Syllabus (Course FAQ) for STAT 461

Section 002

Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 3:35pm to 4:25pm
Place: Althouse Lab 101
Modality: In person

Student Hours for Fall 2024 will be held in Thomas 425A on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays (WRF) from ~4:30p, to 6:00pm.

As always, you can email me to set up additional times.
In the event that I need to cancel or move Student Hours, I will make an announcemnt.

Stat 461 is the Analysis of Variance is a course focused on making use of the Analysis of Variance toolkit. This toolkit allows you to not only design experiments and other kinds of studies, but to analyze data from those studies to make informed decisions for statistical research questions.

Yes, we will be using Canvas as our course website.

The class will be a mix of discussion and group work. While I will screen/audio record and post a video for each class, class attendance is essential for your success. Discussion is an important part of your learning. During class, I expect you to be prepared and will call on you to explain your thinking.

I'm a big believer in asking questions to get you thinking and I'm okay with uncomfortable silences as they give people time to think and respond. When you ask a question, I will do one of several things: give you straight forward answer (esp. for class administration question), ask clarifying questions (this will help me better understand what you're asking), ask leading questions (to help you claim ownership of the answer to the question you initially asked), and/or open the question up to class discussion. I might do other things such as asking for some time to think more deeply about your question but I will get back to you.

Important Dates for the Fall 2024 Semester

• Classes Begin on Monday, August 26, 2024
• Regular Drop Deadline is Saturday, August 31, 2024
• Regular Add Deadline is Sunday, September 1, 2024
• Labor Day-No Classes-Monday, September 2, 2024
• Final Exam Conflict Filing Period is September 30 to October 20, 2024
• Late Add/Drop Deadline is Friday, November 15, 2024
• Thanksgiving Holiday-No Classes-November 24-November 30, 2024
• Withdrawal Deadline is Friday, December 13, 2024
• Classes End on Friday, December 13, 2024

This course seeks to prepare you to have a solid foundation of the core ideas in the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) toolbox. To this end, I anticipate that we will cover the following concepts:

(Potential) Review Concepts

Exploratory Data Analysis vs. Confirmatory Data Analysis, Randomization, Descriptive (Incisive) Statistics (e.g., sample arithmetic mean, sample arithmetic variance, sums of squares, degrees of freedom, etc.), Methods of Statistical Inference (Replication vs. Simulation, Bootstrapping, Permutation, Monte Carlo A & B, Shortcuts-Parametric,Nonparametric)

New to You Concepts

Experimental Design, Types of Units, Factors and their levels, Hasse Diagrams, Model Building, Oneway ANOVA (Assumptions, Visualizations, Post Hoc, Effect Size, Writing UpResults), Model Remediation (Nonparametrics, Transformations, Box-Cox), Blocking, Twoway ANOVA (Interaction Terms), k-Way ANOVA, Fixed and & Random Effects, More Advanced Designs (e.g., Analysis of Covariance-ANCOVA, Repeated Measures, Nested, Response Surface, Split-plot).

I'm still preparing the Fall 2024 schedule. However, you can view the schedule from Fall 2023 to get a general idea of how the semester will progress. I'll post the Fall 2024 schedule as soon as possible.

Fall 2023-MWF Schedule

I intend for this class to find a balance between the two aspects: Applications and Theory. To this end, we will be making use of some programming so that you can successfully leverage computers to carry out the computational work needed in developingyour skills and applying your new knowledge.

I've often found that when students mention "theory" they have in mind proofs, intensive work with calculus and linear algebra, and having to provide derivations. While these things are one part of the Theory side of thing, they aren't all of Theory. In particular, our "Theory" aspects will center on developing the Ways of Thinking that will help you to ask productive questions, look for answers to those questions, and ultimately make decisions in applied settings.

The prerequisites for this course are STAT 200 or the equivalent (i.e., Introductory Statistics). I have built this course so that whether you took Intro Stats just last semester or several years ago, you'll be okay. I've designed this course so that we'll have some dedicated review days as well as some Just-in-Time recapping so you can have success in our class.

Dr. Neil Hatfield is your instructor. Hi! Check out my Penn State Profile or my GitHub Pages Welcome page.

You may call me Dr. Hatfield, Professor Hatfield, or Neil, whichever you feel comfortable. My pronouns are he/him/his.

If you need to get ahold of me outside of class, you can send me a message via Canvas, send me an email through Penn State email, start a chat with me in Microsoft Teams, or stop by my office (425A Thomas).
You can also call my office phone: (814) 863-7664.

I do my best to get to class about 10 minutes early. This provides me time to get set up and answer any questions students might have before class begins.

If I need to miss class due to illness or conferences, I will either arrange for a substitute or assign work for you to do. In any case, I will send out information and/or make annoucements in class. Be sure to check your Penn State email and Canvas regularly.

In the rare event that there is no announcement and I'm not present at the start of class, please wait until you get an update.

On the first day of class, I'll more formally introduce myself to all of you. If you want to know something about me, feel free to ask. While I'll answer you honestly, if I don't feel comfortable sharing something with you, then I'll let you know. I try to be a relaxed guy and I'm passionate about my teaching and researching how students think about statistical concepts. I'm a stickler for people saying what they mean and meaning what they say; speaking with meaning is important to me.

If you're having problems or just want to learn more, please come see me.

Current Research Interests: students' understandings of distribution and related concepts, the use of Shiny applets in Statistics Education research, DEI in STEM, the role of probability in students' understanding of electron configurations.

Some fun tidbits about me: I enjoy biking/cycling, cooking/baking, and tying fun knots in my ties.

The way that I approach teaching is grounded in my beliefs about how people learn. Thus, I approach each lesson by drawing upon how I understand your backgrounds and current ways of thinking and then creating experiences which I believe will help you develop meanings and ways of thinking consistent with my learning goals, objectives, and outcomes. The experiences I construct can have a variety of forms; the most common ones are class discussions, asking questions (Socratic method), the use of projects (of various sizes/durations), and other activities.

