An Innovative Approach to Teaching Online Statistics Courses

Abstract

According to Allen and Seaman (2007), nearly 3.5 million college students were taking at least one online course during the fall of 2006. Because of the proliferation in distance education, it is crucial that we strive to understand how to design successful online courses in statistics. Indeed, several educators have described their efforts to teach statistics in an online environment (Chao & Davis 2000; Davis & Chao 2004; Dereshiwsky 1998; Dutton & Dutton 2005; Grandzol 2004; Harrington 1999; Jones 2003; Katz & Yablon 2002; Kennedy & McCallister 2000, 2001; Lawrence & Singhania 2004; Mills & Xu 2006; Prater & MacNeil 2002; Suanpang, Petocz, & Kalceff 2004; Summers, Waigandt, & Whittaker 2005; Tudor 2006; Utts, Sommer, Acredolo, Maher, & Matthews 2003; Ward 2004; Wisenbaker 2003; Zhang 2002). In