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Cycle 4 (2015 Deadline)
Implementation of a randomization-based curriculum for introductory statistics at UPH and across Indonesia
PI: Kie Van Ivanky Saputra (kie.saputra@uph.edu), Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH)
U.S. Partner: Nathan Tintle, Dordt University
Project Dates: November 2015 - October 2021
Project Website: http://statistikasimulasi.com Project Blog: https://statisticsreform.wordpress.com YouTube Channel
Project Overview
Statistics education reform is spreading around the globe but has yet to reach Indonesia. In this project Dr. Saputra and his colleagues will expose many Indonesian teachers of introductory statistics to the reformed content and pedagogy of simulation-based methods for teaching introductory statistics, methods that are growing in popularity at both the high school and college levels worldwide. The team will demonstrate that the simulation-based approaches to teaching introductory statistics developed by their U.S. Government-supported partner Dr. Tintle and his colleagues is a viable and effective alternative to teaching statistics to Indonesian university and high school students. As part of this project, the UPH group will provide helpful training to many statistics educators in Indonesia, impacting thousands of students in one of the world’s fastest growing disciplines. Finally, documenting student learning gains and improved attitudes when using the new curriculum is an important element of the project, and statistics teachers around Indonesia will participate in an assessment project to document these gains. They will disseminate the results of their workshops and the assessment project through peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations.
This new statistics curriculum will reform statistics education on a national level, changing traditional teaching methods to an active learning, student focused approach, engaging students to use more technology in learning something new, and initiating changes in statistical education through professional development. The sustained online learning community and faculty development materials included in this project will reach more than 200 statistics teachers and ultimately more than 3,000 Indonesian students. With a diverse range of professions in which statistics plays a role, the project has the potential for effecting substantial change in many sectors in the nation. Initially, it will impact hundreds of statistics educators and thousands of students in the classroom, and later on, indirectly, it should improve overall statistical literacy in the country. Its broader impacts are envisioned in enhancements to the quality of statistical education, the quality of statistical research, and the application of statistics throughout Indonesia.
Final Summary of Project Activities
Statistics students at Universitas Pelita Harapan (photo courtesy of Dr. Saputra). |
One objective of this project, which ended on October 31, 2021, was to share information with statistics lecturers around Indonesia regarding the statistics curriculum with simulation-based inference that the PEER team created. In total, Mr. Saputra and his colleagues conducted 11 in-person workshops between March 2017 and March 2020, including four at their own university, two elsewhere in Jakarta, and one each in Bandung, Yogyakarta, Palembang, Surabaya, and Makassar. Each one-day workshop discussed the contents of the team’s new statistics curriculum, possible challenges, required and supported textbooks, examples of exams, technological applications, and many other important points.
The team also created a website http://statistikasimulasi.com, which presents an online course for those interested in learning and in teaching statistics with simulation-based inference. Visitors to the site can log in and create their own accounts. Student users can access every course and every assessment free of charge. Secondary school teachers and university lecturers can get support from the PEER team if they wish to adapt this curriculum for use in their classes. The team can also provide books, exams, lecture slides, and many other instructional materials. Additional follow-up is still needed with all the lecturers who attended workshops under the project, but as of the date of the final report, six university faculty members had received individualized consultation and materials.
Another important activity under this project was a study comparing implementation of statistics instruction using a simulation-based inference curriculum in Indonesia versus implementation using the traditional curriculum. The PI and his group conducted pre- and post-surveys each semester with students who took their courses to gauge their statistics aptitude and knowledge. The researchers have published articles in conference proceedings and have another one in preparation as of December 2021 with the aim of submitting it to Indonesia’s leading journal in the field of mathematics education.
The project also aimed to improve students’ attitudes and knowledge toward statistics in Indonesia. To this end, besides their work with university students, the team conducted webinars with high school students and teachers to introduce their curriculum in an engaging, easy-to-understand, and non-threatening way. This is important, as many students are afraid to major in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields due to the need to master statistics. The team also succeeded in developing an Android application to help students in understanding the concept of simulation. In addition, they also created a new problem book for students taking their statistics course, addressing the challenge that most examples and problem sets in textbooks are not relevant to the Indonesian context.
On the program’s final goal, making statistics available for everyone, the PI and his team have worked since June 2021 on developing a website to serve as a learning management system for those who want to learn statistics and as a documentary of their project, including blogs on their activities and sources of information about simulation-based inference methods. A series of video lecturers will be embedded in the website eventually but is currently available on YouTube.
Although the PEER project has ended, Dr. Saputra and his colleagues plan to continue their efforts, including finishing their website, revising one paper and preparing at least one more, and continue outreach to other Indonesian statistics professors who are interested in implementing their curriculum. They also plan to organize another workshop for statistics lecturers who have not yet heard about their curriculum. This will be a start of work towards their goal of creating a community for improving statistics education in Indonesia. Last but not least, the team has been invited by Indonesian Cyber Education, a consortium of 12 Indonesian universities, to make their statistics course available online to all students at those universities.
Publications
Saputra, K. V. I., and O. Couch. 2018. Implementing a simulation-based inference curriculum in Indonesia: A preliminary report. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS-10), Kyoto, Japan. Voorburg, The Netherlands: International Statistical Institute.
Saputra, K. V. I., L. Cahyadi, and U.A. Sembiring. 2018. Assessment of statistical education in Indonesia: Preliminary results and initiation to simulation-based inference. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 948, No. 1, p. 012033). IOP Publishing.
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