DATE AND TIME: Monday, March 26, 2001, 4:10 p.m.

        PLACE:  319 Snedecor

        SPEAKER:
        Sigbert Klinke
        Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany Institute for Statistics and Econometrics
        School of Business and Economics

        TITLE:
        MM-Stat - a tool for web based teaching statistics
        MD*Book - a tool for creating interactive documents

        ABSTRACT:

        In this information age, ever-increasing special knowledge of statistics is
        demanded, since data of increasing complexity and size need to be understood
        and analyzed. In practice no statistical analysis is carried out without a
        computer and an elaborated statistical software package. Thus, teaching
        statistics for students must comprise a broad spectrum of applications of
        statistical methods combined with the acquisition of computational
        capabilities. To address this demand and to ensure an effective education in
        statistics, the current teaching methodology has to be revised. The traditional
        methods of teaching statistics (blackboard work, overhead transparencies and
        textbooks) must be extended by new teaching and learning tools, which use
        computer-aided components, new multimedia technologies and the internet.

        The multimedia tool MM-STAT is a HTML-based and flexibly applicable computer
        tool for supporting teaching and learning statistics in introductory courses
        via the internet or from a CD. It can be used in classrooms or for reviewing
        the lecture subjects by the students on their own.  At present the full version
        of MM-STAT is only available in German, but translations into English, French,
        Italian and Czech (http://www.md-stat.com)are already in progress, but not yet
        finished.

        The non-german language versions of MM-Stat are not directly generated in
        HTML. We developed a tool, MD*Book, which allows us to generate different
        output formats from LaTeX. The tool covers four output formats: PostScript,
        PDF, HTML and a MM-Stat like format. Both web based formats support the
        inclusion of interactive programs which allow the authors to illustrate their
        explanations. Besides illustration the student can experiment itself with the
        statistical data and methods, depending on the authors intention. MD*Book
        supports the generation for the inter/intranet and for a CD such that we can
        easily produce e-books (http://www.quantlet.com).A Web interface
        (http://www.md-book.com)which allows everyone to generate their own
        e-books, is currently under development.
         
         

        COFFEE: 3:45 p.m., 104 Snedecor