[R-sig-teaching] help for beginner (#Bob at statland's reply)

[Randall Pruim]

If you want to get students up and running in R with zero install headaches (on their end), set up an RStudio server.  Students simply log in like they do with facebook and have their R session resume where they left off.  With a little R savvy on your end you can pre-install and pre-load any packages you like, so students don't need to mess with any of that either.  Students who want, can also install the desktop/laptop version if they want to be independent of the internet, but most of my students like having R in a web setting.

---rjp


On Nov 19, 2012, at 4:15 PM, Paula Young wrote:

> I can answer one of your questions, Bob.
> 
> R does *not* get entangled with  Windows. I've run it from the same flash
> drive on a Windows, a MacOS and a Linux-based machine.
> 
> PGY
> 
> ---
> Dr. Paula Grafton Young
> Associate Professor of Mathematics
> Chair, Curriculum Committee, 2011 - 2013
> Chair, Strategic Planning Steering Committee, 2012 - 2013
> paula.young at salem.edu
> 336.721.2747 (O)
> 336.721.2653 (F)
> 
> <http://www.facebook.com/SalemCollege><http://www.twitter.com/SalemCollege>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 1:17 PM, Bob <bob at statland.org> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Almost all the R documentation seems to me to be written for
>> statistician/programmers and is way over the heads of most students.
>> For that reason I made my own materials for my online classes and they
>> are at
>> 
>> http://statland.org/Software_Help/R/Rhome.htm
>> 
>> For the teacher, the book by John Verzani gives detailed coverage
>> relevant to the topics in a first course.  There is a free, older and
>> shorter version at CRAN last I knew which might be a useful reference
>> for students.  I have found these the most readable for beginners
>> though they tend to tell you every possible thing you can do and every
>> way you can do it which can be overwhelming.
>> 
>> You might also look at some of the alternative interfaces to R.  R
>> Commander is a GUI interface that might make life easier, but last
>> time I tried it the installation was a nightmare taking hours as
>> dependencies of dependencies of dependencies downlaoded.  I made (but
>> did not get to test before I retired) a bootable Linux distribution
>> with R and all the depnedencies I wanted preinstalled.  I don't know
>> if it is possible to copy an entire Windows R installation to a CD and
>> hand out copies.  Does R get entangled with the Windows registry or
>> put files in the Windows directory?  It's not that the install is all
>> that bad but I find it way too bad to be a student's first experience
>> with R.  It may end with R having 2.99999 strikes against it;-(  It's
>> a far cry from most Windows installs.
>> 
>> Forwarded message:
>>> From r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-project.org Sun Nov 18 21:10:26 2012
>>> From: Nguyen Chanh Tu <nctu2006 at gmail.com>
>>> 
>>> Dear all,
>>> I am going to teach Probability and Statistics for engineering students.
>> I
>>> probably use the book "Probability and Statistics for engineeriing and
>> the
>>> sciences" by J. L. Devore. And I am going to use R for the course.
>>> This is the first time for me to try to use R. (Before I just use Excel).
>>> Could you please be so kind to help me for anything concerning to a
>>> beginner, especially:
>>> 1) Which packages should I install with the standard  R?
>>> 2) Can I find some where demo files of teaching or  script files
>> concerning
>>> to the course.
>>> 3) If there is any help already had in the forum about these starting
>>> steps, please point out to me such that I can read more.
>>> 4) Is there anyone using the same textbook or similar one of mine such
>> that
>>> we can exchange teaching experients on the course.
>>> 
>>> Thank you very much in advances. Looking forward to hearing from you.
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Nguyen
>>> 
>>>      [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my nine-year-old Dell GX-260 running Mepis Linux 8.0
>> ------->  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
>>     | |          142 Main Street
>>    /  |          Apartment 104
>>   |   |          Jaffrey, New Hampshire 03452  USA
>>   |   |          email: bob@ the site below
>>  /    |          website: http://statland.org
>> | x   /          phone: (603) 532-7224 (home)
>> ''''''
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
>> 
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> _______________________________________________
> R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching