This newsletter was prepared and edited by Jim Madden, Dept. of Math., LSU, Baton Rouge.
I've been in contact with several people around the state who have expressed general interest; see the list at the end of the newsletter. Following the list of contacts, there is a second copy of the "prospectus" that I emailed out earlier. If you have not been contacted and you are interested, send email to Jim Madden.
To get an idea of some of the things that are possible electronically, look at the list (Editor's Choice) at the end of this newsletter. My favorite is the Chance Web Site. Calvin Berry (USL) recommends the UCLA and Carnegie-Mellon sites, particularly the The Data and Story Library at the latter.
What's possible locally? You can go to the web site I made for M1101, a course I am presently teaching. From the perspective of my editorial, below, the best thing is the collection of student work (which is just getting started). Nonetheless, I'm fond of the animated graphics under "Sampling Distributions". (You will need a recent version of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer to view these.) The M1101 site took me a few weekends to make, including the time it took to buy or download and learn almost all the software I had to use---and I'm not a particularly computer-wise person. The point is, a lot more than you might expect is possible rather quickly.
In the rest of this newsletter, there's an editorial on using the Web for teaching. This is followed by some information on upcoming grants that can support the network. There's also a list of the people with whom I've spoken about the network. Many thanks to all of you for helping to conceptualize the LaStat project.
I'd like to invite readers to submit their own thoughts on on any subject related to the teaching and learning of statistics for inclusion in a future newsletter. Of particular interest would be descriptions of current elementary statistics offerings at at your institution, including thoughts on characteristics of the audience and experiences of teachers.The next issue of the newsletter will carry a piece by Richard Nelson, Associate Dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication on statistical literacy in the popular media and how the Manship School prepares its graduates.
I found two insightful articles at the Microsoft higher education web site. One is mentioned in my editorial, below. The other contains excellent advice from Barbara Horgan, Director of Information Technology at the University of Washington, Tacoma, on integrating information technology into the educational mission of the university.
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An interview with Brian Copenhaver, Provost of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is quoted on the Microsoft web site. The following comment made an impression on me:
How has the World Wide Web impacted academic life at UCLA?
[The World Wide Web's] potential impact on our central mission of delivering quality instruction and research is enormous. We can't ignore [the Web]; it would be like trying to ignore the telephone or the automobile in earlier times. There are two big opportunities we see: delivering the curriculum and describing the curriculum. In the first area we've just begun, although there are a lot of exciting projects. Still, universities aren't actually delivering lots of courses over the Web. There are worries about intellectual property, equal access, and so on....What is happening, although it's less sexy, is using the Web to describe the curriculum to students. At UCLA, we have Web pages for each of the nearly 4,000 undergraduate courses we offer, providing rich, up-to-date descriptions of courses, plus assignment and scheduling updates from professors. We've also created a Web page for each one of our 20,000 undergraduate students in the College of Letters and Science.
As a a high-level administrator, Copenhaver views the Web and its potential to change the university from a lofty distance. He is as much concerned with the tactical and economic issues involved in managing a gigantic enterprise as he is with ensuring quality learning. For him, to break down the role of the Web into "delivery" and "description" is quite reasonable. For myself, and for many of you, the issue is entirely delivery, and our questions are, what is excellent delivery, and how can the Web be used to make courses more genuine learning experiences? Copenhaver leaves this entirely open. He is right to do so, because it is job of the faculty and not the administration to craft the intellectual content of the curriculum.
The word delivery brings to mind a truckload of beef arriving at a supermarket. As a professor, teaching to me seems to be less about delivering a product and more about interacting with other minds. The more I can learn about the minds I am teaching and the richer the interaction between us, the more those minds will grow. It's because of this that the Web is exciting to me. Though it does give me a convenient way to get content to my students, what's infinitely more important is that it gives my students a powerful medium in which to communicate with me, with each other and with the rest of the world.
The economics of mass delivery is not of immediate significance to a teacher. The Web may be able to reach a bigger audience at lowered cost, but the teacher cares about the quality of learning more than the numbers. Now, I predict that learning itself will not change qualitatively as a result of what professors put on the Web. Professors have always had access to powerful tools for communicating. If the Web increases the ease with which text, graphics and and data can be updated and distributed, it cannot replace lively class discussions or polished, theatrical lectures with anything better than cartoon substitutes.
