BETH CHANCE

 

Context: My answers pertain to an introductory statistics course for nonmajors, intermediate algebra pre-requisite. Most recently I've tended to teach psychology and other social science and liberal arts majors in a general education course. Class sizes are capped at 48 and I have probably 2-3 sections of such a course each quarter.

Students are always allowed/encouraged to use a calculator and often a computer as well. We do sometimes safeguard that they are not accessing the internet during an exam. The technology required on exams directly parallels what they have already done during class and on assignments. Students are also encouraged to ask me Minitab questions during the exam, as I am not testing their Minitab knowledge as much as encouraging them to use the technology to expedite their analysis of the data.

GEORGE COBB

 

Context: My comments refer to Mount Holyoke's Stat240: Intro to Design and Analysis of Experiments, which for many students serves as an alternative introductory statistics course. (I teach this regularly, but have taught the "standard" intro course only once in 20 years; in fact that course has existed in our department for only the last four years.)

I haven't regarded this as a big issue for exams. Students need the computer for a number of HW assignments, and for their final projects, but I've never given an in-class exam that used a computer, and I doubt that I ever will. I used to be quite consistent in not allowing calculators on exams, which ensured that I designed exams that didn't involve much arithmetic, and that's still my preference. (I can provide output; students have other chances to show that they know how to persuade a computer to give them the output. On the exam, I want to use the time to assess understanding of what the output means.) Not that long ago, I felt that allowing calculators would have given students who had them an unfair advantage, but these days that no longer seems much of an issue.

JOAN GARFIELD

 

Context: An introductory statistics class taught in a college of education but serving beginning graduate students in many departments across the university who have never before studied statistics. Typically about 25-30 students in a class.

I try to have students complete some questions using computer software. They may use a calculator but usually don't need it.

JOHN HOLCOMB

 

Context: The introductory statistics course in the mathematics department at Cleveland State University (CSU) that I teach generally runs 2-3 sections of 30-45 students in each section with one section offered during the summer. The course prerequisite is a college intermediate algebra course or a suitable score on our mathematics placement exam, although I do not believe that prerequisites are actually checked on our campus. The course is a fifteen week semester with an additional exam week. Cleveland State comes from a legacy of years of teaching on a ten week quarter system, and although we are now on semesters, each course is 4.0 credit hours. The introductory statistics course is generally offered for 65 minutes per class on M-W-F.

Cleveland State University is a comprehensive metropolitan university located in downtown Cleveland. There is only one dormitory on campus, so almost all the students are commuters. In addition, CSU is an open-enrollment institution that accepts every applicant with a high school diploma. The mathematics department where I teach offers a masters degree in mathematics. The general teaching load for each instructor is 8.0 credit hours per semester provided the faculty is active in research in some way.

For the in-class exams, I want them to use a calculator. They can chose any calculator they like. For the take-home exams, I don't require a particular software, but the questions have to be answered well and the graphics have to be readable. So 99% of the students use SPSS, the software used in class and the take-home group assignments.

CARL LEE

 

Context: The type of course: Introductory statistics. Covers contents typical to an introductory statistics course. The majority of students are business majors (75%). The rest are from a variety of departments other than Science & Technology. Most students are junior, age ranging from 20 to 25. They are full time students, but many of them have some part time job. For each semester, we have about 400 to 500 students. Their background is usually weak. Less than 10 percent of students had pre-calculus.

Students are required to bring a calculator. They can use it in anyway.

Both calculators and computer are used on homework and in class.

TONY ONWUEGBUZIE

TONY ONWUEGBUZIE

 

Context: The 3-hour statistics classes that I teach involve graduate students (i.e., master's and doctoral students). My comments below, in boldface type, reflect statistics courses taught at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels. I have taught graduate-level statistics at the University of Central Arkansas (previously a master's-granting institution), Valdosta State University (a doctoral-granting institution), Howard University (a Research I, Research Intensive institution), and the University of South Florida (a Research Intensive Institution). My courses almost always are required. My average class size is 20.