I create slides to help frame discussions and be a resource for you all after class. However, since I often put answers and key ways of thinking on the slides, I do not make the slides available prior to class. I have found that when I do so, students don't do their own thinking; rather, they just read what I've put on the slides.

We will make use of G. W. Oehlert's A First Course in Design and Analysis of Experiments as our main reference textbook. You do not need to purchase this book; you can download a copy of the book for free from Oehlert's webpage.

Additionally, there will be extra readings that I will provide throughout the semester. If you want to get started, here are two suggestions:
Introduction to Meaningful Statistics (a brief introduction to Statistics that will help you better understand my approach to teaching)
What is Statistics? (This help you understand my approach to Statistics.)

Yes, you will need a computer. You may either use your own personal machine or one of the University's machines for this course. During class sessions, I encourage students to work in groups around a shared computer.

You can find Penn State Computer labs via this interactive map. Additionally, there are a couple of computers you may use in Thomas 422 and Thomas 425.

You will need at least one statistical software packages such as R, SAS, SPSS, JMP, Minitab for this class. The choice is up to you and your own personal learning goals. However, please keep in mind that I will only be demonstrating the usage of R. My materials are set for R (including example code). If you opt to use another software package, please let me know as soon as possible. I will do my best to find helpful resources for you. Additionally, I can meet with students outside of class and Student Hours to assist with any of the mentioned software packages.

Links and resources for R:

• R (recommended, use version 4.4.1 or later) (FREE; Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux Machines)
• RStudio Desktop (recommended, use version 2024.04.2+) (FREE; Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux Machines)
• I've written an R script that you can run to check if you have the appropriate versions of R and packages installed. Check out the information for running the checkSetup function at my STAT 461 GitHub Repo.
• There are some additional R Packages that we'll make use of throughout the course. The best course of action is to use the checkSetup function (see above) to ensure that you get all of the necessary packages installed. The following is an incomplete list of the additional packages: Tidyverse, knitr, kableExtra, car,parameters, psych, DescTools, emmeans, rstatix, and hasseDiagram (requires Installing Bioconductor).

If you are using a computer/device which does not allow you install software such as a Chromebook, please email me as soon as possible so we can get you set up with tools for success.

No worries if you don't know how to use R or RStudio Desktop. I'm operating on the assumption that a majority of class has no or minimal experience with R/RStudio Desktop. We will build our knowledge of the software together in class. Here are some things that you can do to get started and/or help you when you are struggling:

• Explore the R/RStudio Desktop Resources in Canvas. I'll be posting materials (e.g., guides,videos, etc.) that will help you get used to coding in R/RStudio Desktop.
• Make use of Student Hours; these are great opportunities to work through any coding difficulties.
• Make an appointment with me for one-on-one help if you can't make it to Student Hours.
• Practice, Practice, Practice: learning to code takes time and repetition. In the guides, I provide example code. Replicate my examples. Also look out for any challenges that I include as ways to check your understanding. Further, I try to point out additional data sets which you can explore and use as further practice.

In addition to a statistical software package, you will also need the following software:

• Some type of Office Suite (e.g., Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, Google Doc, etc.) or a plan to use RMarkdown/Quarto.
• In the event that we need to shift to online meetings, we'll make use of the Zoom platform through PSU. Please ensure that you have the most up-to-date version of Zoom's Desktop App.

As I mentioned above, you may use a statistical software package other than R. If you aren't going to use R, I recommend that you use a software package built for statistical analysis (e.g., SAS, JMP, Minitab, SPSS). You may also use another language such as MatLab or Python if you desire and are willing to put in the time. As an absolute last resort, you can use spreadsheet applications (e.g., Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets). I do not recommend that you attempt to complete this course by doing all calculations/computations by hand or calcuator (e.g., TI-89 or Desmos). I have included an entire learning objective centered on your usage of technology.

Unfortunately, I can't cover all of the course material AND multiple software packages with time available to us. Thus, if you choose to use something other than R, you will be responsible for knowing how to produce the appropriate analyses. I will provide what support I can throughout the semester.

You need to be aware that different software packages use different defaults which will directly impact your results in this class. Everyone, even R users, is responsible for ensuring that they use the correct defaults.

In the past semesters, my students have fallen into three camps: used R, used Python and R, and used SPSS or Minitab. For this question, the second two groups are the most important to examine.

My Python/R users used both languages to their advantaged: using Python to do what they were comfortable with and then using R for what was new to them in either language. RStudio Desktop allows you to use both R and Python as you wish; you will need to install the reticulate package in R to assist.

My SPSS and Minitab users had more problems. While both of these have graphical user interfaces, the systems themselves are not the easiest to work with, especially for importing data. Further, they cannot do everything that I will ask for, which meant the students either had to manually calculate the values of some statistics, switch to using R, or leave certain answers blank.

At the end of the day, students will get out what they put in. For students who were motivated and willing to put in the effort and time, they just as well as comparable students using R. If they weren't willing to put in the effort and time, then they did just as well as students who weren't willing to put time and effort into using R.

All students who put in effort to use some statistical software package found success in the course. Students who avoided using any technology struggled.

From time to time, you may need to do a quick calculation. Using a handheld calculator like a TI-89, a calculator app on your computer or phone, or something like Desmos is perfectly acceptable in most cases. If you're currently take a test, using your phone would not be allowed and the allowed software applications/websites might be limited.

For the vast majority of the class, I encourage you to use your chosen statistical software package rather than a graphing calculator or calculator app.

The Stat 461-Analysis of Variance course provides students with the foundational skills, understandings, and ways of thinking so that they can meaningfully address one-way and k-way data analysis problems and research questions.

