[R-sig-teaching] purpose of list

[Robert W. Hayden]

I had some minor role in the creation of this list.  At times I have
complained that members have been too harsh in redirecting queries
whose proper home seemed to me debatable.  But as time has gone on I
have to admit that too much (most?) of the traffic on this list is
about how to make R work rather than how to use it in education.  So,
trying to think positively, let me toss out some general EDUCATIONAL
questions.  How are people using R for educational purposes?  What do
people think of the various GUI or alternate (e.g., spreadsheet)
interfaces?  Is there anything that makes R as easy to use for
beginners as, say, Minitab?  What about using R for educational
simulations?  Is R the tool for replacing what George Cobb calls a
"Ptolemaic curriculum"?

       http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclastat/cts/tise/vol1/iss1/art1/ 

If anyone wants to respond it might help to briefly describe your
student audience.  While I am attracted to the power of R, many of the
folks who ask me about R are attracted by the price.  That is
especially important in a number of contexts I work with:


my own online courses where we have no computer labs for
students who must get their own software, often paying full
single-copy prices

public high schools in the U.S. where student computer access at
school is limited and it is very helpful to give students something
they can install on a computer at home

people teaching in less wealthy nations


> On 6/29/09, Martin Maechler <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch> wrote:
> > Wrong Mailing List !!
> >
> >  Please use R-help  for R questions!
> >
> <skip>
> >     AA> Assume I have the following data sets:
> >
> Also, please send reproducible code with dummy data. Assuming the data
> is too abstract to think of a solution; and you haven't even mentioned
> the exact R function that you wanted to use.
> Best regards,
> Liviu
> 
> _______________________________________________
> R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
> 


------->  First-time AP Stats. teacher?  Help is on the way! See

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