Statistics Modules: Traditional vs. IT-based

摘要

A number of challenges are faced in teaching statistics to non-specialists. One of the questions is the extent to which the use of computer technology helps or hinders the learning process. Use of a statistics program allows calculations to be performed speedily and enhances students' employability as it matches the practice in the modern workplace; on the other hand it may make the underlying principles more obscure and it requires time and effort to learn the program. This report is a comparative study of two statistics modules taught by the author to final-year undergraduate students on various business degrees in the Business School at Birmingham City University, over a period of two academic years (2013/14 and 2014/15). The main difference between the modules is that one is IT based and the other is not, so teaching them concurrently provided a useful opportunity to explore the advantages and disadvantages of using software in the teaching of statistics to non-specialists.