Dear R People: Are your undergraduate students receptive to learning R, as a rule? Most of the time, mine really like it. But this semester, they act as though they are being eaten by rats when learning R. They are not trying at all. Any similar experiences? If anyone has any good ideas, I would be THRILLED to hear them, as I am using R in Summer School. Thanks, Sincerely, Erin Hodgess Associate Professor Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences University of Houston - Downtown mailto: hodgess at gator.uhd.edu
Dear Erin, I wrote the Rcmdr package because my undergrad intro stats students are much more comfortable with point-and-click interfaces. You're in a computer and math department, however, while I'm in sociology -- I would have thought that your students wouldn't have trouble with command-driven software. Regards, John -------------------------------- John Fox Department of Sociology McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario Canada L8S 4M4 905-525-9140x23604 http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox --------------------------------> -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch > [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Erin Hodgess > Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 5:28 PM > To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch > Subject: [R] [O/T] undergrads and R > > Dear R People: > > Are your undergraduate students receptive to learning R, as a rule? > > Most of the time, mine really like it. But this semester, > they act as though they are being eaten by rats when learning > R. They are not trying at all. > > Any similar experiences? If anyone has any good ideas, I > would be THRILLED to hear them, as I am using R in Summer School. > > Thanks, > Sincerely, > Erin Hodgess > Associate Professor > Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences University > of Houston - Downtown > mailto: hodgess at gator.uhd.edu > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide! > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
It wasn't R but I've had a similar experience where a class came together to cause an uncharacteristic reaction to material which had been welcomed by previous classes (and also by later ones.) I'd say just put it down to a statistical fluctuation. Clint Clint Bowman INTERNET: clint at ecy.wa.gov Air Dispersion Modeler INTERNET: clint at math.utah.edu Air Quality Program VOICE: (360) 407-6815 Department of Ecology FAX: (360) 407-7534 USPS: PO Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600 Parcels: 300 Desmond Drive, Lacey, WA 98503-1274 On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, Erin Hodgess wrote:> Dear R People: > > Are your undergraduate students receptive to learning R, as a rule? > > Most of the time, mine really like it. But this semester, they act as > though they are being eaten by rats when learning R. They are not > trying at all. > > Any similar experiences? If anyone has any good ideas, I would be > THRILLED to hear them, as I am using R in Summer School. > > Thanks, > Sincerely, > Erin Hodgess > Associate Professor > Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences > University of Houston - Downtown > mailto: hodgess at gator.uhd.edu > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >
This semester for the first time I have been using the combination of R, R Commander (John Fox's package providing a menu-driven interface to R), and RExcel (Erich Neuwirth's package for interfacing R with Excel). The audience is the introductory Statistics class for Business undergradutes. The short summary is that I think the combination works well for this audience. I will be talking on my experience at the useR! conference in June. I added several additional menu items to Rcmdr for our group. I sent the January ones (prior to the beginning of the semester) to John Fox in January. I will send another batch of menu items, those constructed during the semester, as soon as the semester is complete. The goal is to hide most of the programming from the students. But not all of it. I think it is very important for any user of a menu system to have at least a rudimentary idea of the programming steps behind the menu. Rcmdr supports this goal since it functions by generating R language statements from the menu selections and displaying the generated statements. For example, I will casually change the cex or ylim of a generated plot statement. I post the script window (generated and edited statements) from each class to the course website. I do not post the output window.