It is my philosophical position that post graduate success is highly associated with autonomous learning. The student needs practice in (1) teaching herself statistical theory and application, (2) self-diagnosis of conceptual strength and weakness, and (3) the process of transcribing a well-defined researchable problem into readable prose. As parents, we have lovingly attempted to instill the sense of pride and accomplishment which can only come from independent success. We don't advocate abandonment, that is, a sink or swim correspondence course approach. The instructor who clarifies, guides, challenges, and supports is worth her salt and has only fully completed her charge when--like the parent--she's obsolete. The purpose of this paper is to explore motivational strategies for motivating student commitment to this autonomous learning objective.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education