Grant recipients: K. S. (Steve) Brown, Don McLeish, and Jock MacKay, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science; Paul Kates, Centre for Teaching Excellence
(Completed. Project Timeline: August 2012 - July 2013)
Steve Brown Don McLeish Jock MacKay Paul Kates
Project description
The goal of this project is to harness student creativity to generate new, outside-the-box ideas for presenting, understanding and participating with the concepts of undergraduate probability and statistics courses STAT 230 and STAT 231. Through a competition, UW students will be challenged to examine the topics of these two courses and apply their inventiveness and academic and technical skills to address the following question:
Is there a better or different way to approach this topic or master this material?
Surveys will be conducted in the relevant courses to determine the success of the implemented results of the competition.
Purpose
Videos of ideas from courses in probability and statistics provide a supplement to the traditional lectures in introductory courses in the subject. They provide additional resources beyond printed materials. The purpose of this LITE grant was to encourage students (many of whom have the technical skills and experience) to create interesting videos that can be used in such courses.
Findings and insights
Fifteen videos were entered, representing the work of a total of 34 students from one of the student teams. The winning videos were of high quality both in terms of the accuracy and suitability of the material presented, and the technical aspects. The winning videos can be seen at www.watstat.ca. The selection committee from the department of Statistics and Actuarial Science awarded first, second, third, and two fourth place prizes. A total of fourteen students shared in the prize money.
Dissemination and impact
The contest closed April 5, 2013 and the winning videos were determined later in the Spring term. Results of the Video Contest were made available to members of the Department through the www.watstat.ca website. Impact on courses will observed during the offering of Stat 230 and Stat 231 in Fall 2013.