Using Web Applets to Foster Active Learning in the Online Statistics Course

Abstract

In a classroom setting, students can engage in hands-on activities in order to better understand certain concepts and ideas. Replicating hands-on activities in an online environment, however, can be a challenge for instructors. The purpose of this webinar is to present an applet that was created to replicate a "Post-it Note" activity we commonly use in classroom sections of an undergraduate introductory statistics course. The Post-it Note activity is meant to help students develop a more conceptual understanding of the mean and the median by moving a set of Post-it Notes along a number line. During the webinar, participants will have an opportunity to see and experience just how online students are able to interact with what we have named the "Sticky Centers" applet, and we will present the kinds of materials and assignments we have created to use in conjunction with this applet. The webinar will end with a preview a newer applet we are working on in order to replicate the famous "Gummy Bears in Space" activity (presented in Schaeffer, Gnanadesikan, Watkins & Witmer, 1996).