images, citation & references) 5 marks

The report must include 1 appendix containing the following:

List of speculation, link to designed questionnaire and signed ethics form 10 marks

One Excel workbook file with 4 worksheets. (.xlsx format)

Sheet 1 - Raw data. 5 Marks
Sheet 2 - Pre-processed data. 10 marks
Sheet 3 - Analysed data. 15 marks
Sheet 4 - Visualised and interpreted data. 10 marks

It is the student's responsibility to submit all required files in the correct format, at the correct
time, and through the correct submission link. Incorrect submissions will not be given a
second chance.

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Students will need to apply concepts and technical skills learnt in lectures and workshops and
develop analytical and critical skills in the context of data-driven decision making. The report
must have references which will need to be listed at the end. If you are not sure how to do this
you should check the information about LSBU’s Harvard Referencing available on the Moodle
site.

To submit the coursework, students must upload their individual report, as one word file and
one MS Excel workbook through the Report Submission link before 4 pm of Monday the 22nd
of April 2024.

Important Note:

TurnItIn will be enabled and will check for plagiarism. Copying someone else’s work, copying
chunks of text directly out of a book or cutting and pasting from web sources including
generative AI tools like ChatGPT is plagiarism and will be treated as an assessment offence by
the university.

In order to pass this module, students must achieve a minimum mark of 40%. In the event that
a student does not achieve the pass mark, another assessment will be required. Formative
Assessment:

Formative feedback will be given during workshop sessions using real life business cases and
practical activities. Feedback to students will be provided as they work during their sessions, to
support the development of their formative assessments.
This will involve:
• In-class questioning and quizzes during the lectures.
• Practical business exercises, discussions and online quizzes during the workshops.
• Questions and self-evaluation during the workshop.
• Using a timeline for the portfolio which will include feedback on each of the four outputs:
1. Output 1: Questionnaire and raw data – deadline week 4
2. Output 2: Analysing the data using Spreadsheets – deadline week 6
3. Output 3: Business report interpreting the data – deadline week 8
4. Output 4: Reflection on the used speculations & techniques – deadline week 10

Assessment Details:

Type: Report/Portfolio (MS Word)

MS Excel workbook – with 4 different worksheets
Resources: DDM Moodle contents, Reading list (books, podcasts, journals and…),
LinkedIn Learning courses specified on Moodle site.
Word Count: § MS word document - 1800 words (+/-10%) + 1 Appendix
§ MS Excel workbook – with 4 different worksheets
Presentation: § Work must be referenced, and a bibliography provided.
§ Work must be submitted as one Word document (.doc/docx) and
one MS Excel (.xls/xlsx) only.

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 § Course work must be submitted using Calibri/Aptos font size
11/12.
§ Your student number must appear at the front of the coursework.
Your name must not be on your coursework.
Referencing: Harvard Referencing should be used, see your Library Subject Guide
for guides and tips on referencing.

Regulations: Make sure you understand the University Regulations on expected

academic practice and academic misconduct. Note in particular:

§ Your work must be your own. Markers will be attentive to both

the plausibility of the sources provided as well as the consistency
and approach to writing of the work. Simply, if you do the
research and reading, and then write it up on your own, giving
the reference to sources, you will approach the work in the
appropriate way and will cause not give markers reason to
question the authenticity of the work.

§ All quotations must be credited and properly referenced.

Paraphrasing is still regarded as plagiarism if you fail to
acknowledge the source for the ideas being expressed.

TURNITIN: When you upload your work to the Moodle site it will be
checked by anti-plagiarism software.

Learning Outcomes
This assessment will fully assess the following 5 learning outcomes for this module:
• Summarise numerical data in a variety of graphical forms.
• Differentiate between the various analytical techniques for solving business problems.
• Illustrate the importance of stating assumptions.
• Manipulate data using Excel.
• Interpret data in order to develop and test claims.

Assessment Criteria and Weighting

LSBU marking criteria have been developed to help tutors give you clear and helpful feedback
on your work. They will be applied to your work to help you understand what you have
accomplished, how any mark given was arrived at, and how you can improve your work in
future.

How to get help

We will discuss this Assessment Brief in workshop. However, if you have related questions,
please contact your workshop leader, me in drop-in sessions on Mondays.

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Resources
Core Reading:
1. Evans, J. R. (2021). Business Analytics, Global Edition. United Kingdom: Pearson Higher
Education & Professional Group.
2. Priyadarsini, K., Poongodi, B., Latha, A., Jaisankar, S. (2017). Business Statistics:
Workbook Using Excel. India: Laxmi Publications.
3. Sharda, R., Delen, D., Turban, E., Liang, T. (2018). Business Intelligence, Analytics, and
Data Science: A Managerial Perspective. United Kingdom: Pearson.
4. Szabat, K. A., Stephan, D., Levine, D. M. (2020). Business Statistics: A First Course. United
Kingdom: Pearson.
5. Sharpe, N.D., De Veaux, R.D., Velleman, P.F. (2022). Business Statistics. 4th edition, New
York: Pearson. Education International.
6. Szabat, K. A., Berenson, M. L., Stephan, D., Levine, D. M. (2019). Basic Business Statistics,
Global Edition. United Kingdom: Pearson.

Optional Reading:
1. Camm, J. D., Fry, M. J., Cochran, J. J., Ohlmann, J. W. (2021). Business Analytics. United
States: Cengage Learning.
2. Favero, L. P., Belfiore, P. (2019). Data Science for Business and Decision Making. United
Kingdom: Elsevier Science.
3. Jackson, T. W., Lockwood, S. (2018). Business Analytics: A Contemporary Approach.
United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.
4. Jain, P., Sharma, P., Jayaraman, L. (2014). Behind Every Good Decision: How Anyone Can
Use Business Analytics to Turn Data Into Profitable Insight. New York: American
Management Association.
5. Nabavi, M., Olson, D. L., Boyce, W. S. (2020). Introduction to Business Analytics, Second
Edition. United States: Business Expert Press.
6. Nelson, G.S. (2018). The Analytics Lifecycle Toolkit: A Practical Guide for an Effective
Analytics Capability. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2018, 448 pp.
7. Williams, S. (2016). Business Intelligence Strategy and Big Data Analytics: A General
Management Perspective. Netherlands: Elsevier Science.
8. Wilson, A. (2019). Marketing Research: Delivering Customer Insight, 4th Edition. London:
Red Globe Press Wilson.

Further Library Resources:

1. Business analytics for Sales and Marketing Managers: How to Compete in the Information
Age.
2. Business Statistics.
3. Making big data work for your business: a guide to effective big data analytics.
4. Managerial decision modeling: business analytics with spreadsheets.
5. Mastering digital business: Disruptive technologies are enabling the next wave of digital
transformation.
6. Mastering market analytics: business metrics-practice and application.
7. Practical business intelligence: learn to get the most out of your business data.
8. Simulating business processes for descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics.

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9. Strategic analytics: advancing strategy execution and organizational effectiveness.
10. Tableau 10 business intelligence cookbook.