1. LRT: Students will develop their statistical literacy, reasoning, and thinking within the context of ANOVA.
2. Comm: Students will develop their communication skills alongside their statistical understandings so that they can present their work to peers, superiors, and clients in effective ways.
3. Tech: Students will develop their skill with at least one statistical software package so that they can use technology to handle computations, allowing them to focus on designs, interpretations, and communication.
4. ANOVA: Students will develop their knowledge and understandings of ANOVA models and their applicability to real-world statistical research questions.
5. DA: Students will develop their skills in data analysis to describe what the data have to say and explain what could be going on in a particular context.
6. SI: Students will develop their skills in using the tools of statistical inference to make decisions.
7. Design: Students will develop their skills for developing experimental and observational studies.
8. Metacognition & Groupwork: Students will develop their skills in self-reflection and working with others.

You will be assessed on a variety of learning outcomes, which link to one of the learning objectives. To view the full list of learning outcomes, organized by course objective, please see the following PDF.

Fall 2024 STAT 461 Learning Outcomes

The most important shared responsiblities for everyone in our community are the following and apply to everyone--students, graders, TAs, and teachers:

1. Speak with Meaning: Everything that a person says should carry meaning to others. Each of us needs to do our best to avoid vague phrases and pronouns without clear antecedents (i.e., what the pronoun refers to). Explain and justify your reasoning, statements, arguments, etc.
2. Exhibit Intellectual Integrity: Base your statements on what you understand and what you're still wrestling with. There is courage and power in admitting to where you are struggling. Avoid making statements that reflect what you believe are what someone else wants to hear. Each of us should feel empowered to express your confusion and/or struggles with the material. This will help make the class much more productive for everyone.
3. Strive to Make Sense: There are underlying threads of coherence between various ideas we'll talk about throughout the course. As your instructor, I'll do my best to raise your awareness of these threads. However, I can't do your learning, thinking, or growing for you. Thus, you must take the lead in your education throughout the course. Each of you has a powerful support system you can make use of: your peers and your instructor. You may encounter ideas that run counter to what you understand--do not dismiss them out of hand; seek to understand the nature of those ideas.
4. Respect the Learning Process of Others: Allow people the opportunity to think, reflect, and construct their understandings. When assisting your students or your peers, pose questions to help them construct meaning rather than show them how to get an answer.

TBD: The class community will craft these.

The Spring 2024 classes came up with the following Student Responsibilities.

• Show up
• Pay attention
• Use the signal cups
• Take notes
• Be respectful
• Communicate
• Complete work
• Try your best
• Be on time
• Don't cheat
• Participate regularly
• Don't distract others
• Ask questions
• Be consistent
• Collaborate (when allowed)
• Prepare for class

TBD: The class community will craft these.

The Spring 2024 classes came up with the following Teacher Responsibilities.

• Answer questions
• Teach
• Provide resources
• Communicate, in a timely fashion
• Don't just grade on correct calculated value
• Be available
• Provide timely feedback
• Be patient
• Be respectful
• Be flexible
• Consider the weather
• Hold Student Hours
• Grade efficiently
• be transparent

Within the Eberly College of Science we have a set of 12 principles meant to capture and convey the values we hope that all members of our community will choose to embody and make the college a rewarding community for all. Please take a moment to look through The Eberly College of Science Code of Mutual Respect and Cooperation.

Our institution's official policy states that "The Pennsylvania State University recognizes the need or preference for members of the University community to refer to themselves by a first name other than their legal first name as well as self-assert a gender other than their legal gender or their gender at the time of birth (AD 84)." One way we can support self-identification is by honoring the name and pronouns that each of us go by.

Many people (e.g., international students, performers/writers, trans & non-binary people, and others) might go by a name in daily life that is different from their legal name. In this classroom, we seek to refer to people by the names that they go by.

Pronouns can be a way to affirm someone's gender identity, but they can also be unrelated to a person's identity. They are simply a public way in which people are referred to in place of their name (e.g., "he" or "she" or "they" or "ze" or something else). In this classroom, you are invited (if you want to) to share what pronouns you go by, and we seek to refer to people using the pronouns that they share. The pronouns someone indicates are not necessarily indicative of their gender identity.

Visit Trans and Non-Binary Penn State to learn more.

Your participation in the class is vital to your development in this class. You can not develop the meanings and ways of thinking indicative of understanding this course content productively if you do not participate.

Participation can take many forms and I try to provide a variety of avenues for you to do so. Some forms are highly visible such as sharing your thinking in front of the entire class. Other forms are less visible such as completing Warmup questions and/or exit tickets. And then there are forms of participation that are in-between such as being a good and active group member when we break into small groups.

TBD: The class community will craft these.

The Spring 2024 classes generated the following examples of what counts as participating in the course.

• Attend class
• Use the signal cups
• Ask questions (when you have them)
• Use Student Hours (when you need them)
• Complete assignments
• Use active note-taking
• Talk in small groups about the course content
• Answer questions when you can and even when you aren't sure
• Engage with the class
• Pay attention
• Work with others, especially when in groups
• Interact with Neil
• Contribute to discussions

There was a request that participating in group/collaborative work should have more weight than answering questions in class. To me, all forms of participating are equally weighted.

Additional forms of participating can include engaging with in-class activities,completing assignments, participating in Student Hours, forming study groups, and asking questions both in and out of class to list a few. While coming to my office is a sign of an active participant, you aren't required to do so (unless I specifically ask you to come see me). However, you should not treat coming to my office as a complete substitute for participating in class. The peer-to-peer aspect of your participation has a powerful, positive effect on your learning.

Examples of NON-participation would include such things as not attending class, sleeping in class, working on another class's work during class, texting/messaging others during class, and/or having discussions with class members not related to the course (instead of doing the actual activity/discussion).

I define participation as contributing to statistical discussions relative to your assignments, completing assignments, and presenting your statistical thinking to the class. Active participants continue participating outside of scheduled class hours by forming study groups, asking questions outside of class. Failure to participate during class will result in a loss of participation points allotted for each class session. Examples of non-participation include, but are not limited to, working on assignments from other courses, texting during class, or engaging in discussions with students on topics outside of statistics.

