Peer Review

StatSpace

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 15, 2020 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

StatSpace is an open repository of modular resources for use in teaching introductory statistics. Many resources use active learning techniques to help students master challenging statistical concepts. The resources are suitable for use in any level of introductory statistics and for any subject area discipline. Each resource includes learning objectives, and many resources also include prerequisite knowledge and advice on use. Resource types include animations/applets, videos, in-class activities and WebWork questions. Resources can be used individually or in groups and can be used in lecture, in labs, as pre-learning tools or for student review. StatSpace welcomes on-line comments and contributions of resources.

Type of Material:

Learning Object Repository

Recommended Uses:

The materials are best used in any way that supports learning of statistics be it, as class demonstration, practice, groupwork or self-paced learning.

Technical Requirements:

An Internet connection and browser appear to be the only technical need as the applets are HTML5 and do not seem to require any plug-ins.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

StatSpace grew out of the University of British Columbia Statistics Department’s goal of improving cross-campus introductory statistics education. At UBC, as in many universities, introductory statistics is taught not only in the Statistics Department but also in other units, as a complete course or as a component of a domain area course to provide in-context learning.

The result is this "cross-campus community for collaboration in teaching introductory statistics, for sharing teaching resources, experiences and best practices. Such a collaboration would improve statistics instruction, reduce isolation and save instructors from re-inventing the wheel."

Currently, StatSpace allows the user to explore, use and comment on resources such as web visualizations, videos, WebWorK questions and clicker questions. Eventually they plan to allow contributions.

Target Student Population:

High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Prior math knowledge and skills would be helpful, but casual users of the site can explore the content and gain some knowledge through the engaging web visualizations provided for the concepts.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

Since the instructors who started StatSpace had students from a wide range of disciplines and skill levels, the resources provide reflect diverse options for approaches and terminology that allowed them to eventually focus on core statistical concepts that bridge all disciplines. They focus on concepts rather than computations.

For an example of the high quality of the resources, the page for the web applet that helps students to learn about the concept 'Sampling from a Normal Distribution', (fundamental to all of statistical inference) provides a URL to the engaging and interactive resource and also a complete lesson plan including, Pre-quisite knowledge, Learning Objectives, Description, Suggested Uses, Tips and Discoveries, Related Resources.

A tab on the page labeled 'Files' leads to any image or learning material files, as well as an instructor guide, and also a page of questions that accompany the use of the resource which is linked on the page.

Content selections reviewed contain onjectives, prerequisite knowledge items, descriptions, suggested uses, related topics, and Creative Commons licensing information.

Concerns:

The resource options are currently limited to about 30, however, these are of very high quality.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Teaching and learning materials can include downloadable files in picture, video, and document format as well as a link to main instructional materials. This can help the instructor to set up a class use or for self-paced individual use.

Lessons reviewed were interactive and easy to understand.

Because the resources were created to meet a wide range of disciplines and skill levels, the focus on core statistical concepts that bridge all disciplines and so can easily be incorporated into curriculums calling for statistical concept skills and knowledge at any point on the spectrum.

Since learning objectives are provided, goals for teaching and learning are easily identified and students will be clear on exactly they skills they will gain after using the resources which can be used in a variaty of ways either in class or for individual practice.

The web visualizations are excellent! These engaging 'applets' allow the student to actually manipulate examples of input and data, and then view the results on charts or graphs.

Concerns:

These resources will be very effective for teaching statistics.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Teachers and students will find the StatsSpace site very easy to use. Each page is consistently labeled and materials are provided. The Comments area at the bottom of each page provides a ratings area for the question "Would you recommend this resource for teaching and learning?" which could potentially be very useful.

The Suggested Uses, Tips and Discoveries portion of each resource page provides information that provides awarenes to an instructor for addressing potential barriers or pitfalls before they occur.

Design is consistent throughout the options so user can easily locate materials and links.

Concerns:

Finding and using the resources at this site is very easy.

Other Issues and Comments:

Resources can often be found in English, French and/or Spanish!
StatSpace has begun to move beyond the repository of resources to become a "place and platform to contribute to open statistics pedagogies, and where other statistics educators can share and sustain their teaching resources, find those of their peers, as well as evaluate the teaching resources of their peers and get peer feedback on their own". In the pilot, users can now contribute resources. For contributions, like MERLOT contributors, you will need to register and sign in because the pilot stage, contributing requires approval from statspace@stat.ubc.ca. You can read more about the contribution process.

Creative Commons: