Program in Course Redesign

The Ohio State University

Course Title: Introductory Statistical Concepts
Redesign Coordinator: Dennis Pearl

Ohio State University (OSU) is moving forward on a second-generation redesign of Introductory Statistical Concepts, a five-credit course enrolling 2850 students on the main campus each year plus 400 students on several branch campuses. A 1990 redesign retained three lectures per week and replaced two recitations with an active learning laboratory environment. Increased learning was, however, accompanied by increased costs due to numerous course inefficiencies. OSU will implement a "buffet" strategy, offering students a choice of interchangeable paths to learn each course objective. The "buffet" will include lectures (reduced by more than half), discovery laboratories, live and remote reviews, small group study sessions, videos, training modules, oral and written presentations, active large group problem solving, homework assignments (TA graded or self-graded), and individual and group projects. Other course innovations include creating a "statistics help desk" using a tech support model, identifying "customer service" issues to improve responses to students, and instituting a multi-level certification process for TAs. OSU will also modularize course content, allowing students to earn variable credit based on successful module completion. By following this strategy, OSU will eliminate one-fourth of course repetitions, thereby opening slots for an additional 150 students per year. OSU's redesign will reduce the cost-per-student from $190 to $132, a 31% reduction. In addition, improved retention will add to the savings for an annual total of $194,554 once the redesign is implemented on all campuses.

Initial Planning (as of 7/1/01)

Interim Progress Report (as of 12/31/02)

Final Report (as of 10/31/03)

 

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