Your participantion in this course is your choice; I cannot make you participate. However, I will tell you that choosing to not participate will hurt your development.

I recognize that participating in class, especially with discussions, can be stressful for non-native English speakers and for native English speakers. However, these discussions (and your participation in general) only serve to benefit you. I ask that you each have patience for others as you communicate.

Unfortunately, I am limited in that I only know one language (English). In order for me to best help you, I am going to need you to speak with me in English. (Feel free to teach me some of your language; I enjoy learning new words and phrases.) I will do my best to speak slowly and clearly.

Come talk to me! I'm one of those professors who love when students come to Student Hours and/or my office. I can't help you if I'm not aware of what your feeling and thinking. Don't wait until the last minute.

I've been recording my classes since ~2014. These recordings are of my computer screen and audio of classroom. These recordings are posted for you to access through Canvas;they are not publicly available. In addition to sharing the videos with you, I use them to reflect upon the class and my teaching. Please do not use these videos as a substitute for attending class. Should there be mass attendance issues (e.g., half the class is absent), I will not make videos/materials available. Additionally, should an individual student's attendance drop below a certain level (e.g., 85%), they may lose access to the videos, materials, and summaries.

I will take attedance every day through one of a number of different methods (e.g., roll call, a warmup activity, an exit ticket, a group reporting sheet, etc.). I currently do not plan to grade attendance. Whether you attend class is up to you; I'm not going to force you to come to class. However, I will point out that we have plenty of evidence from education research that shows when a student's attendance percentage drops below 80%, they fall behind their peers. In my own courses, I have noticed that when students fall below 80% their work is lower in quality and their conveyed meanings are not as productive.

While not required, letting me know that you're going to be miss class is a courtesy that I hope you will extend to me. This will help me make any adjustments to group activities as well as setting my mind at ease. If you are missing due to participating in an Unverisity sanctioned event/activity, please provide some information about the sponsor. Other reasons include religious observance, particiapting in elections, armed foreces obligations, and taking care of your health/safety. Please be aware that missing a class--even for a university sponsored event--does not mean that you get a free pass for any graded assignments/activities that took place during your abscence. Further, and inline with University policy, some activities may not be made up.

While I do not plan to grade attendance, I will track attendance. Maintaining your cumulative attendance percentage at high levels will unlock access to above mentioned class recordings along with daily summaries, PDFs of the slides, and a reminder To Do list in Canvas.

To ensure that I and my grading team can get feedback to you in as timely a fashion as possible, I ask that you turn your homework in on time. The class voted that assignments would typically be due by TBD (ET). In the event that I need something completed before class, I will clearly state so and that posted time will depart from the typical time and be non-extendable.

In the event that you need more time to complete homework there are three routes you may take:

Late Passes

If you have late passes available to you, you may use them give yourself an additional TBD hours (per late pass) to complete the assignment. You may use a maximum of TBD late passes on any assignment. Not all assignments will be eligible for using late passes (e.g., group assignments, quizzes, tests).

You do not need to ask me to use a late pass. These are things you can automatically use in the homework system.

Extension Requests

You may also contact me about getting a limited extension. This is particularly useful if you are out of late passes, need more than maximum Late Pass period, or are dealing with an assignment not eligible for late passes. The process to request an extension is the following:

• Contact me a minimum of one day (24 hours) before the posted due date of the assignment.
• Show that you have made some progress on the assignment already.
• Explain why you need the additional time.
• Propose a new due date.

I will review each request on a case-by-case basis and get back to you with the extended due date that I grant you, which might not be the date you propose. Until you hear back from me, please do not assume that you have the extension. You may only ask for one extension per assignment.

Emergency Extensions/Illness

Life happens and things can suddenly go sideways. In such an event, please reach out to me as soon as you can so that we can work together to get you back on track.

If you find yourself asking for multiple extensions, please reach out to me to discuss what's going on. I'll do the same if I feel that you've made a large number of extension requests.

Viewing Answers

Due to the existence of late passes and extensions, I will not make full answer keys available to students until after all assignments are submitted. Calculational answers will be available in the homework system once you've submitted the assignment and the due date has passed. Keep in mind that if you view those answers after the due date, the system will bar you from using a Late Pass.

The prerequisites for this class are an one of STAT 200, STAT 240, STAT 250, or STAT 401 (or their equivalent from another institution or AP Stats exam). In essence, a first-semester, introduction to Statistics course.

If you have had one of these courses, you'll be fine taking STAT 461. We will start out with some review to ensure everyone is at a productive starting point.

We will have different sets of groups throughout the semester. You'll have spontanous groups in class (e.g., the person sitting next to you) which only last that day, we'll have small groups which might last several class sessions, and we'll have longer term groups for the group project. I will announce when I need information from you that group.

I will be creating the groups, making use of your input.

There are six major types of assignments you'll be asked to complete over the semester:

Homework (General Assignments)

Throughout the semester, you will have homework assignments, which you need to complete as assigned. These assignments will involve problem solving and will require you to reveal your reasoning, justification, and reflection on your thinking. You are responsible for completing the homework assignments prior to the announced deadline. Your instructor will review your homework and your grade is based on completion, accuracy, neatness, and work shown.

Quizzes

From time to time, I will give short quizzes, either announced or un-announced (“pop”) during the semester. I will only allow making up a missed quiz within the scope of our attendance and university policies. Additionally, some quizzes may be take-home and completed via Canvas.

Oral Quizzes

From time to time, I may ask students to sign up for an appointment to come in and answer questions orally. Each student will be responsibile for signing up and then making their appointment. During the oral quiz, each student will individually answer one or more questions, some of which might be annouced ahead of time. Students will not be able to use prepared notes/materials during the oral quiz.

