[R-sig-teaching] [jones at reed.edu: Re: Who is the list for?]

[Albyn Jones]

Ooops, I failed to respond to the list.  Here it is...

albyn

----- Forwarded message from Albyn Jones <jones at reed.edu> -----

Hi Robert

That's a good question, and clearly the boundary is fuzzy.  

I was inferring from the form of the question that the poster was a
random person learning R, rather than someone using R to teach
courses.  I may have been in error, in which case I apologize to all
for jumping to a conclusion.

I don't have a list of topics that are appropriate or inappropriate,
rather a notion that this list is not the same as the R-help list,
but is for discussion of issues related to teaching R or with R.

In any case, anyone teaching with R should be aware of the R-help list.

albyn



On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 05:47:27PM -0500, Robert W. Hayden wrote:
> Forwarded message:
> > From: Albyn Jones <jones at reed.edu>
> > 
> > You should post basic R questions to the R-help list;
> > this list is intended for discussion of the use of R in
> > teaching.
> 
> Albyn, could you tell us more about what is on that list?
> 
> Some time ago I raised the possibility of an email list for those who
> want to use R in teaching introductory courses.  The idea was passed
> on and within a couple days this list was born.  (I assumed causality,
> but it may have been coincidence;-)  I would have made the list open to
> any question from anyone using R in an introductory course.  Perhaps
> there is a problem due to bimodality in the potential audience.  Some
> are old hands at R and now want to use it in the classroom.  Others
> may have never used it before and are now trying to teach with it.  I
> am not on the R-help list but wonder how much of the content there
> overlaps an introductory statistics course?  Or how much would be over
> the head of a beginner?  (I think most of the R documentation is well
> beyond the level of an introductory course, and pretty overwhelming
> and incomprehensible to a beginner, so I am hoping there is SOME place
> where beginners can get simple answers to simple questions without
> becoming Unix gurus or programmers first.)
> 
> For anyone wondering why a non-R-guru such as myself might be on this
> list (or have suggested its creation)...  I teach online in a context
> where we cannot buy a site license to provide each student with
> software.  They have to either use whatever their employer provides
> (if anything), or pay for software out of their own pocket, normally
> at full single-copy prices.  R is attractive because it is free.  It
> also makes sense because our introductory courses (at least
> originally) only exist to prepare students for more advanced courses
> where R is preferred for its power or programmability.  So, having
> created the introductory courses themselves, I then created student
> manuals for Minitab (because I already knew it), Data Desk (because it
> comes with the textbook), and R (for reasons already given).  In
> creating the R materials, I encountered others trying to get started
> with R while using it in an introductory course, and hence this list.
> 
> ------->  First-time AP Stats. teacher?  Help is on the way! See
> 
>  http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/Stat_Inst/Stats2007/Bob%20Hayden/Relief.html
> 	    
>   Robert W. Hayden in the old library at  212 Main Street (P. O. Box 450)
>   North Troy, VT 05859  phone (802) 988-2587  web site http://statland.org/      
>   email  bob statland.org  (add your own "@" and save me some spam)
> 
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> 

----- End forwarded message -----