The first revolution in web-based learning (as opposed to web-based curriculum delivery) comes from the new power to communicate that the Web gives to students. Student work is no longer confined to blue books, work sheets and occasional typed papers that are transmitted in private and read by no one other than the teacher. Students will have easy access not only to a vast resources of material in multiple media, but they will have tools to craft this material into their own productions. What they produce can be delivered with equal ease to the professor, to the whole class or to the world. These new capabilities for communication increase the way minds can interact, and add several dimensions to the idea of cooperative learning. This includes the possibility of cooperation between classes at different campuses in different parts of the world.
The second revolution is in assessment. The idea of student journals and portfolios has received a lot of attention in recent years. It's agreed that they are useful---probably superior---forms of assessment, but a vexing problem has been the time, effort and space it takes the teacher to handle the piles of material that can accumulate. The web offers an efficient solution in the form of electronic portfolios, which are far easier to manage, respond to and store than the wood-pulp alternative. The paper portfolios that I've accumulated in just the last few semesters are beginning to crowd me out of my little office, but I could save years worth of electronic portfolios on the hard drive in my laptop. The storage capacity of modern computers means that student performance does not need to be condensed down to a percent or a letter. Soon, electronic portfolios will replace college transcripts. When my 16-year-old daughter Calina graduates from college and applies for a job, she ought to be able to tell the employment office to link to her college portfolio to see real examples of what she will be able to contribute to the company. Grade inflation will vanish, because marks will be replaced with something more useful and more meaningful.
The third revolution is in the role of the student. With new power to produce, store and publish, the work students do in one course can become a resource for future courses. It can also set standards of accomplishment that future courses can match or exceed. Students will become collaborators in crafting the learning environment, and by taking this role the meaning and importance of their work is elevated and dignified.
In summary, the Web challenges teachers is to rethink the fundamental structure of the university, so that the powers of all the minds involved---students' and teachers'---work together to produce things of lasting value.
I bet Provost Copenhaver would agree.
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The BoR Distance Learning Initiative Proposal (due October 9, 1998)
At this time, I am trying to finalize a proposal to the Board of Regents Distance Education Initiative. My plan is to request a modest amount of funding to be used for training and equipment that directly supports development of the statistics web site. I plan to make most of the funding available to local developers (that would be you), to be used to meet local needs for equipment, software or training. If the proposal is successful (we should find out in November), local developers will immediately be invited to submit requests. These will be evaluated by an impartial review panel. The turn-around time should be a matter of weeks.
A few points about the program guidelines are relevant. See Board of Regents Site for the complete Request for Proposals (RFP).
The program is intended to result in "more widespread use of the statewide electronic delivery systems network." I believe that statewide collaborative to develop a web-based resource for statistics education qualifies for this program.
The RFP states: "As a result of project activities, the Board of Regents expects any new or revised courses to be delivered electronically by Fall, 1999, and any new programs by Spring 2000." Note that this statement does NOT imply that a project MUST result in new courses, but just that those that are developed must be delivered soon. I think that quick delivery is a goal that we can meet. The LaStat web-based resource will be a cumulative archive of course components, and will be usable from the moment of initiation. With good planning, coordination and support, it will include enough by Fall 1998 to begin making a difference.
According to Mike Abbiatti of the BoR, Distance Learning Initiative grants should not be used "merely to purchase equipment for computer labs." It was my impression that BoR would like to see a balance between the amounts used for equipment and for training, with the former not exceeding the latter.
LEQSF Enhancement Grants Proposal (due late October)
Though time is short, it may be possible to prepare a proposal for this program this year. If not this year, there will be another opportunity next fall.
LaCEPT Workshops Proposal (due late October)
I will submit a proposal for a workshop in teaching elementary statistics, to take place in January 1999. This will have three general purposes:
- to develop an understanding of what's currently happening in elementary statistics offerings at colleges and universities around the state,
- to disseminate information about national standards for probability and statistics teaching (both in college and K-12) and
- to examine the potential for internet technology to affect the teaching of statistics.
There will invited speakers and attractive financial support for participants.
NSF Curriculum Adaptation and Dissemination (due mid-November)
This program is quite flexible. As with the other grants, I want to distribute the funding to support statewide collaboration. Therefore, your input will be very useful in designing the proposal.
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These are the people whom I have contacted and have expressed an interest. Send email by clicking on the name.
