We have developed a virtual environment, “The Island”, that allows students to design and carry out studies to support teaching and learning in statistics. A key design principle has been to engage students in the creation of this environment. We have also made The
We have developed a virtual environment, “The Island”, that allows students to design and carry out studies to support teaching and learning in statistics. A key design principle has been to engage students in the creation of this environment. We have also made The Island available to other institutions with the aim of bringing further new ideas into the virtual enviroment. In this paper we will explore the benefits of this collaboration with our students and with the staff from other institutions and in other disciplines within our own institution. We will also discuss our experiences and some of the issues that have arisen from these collaborations.
Keywords: Virtual environment; Experimental design; Introductory statistics
Biography: Michael Bulmer is a senior lecturer in mathematics and statistics at the University of Queensland. His research interests include statistical computing and optimization algorithms, symbolic reasoning, and student learning in higher education. He won an Australian Award for University Teaching in 2005 and is a Fellow of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council.