Tests

TBD
Past classes have voted to not have tests but to have additional small projects, papers, or other assignments insted. Others have voted to have 2 tests given during the semester. You will work alone to complete each test to show your understanding of the course material. The best possible preparation for the tests is regular attendance and completion of assigned homework. Making up a missed test will be set up on a case-by-case basis. Such requests should include legitimate reasons with sufficient/appropriate written documents.

Final Exam

TBD
The Spring 2024 class opted to not have a final exam. The Fall 2023 classes decided to make the final exam optional; with Neil doing what he can to ensure that it would be beneficial to students, up to the constraints of the system. The final exam--should students choose to take it--will be take home and students will be allowed to use a "cheat sheet", which they must upload afterwards. The final exam will be available between 8am the Monday of Finals week but must be submitted by 5pm the Friday of Finals week. Once started, the student will have 110 minutes to complete the exam.

Course Group Project

Statistics is an interactive field where you must engage with data to help you develop ways of thinking that will serve you well in your future endeavors. Thus, there will be small projects as part of assignments and class activities as well as an on-going data analysis project this semester. I will provide further details in class.

At this stage in your education, you need to practice presenting your work in as professional a manner as possible. This means that for homework, take home quizzes/tests/exams, and projects, your submitted work should be typed up. You may use any of the following methods (or their equivalent) to prepare your homework: Microsoft Word, RMarkdown, LaTeX, Google Docs, etc.

Data visualizations should be computer generated. Some diagrams (e.g., Hasse diagrams) may be included as photos/scans of hand-drawn figures. However all figures should be part of your typed work.

Assignments that are completed in MyOpenMath will not need to be submitted as described above. However, report type assignments must be. Quizzes and tests/exams completed in-class do not need to be typed.

You will submit your assignments either in MyOpenMath (via Canvas) or by uploading the appropriate file in Canvas. Additionally, you'll submit warm up question answers either on paper or electronically; the same with any exit tickets.

When uploading files, please double check that 1) you're uploading them to the correct place, 2) you're uploading the correct file, and 3) you are using an appropriate file fromat (DOCX or PDF).

I have mixed feelings about extra credit. The students who typically benefit from extra credit opportunities are not the students who need extra credit. Given that I use Standards Based Grading, extra credit does not make sense--there's not a meaningful place to add points.

Rather than trying to create "extra credit" opportunities, I will do my best to see about creating some additional opportunities for you all to work on particular learning outcomes to demonstrate your proficiency. Such opportunities will be open to all students and announced to the entire class.

At this time, I have no plans on dropping the lowest score of any type (homework, quiz, test). Generally speaking, individual students will not have an opportunity to make up/replace a quiz score. (Exceptions do exist for students who missed class but followed the absence policy.)

I want to point out that I value your growth. Thus, if you have a low score at the start of the semester, don't stress. If you show me growth by improving on that same learning outcome, that initial low score will have a diminished impact.

No. Curving grades results in two things: 1) the grader imposes a belief for how grades should be even when that is not borne out by any data, and 2) students are not treated equitably/fairly.

When a person uses Standards Based grading (as I do), there is no need to do any curving.

TBD: The class community will have a say in this. The following information is kept for historical reasons, highlighting what past classes have opted for.

• The Spring 2024 class voted to not have tests.
• The Fall 2023 class voted to not have tests.
• The Spring 2023 class voted not to have tests but to have additional assignments in place of tests.
• The Fall 2022 class voted to have two tests during the semester (approximately at then end of Unit 2 and Unit 3). Both tests will be "Take Home". You will need to complete each in the stated testing window (~48 hours) but you will not need to do the entire test in one sitting. Additionally, the tests will be open course materials. Open course materials does NOT include any of the following: working with other individuals (in the class or not), using the internet to search for answers and/or additional information (e.g., "googling"), using websites which encourage/enable violations of academic integrity (e.g., Chegg, CourseHero, etc.), posting test materials (a violation of AI policies and Copyright law). Additionally, past homework assignments will be unaccessible during the testing window. This is to minimize the risk that you're test answers do not get correctly submitted (something which can happen if you have multiple MOM assignments open at the same time). Allowed course materials included:
• Your personal notes (handwritten or typed; printed or digital)
• Instructor posted course slides (in Canvas)
• Other instructor posted materials in Canvas
• Class video recordings posted in Canvas
• The course textbook

TBD: The class community will develop this.

The Spring 2024 classes have voted to not have a Final Exam BUT to potentially have some form of an alternative. Keep in mind that the University schedules Final Exam about half-way through the semester. You are advised to not purchase tickets/make travel plans until after the final exam schedule is released.

Since regular tests will either be held in class or given as Take Home tests, there is no reason for there to be a time conflict for tests.

However, you could experience a testing conflict for the Final Exam. This occurs when you have three (or more) final exams scheduled within one calendar day. To request relief, please see the Registrar's Page. The Filing Period for these requests runs from September 30 to October 20, 2024.

The Registrar's Office will handle all Final Exam Scheduling and Rescheduling, not me.

Yes and no. Let me explain.

Yes, everyone in our sections will have assignments/assessments which are consistent with everyone else's assignments.

No, in that certain aspects of the assignments/assessments will vary from student to student. For example, when doing an assignment where you are making use of a web app,each student will have a different version of the app. A second example is that there might be elements of a question such as the data sets, context, etc. which are unique for each student. Whenever there are unique elements for each student, the difficulty and expectations for each student remain consistent.

You are ultimately response to complete each assignment/assessment as assigned to you by myself and the way I've set up the assessment system including but not limited to web apps, and the online homework/testing system. If you are experiencing difficulties (e.g., getting a data set from an assignment), you need to contact me as soon as possible. Do not get the data set from a fellow student as there is no guarantee that their data will be the same as what you were assigned. Such actions may qualify as violating the Academic Integrity Policies of this course and the University.

I will not announce when there are student-specific unique elements in any of the questions, assignments, or assessments for this course.

