Students' perception of online vs. face to face learning of Statistics. A survey of Romanian students

Abstract

This paper assesses students’ opinions regarding online versus traditional teaching and learning of statistics (having experienced both), thus offering important insight for adjusting the challenging process of teaching statistics online. Results obtained from an online survey among students showed the effectiveness of the online method for teaching statistics and the positive attitude of students for this alternative method of education. There were no significant differences between face-to-face and online teaching of statistics related subjects in terms of perceived efficiency, engagement of students or attainment of learning objectives. The study reinforces the possibility of using E-learning for statistics related subjects, with even better efficiency than the traditional method of teaching reported for tasks involving statistical software. An assessment of advantages, disadvantages and development of the online classes is also provided. Thus, the paper draws on important good practices from online teaching of statistics that could also be used for traditional teaching.