The Use of Technology and Social Media in Teaching Statistics

Abstract

When teaching an applied subject such as Statistics it is important to be up-to-date with modern teaching methods and take advantage of any available teaching "tools". Technology can play an important role in this, with the use of social media, interactive online applications and videos. The use of these tools allows the teacher to take advantage of flipped-classroom approaches and for the student to grasp difficult statistical concepts (e.g. regression, simulation, confidence intervals, etc) easier through visualisation and a hands-on approach. In this paper, I will present how a lecturer can take advantage of some of the available “tools” that I used (e.g. Shiny, R Markdown, Screencast-O-Matic, Twitter, etc) in such a way that class time could be spent in stimulating debate and discussion