Rachael Becker: The Impact of Online Discussion Forums in Introductory Statistics

This study aims to examine the impact that online discussion activities, designed to encourage collaboration and question posing, have on students' understanding of statistical concepts in an undergraduate statistics course. The sample is composed of 82 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory statistics course. Techniques were utilized to match students that participated in the online discussions to those that did not participate in the online discussions. The differences between pre and posttest grades on the LOCUS assessments were compared to determine if participation impacted student learning outcomes.