@SmogDr, I just attended a meeting with a group from the Statistics Department to discuss development and July/August delivery of STAT 158, a very basic introduction to R. The group is creating a three-credit class delivered in one-credit modules that will likely be prerequisites for many undergraduate majors in statistics, ecology, and wherever else the PIs can convince the admin. During the meeting, I gleaned the following teaching tips that might be relevant for us:
detailed instructions for installation and set-up, with recorded demos and/or live help
regularly provide opportunities for live coding and student questions
make sure students understand that they MUST read the book in order to do well
some students in STAT 158 said the 7-question, 15-minute Canvas quizzes didn't add much to their learning, but the instructor thought it was helpful for tracking student progress
early focus and emphasis on knitting PDF and HTML R Markdown documents properly; require redos until students get it right
students thought the first half of the class was "easy" and the second help was "impossible"---likely because the first half wasn't absorbed; they acted but did not think
focus on creating original content to control bookdown narrative flow but link out to existing resources that are exactly what you want the students to learn/see; don't overload them with links and resources
@SmogDr, I just attended a meeting with a group from the Statistics Department to discuss development and July/August delivery of STAT 158, a very basic introduction to R. The group is creating a three-credit class delivered in one-credit modules that will likely be prerequisites for many undergraduate majors in statistics, ecology, and wherever else the PIs can convince the admin. During the meeting, I gleaned the following teaching tips that might be relevant for us:
bookdownnarrative flow but link out to existing resources that are exactly what you want the students to learn/see; don't overload them with links and resources