I use a form of Standards Based grading. This means that I live and breath the learning outcomes when thinking about assessing each one of you. Throughout the assignment, each question on your homework, quizzes, tests, final exam, and course project will be tied to at least one of the learning objectives. Each time you answer a question, you are adding to the body of evidence about your understanding for each outcome. I use that entire body of evidence to evaluate where you end up for each learning outcome.

To assist with grading, you'll receive a rubric category/score for each question. These appear in the following table.

Keep in mind is that the typical letter grades are arbitrary assignments to particular sub-intervals of the interval [0%, 100%]. These aribtrary assignments were made in the 1940s/1950s ignoring differences in course content. Thus, they are a poor indicator of student understanding today.

You'll notice that in the Standards Based Grading Category table (see above question) I included a column titled 'Pseudo-Equivalent "Traditional" Score'. This column reflects an aribtrary mapping of the categories on to the interval [0%, 100%]. I have done this one reason only: so that I can better leverage existing technologies (computers) in keeping grade records for all of you. I do not recommend or advise you to put much stock into these numbers.

You can roughly use these mappings in conversions there is an important caveat: you can't use these categories on anything except learning outcomes. That is to say, you can't say "Oh, I have a 90% on Homework #.#; I must have an A." All scoring is done at the item level, thus any potential conversions also have to be done at the item level.

I have made an app (link and instructions in Canvas) that will help you monitor your performance and learning over the semester. I encourage you to make use of it regularly. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me and I'll give you additional guidance.

In an ideal world, I would report multiple grades to the Registrar; one for each of the Learning Outcomes. However, Penn State is not advanced enough in their thinking to do such a thing--they are living in a distorated past. I can only report a single letter grade. Thus, at the end of the semester, I am tasked with determining the most appropriate letter grade based upon the semester's worth of data on the Learning Outcomes and Learning Objectives for each of you.

I do this in a data driven way thus each semester is a little bit different. This allows me to make adjustments to account for the unique elements of each semester. The general process involves me looking at the following:

1. How many of your assessed Learning Outcomes are at the Adept or Highly Developed Proficiency Level?
2. How many of your assessed Learning Outcomes are at any of the three Proficiency levels (Adept, Highly Developed, Skillful)?
3. How many of your assessed Learning Objectives are at the Adept or Highly Developed Proficiency Level?
4. How many of your assessed Learning Objectives are at any of the three Proficiency levels (Adept, Highly Developed, Skillful)?

Notice that I focus on Learning Outcomes and Objectives; I'm not looking at homework scores, assessment scores, your participation, or your attendance. The assessment scores are a function of learning outcomes but create confusion. For example, you can demonstrate Adept Proficiency on one Learning Objective but Not Yet, Not Shown on another. If the assignment is just those two, the assignment score looks like a 50%--you don't get the credit for the outcome you have a great understanding of. Your participation and attendance will impact your learning, thus there's no need to grade you on them.

I have created an app that you can use to track your progress over the semester for each of the learning outcomes. (See Canvas for link.) Additionally, you may set up a time to talk with me about how you are doing. I'm always happy to meet with you to help you put together a plan for success.

You'll notice that Canvas does not show you any assignment statistics nor does Canvas show you your current grade for the course. I've done this for two reasons. First, The assignment statistics are about classes not individual people. You should not compare your individual score to a group of scores. Second, students often get wrapped up in the number shown. I want you to focus on the rubric categories and your development over the whole semester.

Standards Based Grading can be uncomfortable in your first experience. I believe that this method allows me to best describe your understanding on the course content.

At the end of semester, I report a standard letter grade to the Registrar. Since I use a data driven technique, I can't say what the exact breaks are for each letter grade. However, I have noticed the following rough guidelines:

1. Having at least 75% of the learning outcomes at the Highly Developed or Adept Proficiency Levels.
2. Having at least 75% of the learning outcomes at the Skillful Proficiency Level and at least 50% at the Highly Developed or Adept Proficiency Levels.
3. Having at least 50% of the learning outcomes at the Skillful Proficiency Level and at least 25% at the Highly Developed or Adept Proficiency Levels.
4. Having at least 25% of the learning outcomes at the Skillful Proficiency Level and as many at the Highly Developed or Adept Proficiency Levels as possible.
6. Having less than 25% of the learning outcomes at the Skillful Proficiency Level.

Again, these are rough guidelines and should not be taken as absolute grade breaks. There is no exact percentage that is an "A", a "B", etc.

Each rubric category provides a snapshot of your understandings at that time. You'll notice that for the lower three categories, they fall under the umberella of "Not Yet". I've purposefully chosen this phrase to indicate that while you might have proficiency at that moment, I still believe that you can attain the meanings and ways of thinking that are indicative of proficiency. Lean into the words "Not Yet" as you have the potential to improve.

No, there is a not a formula. As I have stated before, I use a data driven methodology. Here is general overview of the methodology I use:

1. Compile all necessary records: by question/part breakdowns of rubric levels, and the mappings between question/part and learning outcomes.
2. Compute each student's value for individual learning outcomes.
3. Compute the category values (objective level) for each student's learning outcomes.
4. Count the number of learning outcomes and categories that are at the Advanced and Proficient levels for each student.
5. Create a scatterplot of the number of outcomes at Advanced by the number of outcomes at Proficient for the entire set of students; Cluster results are used for initial coloring of points.
6. Examine the plot in conjunction with references lines (e.g., 25%, 50%, 75% of outcomes) to determine what natural breaks occur in the data.
7. Use these breaks to assign grades (A, B+, B, C+, C, D, F).

If this sounds intense, you're right. This method means that I have an increased workload for grading (and record keeping) during the semester as well as evaluation at the end of the semester. However, this method does a much better job at capturing your understandings than using the typical [weighted] total score.

A central aspect of education is that you build your knowledge and develop ways of thinking that will support you in your life and career. As one of your educators, part of my role is to assess your learning so that I can help you build the most productive ways of thinking. In order for me to best help you, I need the most accurate and reliable data about your thinking and learning. Academic integrity is a key to this process.

