The effect of an online course on social sciences university students' understanding of statistics

Abstract

Over the past decade there has been an increasing effort of statistics education reform that focuses on statistical reasoning. One means of improving students’ statistical reasoning is through emphasizing on the notion of variability. Also, digital tools have shown their potentials to support specific instructional efforts. The subject of the current study is to describe the effects of an online course on nine social sciences student’s development of statistical reasoning. The results of the study suggest that students augmented their conceptual development related to the concepts of central tendency and variability by showing a moderate improved level of statistical reasoning. In addition, the online course found to be supportive for students’ increasing level of enjoyment when studying and practicing statistics through digital material.