A pilot programme implementing touchscreen electronic whiteboards in small-group classes for two statistics courses was undertaken and evaluated. This programme arose as an opportunity to incorporate innovations developed in response to the rapid shift to online teaching during 2020. Though electronic whiteboards have been in use in various implementations for more than 20 years, it is only recently that the technology has progressed to where students working collaboratively are able to access the full suite of statistical software. Small-group teaching in these courses was redesigned to increase opportunities for active learning that combined multiple modes of authentic learning in a statistics context. The evaluation focused on self-efficacy and academic outcomes as a measure of success, supported by student comments to an open-ended response question. The study used a combination of institutional and survey data, incorporating student backgrounds, demographic information, validated scales for self-efficacy and attitudes towards statistics and engagement throughout the course. We present the findings of the evaluation. No significant differences were observed in any of the key areas measured in the study. It is noted, however, that the comparison is between curriculum re-design for an emerging technology for which there is no established best practice and well-established traditional practice.
Fijn et al. (Thu,) studied this question.