A person demonstrates academic integrity when they engage in any scholarly/educational activity in an open, honest, and responsible manner. This is part of our Shared Responsibilities.

A person violates academic integrity when they act in a way either (dis-)advantages themselves or (dis-)advantages someone else that is not explicitly allowed ahead of time. While people have a variety of reasons for choosing to act in such ways (e.g., stress, lack of time, perssure to perform, etc.), we need to keep in mind that choosing to violate academic integrity impacts everyone. The person violating academic integrity weakens their own academic growth--they do not receive the feedback that is actually necessary for their growth. The class community suffers as such cases delay giving feedback, and erode the sense of trust in the community.

There are many different ways in which a person's actions may directly or indirectly lead to violating Academic Integrity. Keep in mind whether a person acts intentionally or accidentaly, that action could still result in violating Academic Integrity. The best advice I can give is to always talk with your instructors before you submit the assignment. Here are a few of the broad categories of actions that lead to violation of academic integrity.

Plagiarism

This action occurs when someone presents someone else's work as their own, including their own. This can describe situations from forgetting to cite a source to copying someone's work without their knowledge. Avoid plagiarism by citing your sources (for figures, images, code, etc.) and giving credit to the ideas and work of others.

Self-Plagarims

Self-plagiarism occurs when a person submits work that they've submitted elsewhere; for example, taking a paper from one class and submitting that paper (even with minor changes) for a grade in a different class without prior authorization. Avoid self-plagarism by talking with your instructors about whether improving a past assignment might be work for the assignment's learning objectives.

Collusion

This action is similar to plagiarism but rather than one person being at fault, multiple people are working together. If one person gives another the answers to an assignment, that person is violating Academic Integrity just as much as the person submitting the assignment. Keep in mind that collusion can happen between students who aren't enrolled in the same section or even the same course. Avoid collusion by verifying with your instructor from the start whether you can work with others; then be sure to give credit to who did what.

Ghost Writing

This action is a more consequential form of collusion. Here someone does and submits work the behalf of someone else, by pretending to be this other person. Typically, the ghost writer is getting some benefit (e.g., a payment) to do the work, but not always. Avoid ghost writing by doing your own work; if you need assistance (e.g., typing assistance) be sure to talk with your instructor and the Student Disabilty Resources Office.

Improper Technology Use

What qualifers as proper and improper technology usage will vary from course to course. Generally, this captures any actions where technology plays a central role in the violation. This spans actions such as (but not limited to) using devices that aren't allowed on the assignment, using artificial intelligence systems (e.g., chatbots), using messaging groups to share answers, and getting/posting answers online (e.g., sites like Chegg, CourseHero, etc.). At the core of all these actions lies a person presenting someone else's work as their own. Avoid using technology improperly by seeking clarification about when, how, and what technologies are allowed on assignments.

The best advice I can provide is to talk with your instructor before you submit any assignment. Once you submit, you've solidified your action and there isn't anything your instructor can except to report the violation.

The major distinction between collusion, working together, and group work comes down to what has been explicitly allowed by the instructor. Collusion is never allowed.

I encourage students to work together on assignments. However, when students work together, each one is individual responsible for their own work. Having one person answer the questions, write the code, etc. and then pass the results to the other person is not working together. Rather, each person should be engaged in the problems, sharing ideas, thoughts, and approaches. The individual differences in how we each write and talk should be present in the answers and work each person submits. Working together can enrich the learning of all those who are actively participating.

Group work occurs when the instructor gives an activity or assignment that is meant to be completed by a group of students together with a single submission for the group. This is not a violation of academic integrity due to the specifications the instructor has set up for the assignment.

Part of learning involves running into situations where you don't instantly have a solution. Rather, you have to think about the problem, try a few things, and then pieces fall into place. You do not have to engage in such struggles alone. Getting help is a great way to help you engage in productive struggle that leads to better learning. However, not all sources of help will actually support your learning and growth. Here are my suggestions for places to seek help.

1. Check your course notes and class recordings.
2. Talk with your classmates.
3. Make use of Student Hours.
4. Email your instructor.
5. Talk to others who are not part of our course. (Use caution.)
6. Search the internet. (Use caution.)

You'll notice that on the last two I've placed the phrase "Use caution." While you might learn how to handle the specific problem you ask about, there's no guarantee that what you get from these will help you later on in the course. Additionally, there may be differences in approaches that might cause you more problems. For example, online resources (e.g., Stack Overflow) may show solutions that are 1) out of date/not recommended anymore, 2) rely on packages that are no longer available, 3) use techniques that are well-beyond what we're trying to do, 4) and/or cause new problems when you attempt to incorporate them into your work. If you find a solution online or got from someone not associated with our course, feel free to come talk to me about it. We can go over it together and I can show you how we can evaluate such advice.

When you are getting help be sure that you are not crossing the line and having someone else do your learning for you.

Neil's Thoughts

Chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Bard appear confident in the answers they provide. However, their answers are not always logical nor stand up to scrutiny. If a person relies upon chatbots to do their work, they will miss out on critical opportunities to develop the ways of thinking necessary to detect problems with AI generated answers.

Overly relying on other tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, CodePilot, Stack Overflow, etc.) will limit your growth. This can then have implications for your job if you are constantly using these tools to do your work. Therefore, unless explicit permission is given for a particular assignment, the entire class community (the instructor, the students, TAs, etc.) should actively refrain from using generative AI tools. When such use is explicitly authorized, that work should be properly documented. Direct usage of output from chatbots should be treated much like a direct quotation; derivations of such output should be treated as paraphrased text.

The Classes Thoughts

TBD by class community

Any instances of academic dishonesty will be pursued under the University and Eberly College of Science regulations concerning academic integrity. For more information on academic integrity, see Penn State's statement on plagiarism and academic dishonesty.

TBD; the class community will develop their recommendations.

