Using Tutorial Videos to Enhance the Learning of Statistics in an Online Undergraduate Psychology Course

Learning statistics can be an intimidating and daunting challenge for students in psychology. Our department recently undertook a curriculum revision to offer our psychology major curriculum through fully online/distance learning in addition to our traditional face-to-face students. During early dev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:North American journal of psychology 2018-12, Vol.20 (3), p.715-729
Main Authors: Breneiser, Jennifer E, Rodefer, Joshua S, Tost, Jeremy R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Classrooms
College students
Core curriculum
Distance learning
Employers
Higher education
Hypothesis testing
Mathematics education
Mathematics teachers
Metacognition
Online instruction
R&D
Research & development
Skills
Software
Students
Success
Teaching
Training
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Summary:Learning statistics can be an intimidating and daunting challenge for students in psychology. Our department recently undertook a curriculum revision to offer our psychology major curriculum through fully online/distance learning in addition to our traditional face-to-face students. During early development, our offering in statistical methodology was identified as being problematic for online student success. In the process of reinventing our curriculum, we decided to create a series of videos to supplement traditional teaching resources so that our students, regardless of delivery method, would master the same material through similar assignments and exams. We compared performance of both traditional (face-to-face) and fully online/distance students in their mastery of material. Overall, fully online students were less successful in completing assignments. However, when completion rate was controlled for, performance of online/distance students was not significantly different from that of traditional students. When taken together with previously published literature, these data suggest that online/distance learning can be as successful as traditional delivery methods, however differences in motivation, readiness to learn, and anxiety may represent critical factors that limit overall success.
ISSN:1527-7143