Performance and Attitudes in Introductory Statistics

The purpose of this study was to determine the §effectiveness of online course delivery by comparing §students' learning outcomes in a traditional setting §with students' learning outcomes in an online §setting. The author also examined student attitudes §toward statistics as measured by the Survey of §Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS). Three ARTIST §(Assessment Resources for Improving Statistical §Thinking) scales were used to measure student §performance. The fully online class used a learning §management system that provided streamed video §instruction, discussion, email, and feedback on §assignments. CD-ROM instruction was also used. §Results from all data analysis indicated there was §no significant difference in learning outcomes and §attitudes toward statistics between participants in §an online course and a traditional face-to-face §course. These results appear to indicate the use of §an online interface for these concepts in statistics §did not adversely affect content acquisition for the §targeted sample. Also, both groups tended to have §somewhat positive attitudes toward statistics after §only three weeks of instruction. The purpose of this study was to determine the §effectiveness of online course delivery by comparing §students'' learning outcomes in a traditional setting §with students'' learning outcomes in an online §setting. The author also examined student attitudes §toward statistics as measured by the Survey of §Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS). Three ARTIST §(Assessment Resources for Improving Statistical §Thinking) scales were used to measure student §performance. The fully online class used a learning §management system that provided streamed video §instruction, discussion, email, and feedback on §assignments. CD-ROM instruction was also used. §Results from all data analysis indicated there was §no significant difference in learning outcomes and §attitudes toward statistics between participants in §an online course and a traditional face-to-face §course. These results appear to indicate the use of §an online interface for these concepts in statistics §did not adversely affect content acquisition for the §targeted sample. Also, both groups tended to have §somewhat positive attitudes toward statistics after §only three weeks of instruction.