I will use the above table for my recommendations. Keep in mind the the Eberly Committee on Academic Integrity as well as the Office of Student Conduct may choose alter the consequences, including increasing them.

Issues involving violations copyright law (e.g., posting assignments to websites such as Chegg, CourseHero, etc.) will not only constitute a Major violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course, but will also entail a separate violation of the Penn State Student Code of Conduct.

There are several policies to keep in mind throughout the semester; some are for this class, others are put in place by the University. Check out them out below.

I ask that you please keep your cell phones on silent and put away during class. This is to help reduce the number of distractions in the room for yourself and others. If there is a call you are expecting (e.g., you have a sick family member) let me know before class.

In Person Classes

I recognize that some students prefer to take notes via their laptop computers, iPads, or other tablet devices. You are welcome to do this AND if you and some classmates want to build a team notes document, you may. Additionally, we will be using statistical software all semester so having your laptop (or partnering with someone who has one in class) is an excellent idea. However, you should not let the use of your computing device become a distraction to your participation in class, nor should you allow your activity on the device to impede your learning or the learning of others around you. To this end, I will ask that you not be on any websites that do not directly pertain to our class (e.g., Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, etc.). Additionally, you should not be working on items for other classes.

Zoom Sessions

Clearly, you have to use some type of computing device for Zoom sessions. However, I ask that you still try to limit your usage to those things directly related to class. This will ensure that you are on a good path to success in the course.

One of the greatest things about being human is that we are each our own unique person. As such, there is a whole realm of neurodiveristy in any classroom. What some people need to have comfort and success in our class will be different from those of others. We welcome all individuals from across the neurodiviersity spectrum. I ask that we provide grace and space for all people to be themselves. Graduate students are entitled to appropriate academic accomodations just as undergraduate students.

If you are feel like you're having problems in the course, please come see me and let's see what we can do to help you. This might include reaching out the Student Disability Resources office (or other offices on campus).

If you currently have academic accommodations, please make sure to talk with me as soon as possible so that we can get everything in place.

If you've had academic accommodations in the past but haven't registered with the Student Disability Resources office, I encourage you to do so. Having the accommodations does not mean that you have to use them but they do provide you with an additional support system. To start the process, please reach out through the Student Disability Resources (SDR) website, which provides contact informaiton for every Penn State campus.

Many students at Penn State face personal challenges or have psychological needs that may interfere with their academic progress, social development, or emotional well-being. The university offers a variety of confidential services to help you through difficult times, including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, consultations, online chats, and mental health screenings. These services are provided by staff who welcome all students and embrace a philosophy respectful of clients' cultural and religious backgrounds, and sensitive to differences in race, ability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

• Counseling and Psychological Services at University Park (CAPS): 814-863-0395
• Counseling and Psychological Services at Commonwealth Campuses
• Penn State Crisis Line (24 hours/7 days/week): 877-229-6400
• Crisis Text Line (24 hours/7 days/week): Text LIONS to 741741
• National Mental Health Crisis Hotline: 988

Veterans and currently serving military personnel and/or spouses with unique circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill/duty requirements, disabilities, VA appointments, etc.) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor in the case that special arrangements need to be made. Check out Penn State's Veterans Affairs and Services website for more information.

Should the University close due to weather or other campus situation, please make sure you follow any directions included in the University's official announcement.

In Person Classes

In the event that the University closes before our scheduled class time, we will not meet. However, please check Canvas as soon as possible for any course messages.

Zoom Classes

We will continue to meet as scheduled unless the University directs us otherwise.

Attending class and participating in discussions are important to your learning. However, you being safe is more so. Please do not take any unnecessary risks to get to class. Contact me as soon as possible so that we can negotiate any make up work.

Penn State University has adopted a Protocol for Responding to Bias Motivated Incidents that is grounded in the policy that the "University is committed to creating an educational environment which is free from intolerance directed toward individuals or groups and strives to create and maintain an environment that fosters respect for others." That policy is embedded within an institution traditionally committed to academic freedom.

Bias motivated incidents include conduct that is defined in University Policy AD 91: Discrimination and Harassment, and Related Inappropriate Conduct. Students, faculty, or staff who experience or witness a possible bias motivated incident are urged to report the incident immediately by doing one of the following:

• Submit a report via the Report Bias webpage
• Contact one of the following offices:
  • University Police Services, University Park: 814-863-1111
  • Multicultural Resource Center, Diversity Advocate for Students: 814-865-1773
  • Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity: 814-865-5906
  • Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs: 814-865-0909
  • Affirmative Action Office: 814-863-0471
  • Dial 911 in cases where physical injury has occurred or is imminent.

STAT 380 is a data science course focusing on cleaning and manipulating data, working with databases, and other methods (e.g., decision trees, neural networks, and clustering). STAT 461 is about the Analysis of Variance toolkit/the Design of Studies and Experiments. While there is some overlap (using R, cleaning data), the two courses focus on different things.

STAT 462 is the Linear Regression course. While both toolkits come back to the same general linear model (typically expressed in matrix form), the nature of the questions and data we work with in the two courses are different; particularly the factors/regressors. Towards the end of the semester we will discuss ANCOVA which is the merger of ANOVA and Regression.

STAT 461-ANOVA and STAT 300-Statistical Modeling 1 share an overlap. STAT 461 covers study design more in-depth, covers a wide variety of models than STAT 300, and tries to stay grounded in applications. STAT 300 moves at a faster pace (as it also covers STAT 462) and gets a bit deeper into the theory.

Such things happen. Take a depth breath and don't panic. Let me know as soon as you are able. If you are experiencing routine disruptions, let me know and I'll see what I can do within the University's system to help.

The syllabus for this course (and all other course syllabi) does not constitute a legal contract. Further, I intend for this syllabus to change to reflect the decisions we make as a community on several areas listed above as well as adapting to our needs throughout the semester. Changes to the syllabus will be announced in class and updated here.