The impact of COVID-19 on tertiary statistics teaching practices in Australia.

Abstract

Statistical literacy, one of the core skills embedded in tertiary psychology education, is best taught using active learning pedagogy. Although a plethora of research has examined how the implementation of emergency online learning (EOL) in response to COVID-19 impacted teaching and learning in general, limited research has considered how this change affected tertiary teaching of psychology statistics specifically. We conducted an exploratory, two-phase, mixed-method study to consider how the implementation of EOL during COVID-19 impacted the teaching of research methods and statistics at tertiary institutions in Australia. A sample of 21 tertiary educators in Australia (52% females, 48% males), aged 26-55 (M = 39.75) completed an online survey, which included quantitative and qualitative items addressing experiences with online teaching and COVID-19 EOL. Of this cohort, we interviewed three educators about their experience in teaching statistics;changes in teaching conditions from 2019 to the present;challenges and advantages of EOL;and student satisfaction, engagement, and performance. Overall, we found that previous experience with online learning was a better indicator of success in EOL than years of teaching in general. Educators also felt underprepared and underresourced from their institutions. Many challenges of EOL were identified, with access to statistical software being the key challenge unique to teaching statistics. Overcoming technological inequities was recommended to improve EOL outcomes in the future. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)