Lets not knock EXCEL for statistics.
Most of the responses are biased, because they don't have to pay the
excessive cost of the software they are recommending. The EXCEL stat package
comes with Microsoft OFFICE, so in many, many situations, the stat software
is FREE. You can't beat that.
I am familiar with the University of Phoenix. It is one of the for-profit
corporations that offer a BS/BA for those who can devote the time to class
room and learning teams, and have the money for their education (and books).
Like any for profit corporation, it has shareholders, an established
corporate image that has to be maintained, and a strong motivation to earn a
profit each quarter. The University of Phoenix (UOP) has education centers
in almost every city in the US, and is expanding into Europe.
The UOP is focused on adult education, primarily for those working full time
each day. A class runs from 6PM to 10PM, one day a week. A complete course
runs 5 or more weeks. A student takes only one course a week until it is
completed. Besides class room time, a student is part of a small learning
team that meets once or twice a week. The team is responsible for homework,
papers and projects that are assigned. Teachers are called facilitators, and
the emphasis is on the teacher "facilitating" the self-learning efforts of
the student.
Introductory statistics is taught to those pursuing a degree in accounting
and management. There is a separate course for each major, although they are
similar. Both are two segments (i.e. two semesters), with the accounting one
5 weeks each segment and the management one 6 weeks each segment. The
segments are taken in sequence. The subject is taught within the framework
of the statistical package in EXCEL. EXCEL is the only software they learn
during the courses. Most incoming students are weak in math, and rarely does
a student have a calculus background. UP provides all necessary access to
PC's. Each classroom has a PC projection unit, facilitating the teaching of
commands and what the screens show when inputs are made. The approach is
more toward a mechanical, application oriented statistics. The courses
include learning all the built in graphical techniques. The project each
team must complete for each segment, is relatively simple. Typical is one to
do a simple linear regression on real data, determine predictions, and
confidence intervals about the prediction, and "package" it into a
POWERPOINT presentation. Graduates are assumed that they will be using EXCEL
methods in accounting/business to explore data, and to draw conclusions from
it. I have no idea how graduates would react when they have to deal with
other types of software and concepts beyond EXCEL.
I can't show the syllabuses, because they are copyrighted. The syllabuses
were prepared by people with PhDs in education. The syllabuses did not show
any of the newer approaches to obtain a better understanding of statistics.
In one class I attended, the students had the "standard" confusion over
concepts, such as probability, z test, t test,....... No matter how you look
at it, one who has a weak background in math, will have real trouble trying
to understand concepts.
I came out of the experience with mixed feelings.
David A. Heiser
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