This page is maintained by Andrew Schaffner. It reflects some of my research in statistics education with David Madigan, Earl Hunt, and Jim Minstrell. The World Wide Web is a wonderful tool for collaboration. Please email me if you have comments or interest in this research.

Virtual Benchmark Instruction (VBI)

Using NCSA's HyperNews we support collaborative learning and discussion for statistics instruction. Students use HyperNews pages as a forum for problem solving and group discussion. We have been holding online class discussions since Winter Quarter 1995. Below you will find previous class archives of lessons and discussions. Feel free to browse, but please refrain from making additional postings.

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lesson, Spring 97

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lesson, Fall 96

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lesson, Spring 96

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lesson, Winter 96

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lesson, Autumn 95

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lesson, Summer 95

Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lessons, Spring 95

Transcripts of Usenet Newsgroup and Listserv Benchmark Lessons, Winter 95

Psychology 217 Web-based HyperNews Benchmark Lessons, Winter 96

This course is being taught by Prof. Earl Hunt in the Department of Psychology. It is an introductory statistics class geared for psychology majors.

DIANA probability module

The DIANA probability module (revisions in progess) is the first module in a series of modules to be used in an introductory undergraduate statistics course. DIANA is a World-Wide Web facility that enables teachers to assess the knowledge base of their class (facets) while providing valuable instructional feedback (prescriptions) to students. Future modules include descriptive statistics and statistical inference.

Reports

Benchmarks, Facets and the World-Wide Web

A zipped postscript version of the paper , about 150K. The unzipped postscript version, about 2M.

Benchmark Lessons and the World Wide Web: Tools for Teaching Statistics.

This paper was presented at the International Conference for the Learning Sciences 1996.

FBL Technical Report (Rough HTML Format) (PS Format)

Statistics 311 - Elements of Statistical Methods.

Statistics 390 - Probability and Statistics in Engineering and Science.

390 Student Web Projects.

Statistics Education Related Links

Journal of Statistics Education

Teaching Statistics Using Small- Group Cooperative Learning by Joan Garfield

Chance Database

Statistical Instruction and the Internet:

Computer aided instructional material being developed at Penn State Medical College

The Normal Distribution demo at UCLA statistics department

WWW Virtual Llibrary: Statistics:

An index of various statistics pages on the WWW including upcoming events, statistics departments around the world, research groups, archives, software vendors, journals, newsgroups, and related fields.

The Normal Distribution:

A neat java applet that shows the connection between the binomial and normal distribution by dropping balls agains a peg board.

The Data and Story Library:

An online library of datafiles and stories that illustrate the use of basic statistical methods.

Education Research and other Ed links

Engines for Education:

A wonderful hyperbook on education by Roger Shank.

Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments

CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments) functions as a "collaborative learning environment" and a communal database, with both text and graphics capabilities. This networked multimedia environment lets students generate "nodes," containing an idea or piece of information relevant to the topic under study.

Ed Links:

a fairly comprehensive list of education links.

Educational Resources on the World Wide Web by Bob Molnar.

Assn. for the Advancement of Computing in Education

New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education :

The NIE curriculum modules are lesson plans which allow students to use realtime data gathered from the Internet to participate in exciting and real scientific analysis and discovery on a variety of topics ranging from the aurora borealis to earthquakes.

Computer Supported Cooperative Work

WWWEDU:

World Wide Web Education list. WWWEDU is an unmoderated discussion with over 1300 members from 30 countries.

Syllabus Top 20 Educational Sites:

A list of useful sites compliled by the editors of Syllabus magazine.