TEACHING STATISTICS ONLINE: COMPARING COMPETENCY-BASED AND TRADITIONAL LEARNING.

BACKGROUND: Interdisciplinary undergraduate students are expected to develop statistical competence to interpret research findings as they advance in their healthcare studies and careers. However, students often report anxiety related to learning statistical course content.This descriptive study examined differences in statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores of undergraduate students enrolled in online competency-based and traditional learning statistics courses.A sample of 20 nursing and interdisciplinary, undergraduate students from a Midwestern University who were enrolled in introductory statistics courses were recruited for this study.

METHODS: Significant differences between pre-test and post-test statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores were compared for students receiving online competency-based learning and traditional learning statistical course content. The Current Statistics Self-Efficacy (CSSE) and the Self-Efficacy to Learn Statistics (SELS) measures determined the statistics self-efficacy scores.

RESULTS: There was a significant difference in knowledge scores from pre- to post-test in the areas of hypothesis testing ( p =.02), measures of central tendency ( p =.001), and research design ( p =.001), but there was not a significant difference in overall mean scores between competency-based learning and the traditional learning groups ( p =.10). The pre-test to post-test Current Statistics Self-Efficacy student scores improved significantly in both the competency-based learning (p <.001) and traditional learning (p <.001) statistics course sections; and the Self Efficacy to Learn Statistics pre-test to post-test scores were also significantly improved in the competency-based (p <.001) and traditional (p =.02) learning groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Both online competency-based and traditional learning methods improved interdisciplinary undergraduate students' statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores. Online competency-based learning was described by the students as at least as beneficial as traditional learning for studying statistics while allowing more flexibility to repeat content until it was mastered.

PURPOSE: This study compared pre- and post-test differences in statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores of students enrolled in online competency-based learning and traditional learning statistics class sections.