Editing Statistics and Statistical Programming (Winter 2021) (section)

== Class format and structure ==
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I expect everybody to come to class, every week, with a laptop and a power cord, ready to answer any question on the problem set and having uploaded code related the the programming questions. The class is listed as nearly 3 hours long and, with the exception of short breaks, I intend to use the entire period. Please be in class on time, plugged in, and ready to go.
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This course will proceed in a '''remote''' format that includes ''asynchronous'' and ''synchronous'' elements (more on those below). In general, the organization of the course adopts a "flipped" approach where participants consume, discuss, and process instructional materials outside of "class" and we use synchronous meetings to answer questions, address challenges or concerns, work through solutions, and hold semi-structured discussions. 

The course introduces ''both'' basic statistical concepts as well as applications of those concepts through statistical programming. As a result, we will usually dedicate part of each week to a particular set of concepts and part of each week to applied data analysis and/or interpretation.

===Asynchronous elements of the course===

These include all readings, recorded lectures/slides, tutorials, textbook exercises, problem sets, and other assignments. I expect you to complete—or put a good effort into attempting to complete so you can share your progress—these problem sets outside of our class meeting times. I also strongly encourage you to identify, submit, and discuss questions about the material '''before each class meeting''' whenever possible.

We will use Discord for everyday discussions and chat related to the course. In general, I will try to keep an eye on the various server channels during "business hours." To the extent that I can respond to questions and concerns there, I'll do so. I strongly benefit that you raise issues in the "public" channels so that your classmates can answer the questions if they are struggling with similar issues.

We'll also use the discussion channels to identify topics that might benefit from conversation during synchronous course meetings. Hopefully, writing and talking about questions and concerns outside of our formal course meetings will help support accountability, learning, and more effective use of our limited time together.

For nearly all of the "instructional" material introducing particular statistical concepts and techniques, you are assigned materials from the OpenIntro textbook and lecture materials created by the textbook authors. Please note that this means I will not deliver any formal lectures during our class meetings. Please also note that this means you are responsible for coordinating any collaborative work with other members of the class outside of our class meeting times.

===Synchronous elements of the course===

The synchronous elements of the course will be the two weekly class meetings that will happen via video conference in Discord on the "Classroom Voice" channel on the course Discord. These are scheduled to run for a maximum of 110 minutes. I plan to use the entire time.

We will use the class meetings to discuss and work through any questions or challenges you encounter in the materials assigned for that day. This means that I encourage you to identify, submit, and discuss questions about the material '''before each class meeting''' over Discord whenever possible. Doing so will give me time to sift, sort, and organize your questions into a plan for each class session that is tailored to the specific concerns you have encountered in the material. Obviously, questions will arise during the class sessions too as well and we'll do our best to adapt as we go.

A couple of other notes about the synchronous course meetings:
* I plan to record the course meetings and have them available to class participants in an access-control-restricted fashion. Please get in touch if you have concerns or requests about this. 
* I will do my best to notice and respond to any questions or comments that come up via Discord or Zoom during the class. Please do what you can to support these efforts.
* You might want to create/acquire something like [https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2020/08/back-to-school-hack-shares-students-handwritten-work-and-teacher-response-in-real-time.html NU Mechanical Engineering Professor Michael Peshkin's homebrew document camera] to facilitate sharing hand-written notes/drawings during class.

In addition, because randomness is extremely important in statistics, I plan to '''randomly call on students''' to share and discuss their solutions to selected textbook exercises or problem set questions during class. The idea here is to structure some participation in the synchronous sessions to ensure an equitable distribution of the responsibility to discuss questions, answers, points of confusion, and alternatives.

Although the day-to-day routine will vary, class session will include some combination of the following:

* Quick updates about assignments, projects, and meta-discussion about the class.
* Discussion of '''programming challenges''' due that day (and related to the previous week's R lecture materials).
* Discussion of  '''statistics questions''' related to new material in we've covered.
<!--* Discussion of any exemplary empirical paper we have read and the '''empirical paper questions'''. -->