Royal Statistical Society
Centre for Statistical Education

Feb 05

Tatiana Macfarlane
Dental Hospital
University of Manchester

Apr 05

Rebecca Brown
School of Dentistry
Wales College of Medicine, Biology, Life and Health Sciences, University of Wales, Cardiff

I thought that the course was extremely useful. I used it to help re-write my entire introductory stats module for the undergraduate dental students at Cardiff. I have used this module for the last 2 years and have had very positive feedback. The notes helped me structure my lectures and computer sessions so that students know what they are doing and why! (May 2006)

Sep 05

Zoë Roberts
College of Medicine University of Wales, Cardiff

I found the course very useful and have referred back to parts of my portfolio whilst preparing teaching material for this year. It was a steep learning curve for me as it was my first introduction to the theory of learning and teaching. It is certainly a good course for new lecturers to start their career with (shame it was several years into my career...!). It made me feel that I had missed out on a lot by not having previously done any teaching courses. There was lots of useful information on how and where to find examples and help with teaching. I found it a struggle to get the portfolio together as I didn't find the requirements for it very clear - although I can see how this is difficult as it probably varies from person to person.

Sep 05

Judith Smith
School of Psychology
University of Liverpool

Nov 05

Isaac Dialsingh
Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago

This course is a good one which will help to retool the academic into having assessments and courses that are more relevant, not only for the students but also for the employer (and the prevalent culture). It has transformed my thinking and brought me to a new appreciation of education theory in statistical thinking. (May 2006).

Feb 06

Julia Critchley
School of Tropical Medicine
University of Liverpool

I was initially very concerned that the certificate would not be appropriate for my needs (because I was teaching an introductory short course, of mainly epidemiological statistics to a very specialist and unusual group of students). This is partly why it took me a long time to write up and submit the portfolio.

However, the course materials pointed me towards some useful resources and ideas which I had not previously come across - some I have now incorporated into teaching. It has also given me the confidence to attempt to revise and improve other courses which I am teaching...

Feb 07

Rosie Cornish
formerly of Loughborough University

I'm very glad I took this course as it forced me to take a step back and really think carefully about what I was doing. As a result of this, I dedicated more time to searching for / developing better resources and activities than I would otherwise have done and I think I made a number of other improvements to my modules. I found the course materials very useful, particularly in terms of highlighting the main theories and issues surrounding the teaching and learning of statistics.

I found it difficult not having colleagues or fellow participants to discuss ideas and problems with and, although I believe this was as much to do withthe particular position I was in as it was to do with the distance-learning nature of the course, I do think it would be beneficial if contact between participants were facilitated. Finally, I found it very useful to be able to look at someone else's portfolio (and thank you to Julia for making hers available) as it gave me a much better idea what was expected.

Oct 07

Rose Martinez-Dawson
Department of Applied Economics and Statistics Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina, USA

Taking this course provided me the opportunity to take a different perspective at the structure of the introductory statistics course I teach and how I teach it. Although I have been teaching this course for many years, I looked at my teaching in a much different light. By the end of this course, I had convinced colleagues to restructure our introductory course, and students as well as faculty have been very pleased with the new format.

I think it would have been advantageous to interact with others who were working through the course as I was so as to exchange ideas. If the course materials are put on-line, then updates to Internet links can be made.