Well, this class ended up not being as scary as I first thought. I was so afraid it was going to be all math skills and it turned out to be completely different.
I don't know how much "hardcore" statistical information I will be analyzing in the near future, but at least now I have the background knowledge to discuss it without sounding like a complete moron. 
I have to say, one of the neatest things I learned about in this class is Google Trends. I am watching to see if Ron Johnson is going to beat Russ Feingold. I hope not, but he is definitely getting more searchs than Russ. I'm hoping this is because he is less well known and people are trying to "feel him out." We'll find out in two weeks!
After a lot of anxiety about statistics I feel like the course helped me become more comfortable about them. If anything, I am a much wiser consumer about statistics that are packaged and served-up to me on the news.
ReplyDeleteI try to keep my politics off of The Web, but Russ Feingold is a rare breed of cat that truly represents his voting constituency. He has a lot of integrity and my wish for him and Wisconsin is that we get him for another term!
Sarah I just got done writing my blog on how I can not see a purpose for the google trends in the classroom - you seem to have found some personal interest in it - I forget what your teaching currently and maybe if it's a social science you can use something like this topic in the classroom, but have you found a way to use this new bit of knowledge in your classroom?
ReplyDeleteI, too, was happy this class wasn't as scary as I first thought. I feel much more comfortable with the concept of statistics and was even able to offer knowledgeable comments regarding stats in a staff meeting last week. It felt good.
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