Adaptive statistical education to motivate and enable a growing and increasingly diverse student population

Abstract

Today we face a more heterogeneous student population in higher education than before and it should be our main objective in this respect to ensure future-oriented, creative and innovative candidates as researchers in STEM subjects, as statistics, when we today face the era of digitalization and big data. In an ongoing study at the Norwegian University of Life Science we try to adapt to this diversity in the introductory statistical course. In 2016 the course was redesigned as a flipped classroom with cooperative learning activities in class. In 2017 further adaption were made: The students that preferred to work alone, could choose to solve problems individually and out of class. Output variables like exam scores and evaluations have been analyzed in light of the learning preferences of the students. Results show, among other, that the so-called digital and introverted students are over- represented in the group that took the course individually.