Statistics at a Distance: Technological Tools, Learning, and Design Features for Today's Modern Course

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a theoretical framework of learning and to develop a pedagogical (TTRACE) model that might be useful to teachers teaching statistics online or at a distance. We describe our graduate-level hybrid statistics course and the technological tools we utilized to illustrate how our model and design features can be applied in a real teaching context. We share our teaching and learning experiences, discuss what others in the field have learned, and offer suggestions to assist others in designing and improving similar courses.

Teaching Statistics Online: A Decade's Review of the Literature About What Works

“…Is there an optimal course design? Although there are researchers who are studying how to deliver statistics courses in this new technological environment (i.e., Harrington, 1999;Chao and Davis, 2000;Kennedy andMcCallister, 2000, 2001;Speed and Hardin, 2001;Stephenson, 2001;Yablon and Katz, 2001;Zhang 2002;Pan, 2003;Utts, Sommer, Acredolo, Maher, and Matthews, 2003;Brown and Kulikowich, 2004;Grandzol, 2004;McLaren, 2004;Suanpang, Petocz, and Kalceff, 2004;Ward, 2004;Dutton and Dutton, 2005;Mills andXu, 2005-2006; Rynearson and Kerr, 2005;Sloboda, 2005;Summers, Waigandt, and Whittaker, 2005;Kartha, 2006;Kreiner, 2006;Tudor, 2006;Everson and Garfield, 2008;Johnson, Dasgupta, Zhang, and Evans, 2009), there is still much to learn about how to effectively implement these courses and what practices are best.…”

Student Perspectives on a New Biomass Production Module for Fundamentals of Biorenewable Resources

“…The biomass production videos used to supplement the video lectures and MDAP were considered slightly useful to useful. Mills andXu (2005-2006) found that students liked the movie clips offered in their course.…”

Design and Contents of an Advanced Distance-Based Statistics Course for a PhD in Nursing Program

“…The review included 8 articles that specifically discussed graduatelevel courses [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] ; however, none of these articles referred to advanced doctoral-level courses. In a recent article published by a journal of the American Statistical Association, Mills and Raju 14 provided a review of 10 years of literature on teaching statistics primarily online across a variety of disciplines and levels.…”