How and When Graduate Students Ask Questions in a Statistics Course: Patterns and Profiles

• In Event: Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: College Student Learning and Outcomes Poster Session 1

Abstract

Increasingly, undergraduate and graduate courses provide multiple communication channels via digital technology (e.g., chat, email) through which students can pose questions to the instructor. This study describes the naturalistic questioning patterns of graduate students (N = 24; total number of conceptual questions = 452) during a semester of introductory statistics in which various channels of communication were available (email, chat, in-class, office hours). Friedman 2-way ANOVAs revealed significant changes in the number of questions posed over time in total and by communication channel. A cluster analysis revealed three unique questioning profiles, with students preferring to ask most of their questions through a single channel. The paper discusses the implications of these dynamic patterns and questioning profiles for teaching and learning.

Authors

• Bradley W. Bergey, Temple University

• Jennifer G. Cromley, Temple University