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PURPOSE. This project aims to initiate a statewide collaborative for enhancing statistical literacy by supporting the development of resources for college-based statistics and probability courses. A chief goal will be the development of a web-based resource by which campuses will be able to share materials for elementary statistics courses. This will contain contributions from colleges and universities all over the state and will be used by them to support existing courses and to aid in new course development. Thus, the resource will not itself be an electronic course, and the use of the resource will not constrain the structure of locally developed courses, but it will contain a wide variety of pieces, including but not limited to technical notes, interactive lessons and assignments and archives of student work. It may include one or more self-contained web-based statistics courses if developers wish to place them there. Of course, contributions need not be limited to the elementary level. Such a resource would be an appropriate format for disseminating electronic materials for advanced courses and a good tool for research statisticians to increase public understanding and appreciation of their work.
Below, we describe the importance of the course itself and the reasons why a shared public resource of this type would benefit the state. Jim Madden, who is professor of mathematics at LSU, will coordinate efforts to obtain support for the project through various grant agencies, including LaCEPT, the Board of Regents and NSF. In the immediate future, we plan to seek support from LaCEPT for a statistics workshop in January 1999, support from the Board of Regents Distance Education Initiative for equipment and training (to be supplied in Spring 1999) and from NSF's curriculum adaptation and dissemination program for additional support (including salaries in the summers of 1999 and 2000) for faculty who become involved. We will be active in encouraging college administrators to seek ways to support this project by recognizing and rewarding contributions and by providing institutional resources where appropriate.
STATISTICAL LITERACY and the role of higher education. Statistical literacy, which includes an understanding of the basic concepts of probability and statistics together with a readiness to use them in practical settings, is an indispensable aid in making choices in both public and private life. Government policies on education, health, affirmative action and countless other issues are based on aggregate data. Statistics and probability figure as well in the calculation of individual risks. What investments are appropriate for a person with particular goals and obligations, what medical treatments most prudent, what diet most healthful? Because of the recognized importance of statistical literacy, state and national educational standards at all levels from kindergarten through college now include extensive coverage of it. Basic introductory courses at Louisiana colleges and universities play a major role in building statistical literacy because they attract large and diverse audiences. Moreover, the effects of these basic courses are multiplied by the special audiences that pass through them. Virtually every classroom teacher in the state will take a course that features basic probability and statistics. Other specialized audiences include nursing and medical technology students, journalism and mass communication students and students intending majors in business, economics and behavioral sciences.
A NETWORK of personal professional relationships is needed to support an effort like this. Electronic connections cannot substitute for or replace human communities, but they they can be used to help human communities become more effective. Fortunately, a powerful community network already exists. As a result of the Louisiana Systemic Initiative Project (LaSIP) and its partner project, the Louisiana Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (LaCEPT) (both of which are managed by the Board of Regents and funded by NSF and the state), Louisiana has a network of faculty dedicated to curriculum reform in basic mathematics and science offerings. This group---representing essentially all institutions of higher education in the state---is truly one of our greatest educational treasures, with demonstrated effectiveness in increasing the level of accomplishment in university classrooms and in the classrooms of school teachers who have been exposed to LaSIP and LaCEPT materials. The LaSIP/LaCEPT network has always been open and welcoming, and we hope that the present initiative will help this network will grow as people with new interests get involved. Not only is this an ideal foundation for developing a shared resource of the kind we envision, but there is the added advantage that electronic connections will add to and strengthen existing ties. While the present project has a specific focus, it will model a line of development that has potential to affect courses at all levels. (Return to Contents.)
PROJECT MANAGEMENT. We want to base management on a philosophy like the one that's worked successfully in LaSIP and LaCEPT. We value above all the ideas and the creative ebbnergies of those who are teaching the classes, writing the lessons and designing the materials. The goal of management is to provide resources, including access to the best thinking on what and how to teach. But within the broad goal of the project, which is to support the teaching of statistics as well as it can possibly be supported and be taught, the most valuable contributions will be made by have thought carefully about their own goals and have chosen their own paths.
POSSIBLE COMPONENTS OF THE RESORCE. The items below are listed in no particular order---particularly they are not necessarily in order of importance---and the list is not intended to be exhaustive. For a very interesting site that contains plenty of statistics material that does not fall into any of these categories, look at the Chance Data Base