 

In all my statistics examinations, calculators are allowed. In some of my examinations, items are given that require use of a computer. For example, students might be given a small data set and asked to compare two-groups using an independent samples t-test. As such, the technology used on examinations corresponds to the technology used on homework and in class. When technology is used by students in examinations, I do not take extra safeguards to minimize student cheating.

ROXY PECK

 

Context: The comments I gave are based on Stat 130 and stat 217. These are courses primarily for students majoring in liberal arts fields (Stat 130) or social sciences (Stat 217). Class size is usually 45 - 48.  Stat 130 is a general education course in statistical literacy, whereas Stat 217 is more of a methods course for students who will continue on to a research methods course in their own discipline.

When I teach in a computer classroom, I allow students to use the computer on exams. They are only allowed to use MINITAB, and aren't supposed to be looking at web sites or emailing! If I am not in a computer classroom, I allow students to use the calculator of their choice, although in this setting I try to make my exams fairly non-computational either by providing computer output or summary calculations. I try to make the technology used on the exams consistent with what we use in class.

ALLAN ROSSMAN

 

Context: My comments apply to a "Stat 101" algebra-based service course for students in humanities and social science majors. I have in mind the Math 121 course at Dickinson and courses such as Stat 130 and Stat 217 at Cal Poly.

I encourage students to use a calculator on the exam; for some questions the calculator is essential. I typically do not allow them to use a computer, only because the classroom has half as many students as computers and I do not want to deal with the difficult logistical issues that would arise in trying to give every student equitable access to a computer during the exam. The only safeguard I take is not allowing students to share calculators during the exam. As students use computers frequently in the course, the technology aspect of the exam is not closely aligned with course instruction. I do include computer output on the exams, though, so students need to be familiar with it and able to interpret it well.

DEB RUMSEY

 

Context: The course would be the 1st course, audience pretty much anyone.

I'd like to be able to have students use tech on exams, but there aren't enough computes to allow that to happen. If we did do that, we'd have to write lots of versions of the common exam. (Whether or not the course is coordinated, and if so how loosely/tightly, is also a huge issue.) The only thing we let students use is a pencil, tables (provided), cheat sheet, and a scientific (non graphing/non programmable) calculator. They always have to show their work for credit, which is important, I feel.

CANDACE SCHAU

 

Context:  I taught introductory statistics to graduate students in a College of Education for over 20 years. My classes contained 15 to 30 students and met twice a week for 1.25 hours per session. Most of the students in my classes were working toward Masters degrees in Education (although some were working toward Ph.D. degrees), most were in the course because it was required, and almost all did not want to be in the course. Most of the students held jobs, had significant others, and considered receiving their degrees (with a grade point of 4.0) as essential but usually third in importance (with loved ones first and jobs second). Because so many already were established in jobs (and in their lives) and felt as though they performed them well without ever reading research or understanding the statistics found in every day life, they viewed my introductory statistics course as the most difficult educational hurdle they faced and not very relevant to them. When I first started teaching, I really had hoped that my one introductory course would convince them that statistics is important in their lives. Given my students and their situations, however, that was a dream born from my ignorance (and, I'm sorry to say, my arrogance). For the last several years that I taught, I really hoped to accomplish a few more realistic (for my students) goals. By the end of my course, I wanted my students to: Develop a foundational understanding of important introductory statistical concepts and their uses.

Learn that they could understand a discipline that involved numbers, if they worked hard.

I also hoped that a few students would really like statistics and recognize its value to them and so decide to take additional statistics courses that were not required. My course assessments, however, were designed to assess the first goal.

I did not allow the use of computers during exams. Each student brought a calculator that included a square root key. It could have statistical capabilities too; however, since my tests were primarily conceptual, these capabilities were of no help during my exams.