Category: Curious David

Learning by Teaching: Alison's and Lizzy's Guide to Using SPSS Data Analysis for Simple Linear Regression

DSCN8480One of the many lessons I’ve learned from many years of teaching is how much I learn through the act of teaching. It recently occurred to me that one way to facilitate my students’ learning of statistics is to position them to teach it. Below is a video created by two of my students illustrating how to use and interpret SPSS’s procedures for creating a scatter plot, calculating Pearson’s r, and, if warranted, performing a simple linear regression. Here is what they wrote and did:
 
This video was designed to help demonstrate an SPSS analysis for a simple linear regression. This video helps to show the steps to obtain an analysis of data, but the steps are also printed below for further assistance.

Step 1) Enter the names of the data into the variable view. For our data, the first name is Global Awareness which is the “independent variable” while the second name is “Satisfaction” which is the dependent variable. The data will come up automatically as numeric, but change the decimals to 0. Once complete hit the data view.
Step 2) Enter data under the appropriate name.
Step 3) To see if several of Pearson r’s assumptions are met  first create a scatter plot. To create the scatter plot, go underneath graphs, legacy dialogues, and then click on scatter/dot. Then a pop up menu will appear and select simple scatterplot, which is the first option. Then SPSS will ask you for the x and y axis. The X is the independent variable while the Y is the dependent variable.
Step 4) When the scatter plot appears, notice the  direction (positive or negative), the strength of the scatter plot, and if the scatter plot is linear. If the scatter plot is linear, calculate Pearson’s r.
Step 5) To calculate Pearson’s r, go under Analyze, Correlate, than select bi-variate, and a pop up menu will ask you for the independent and dependent variable. Make sure the Pearson box is selected as well as the two tailed box.
Step 6) To calculate the linear regression, go under Analyze, Regression, and select linear. A pop up menu will ask for the independent and dependent variable.
To understand the data:
Pearson’s r indicates how strong the two variables are correlated.
r squared is the coefficient of determination which communicates how much of the Y variable is explainable by knowing the X variable.
The standard error of estimate is the range around a predicted score within which you are sure with a specified degree of certainty that the predicted score will indeed fall.
Underneath the coefficients table in the B column, one is able to see the y predicted equation (Ypredicted = Bx + A). B is going to be the next to the independent variable while the A is going to be next to the constant.
 


Meet My New Carroll Student Research Team (Part 1)

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Alison Lehman

A Look Back at the Once Unknown
As time flies by, I am going into my third year at Carroll University. If you would have asked me four years ago if I would be at the place I am today or doing what I am today, I would have said no way. I could never have imagined that I would be so involved in campus life and extracurricular activities. I find myself finally reaching outside my comfort zone and pushing myself to reach new limits and loving every minute of it. Looking back at where it all started in my senior year of high school, I could not be more blessed to have the pieces fall into place along with all the opportunities and experiences I have encountered up to this point.
As a senior in high school, my norm was to arrive home and find up to five new college informational flyers daily, further confusing my college search. The flyers just seemed to keep pouring in and even consumed an entire corner of my bedroom. Yet, I continually pushed off the college search because I became overwhelmed with deciding the fate of my career. How could an 18 year old truly know what they wanted for their future?
As the school year came to a close and time was running out, I made the decision to attend Lawrence University and play on their volleyball team. Carroll University and St Norbert’s were leading contenders but Lawrence swayed my decision because I could continue to play the sport I loved. Looking back, a sport was a foolish deciding factor but that is what it had boiled down to. The love of the game motivated me but as my first trimester came to a close, I knew I was not in the right school. Feeling out of place and lost, I was no longer set on Lawrence and I decided to transfer into a school that was close to my family and focus solely on academics. My search lead me back to Carroll University, which has a central location to my home, beautiful architecture and buildings, and respectable academic programs.
Transferring into Carroll halfway through my freshman year, I was like a fish out of water. I tried to find my calling by attending all my classes, making some friends along the way, and even sticking to a gym routine but I still did not entirely blend in and fit into Carroll. The end of my sophomore was when I started to feel like I was branching outside my comfort zone that had held me back so many times in my past. The writing center had open positions and I took a bold step forward and applied. This job strengthened my desire to work with other individuals from various backgrounds in my future. Some other extracurricular clubs I became involved with were psychology club and Psi Chi. Through these activities, I was able to make connections with other students and faculty and further push myself into trying new activities outside my comfort zone. Slowly but surely, I was learning to stand up for myself and not hold myself back from opportunities that I was surrounded by.
Going into my junior year I became even more involved in out of school activities. I continued working for the writing center, obtained a job tutoring a student in English, joined Habitat for Humanity, and was fortunate with the opportunity to work for Dr. Simpson. Even though I am constantly on the move and running from place to place, I could not imagine my life any other way. Looking back, I have had countless opportunities come knocking on my door. As a senior in high school, I could never have guessed I would be so consumed by school, extracurricular actives, and jobs that are guiding me to better understand who I am and what I want to be doing in my future.
I have spent countless late nights researching jobs, masters programs, internship ideas and countless more trying to grasp some grain of knowledge or direction. My career path after Carroll has many opportunities and possible directions. Part of me is pulled toward areas of social work, industrial and organization psychology or research programs in psychology; as I plan to pursue at least a master’s degree. Since I am also minoring in Spanish, I would love to further explore the Spanish language and culture and incorporate that into my future in any way possible.
As I look back on my life and how it has shaped me into the individual I am today, I cannot help but wonder what direction my life will take me in another five years. With all of the opportunities I have encountered to date and the individuals that have touched my life, it motivates me to push my limits and reach for the stars even in times of confusion and self-discovery. I need to not hold back but immerse myself into the opportunities that surround me.


Retrospective Thinking: How much tinkering should one do with a course that seems to work well?

I continue to experiment with my “best” course to make it better by finding the right balance of technology-assisted and personally- delivered instruction. I have been pleased at the helpfulness, useful feedback and receptiveness of students as we “experiment.”

I just made a Screenflow screencast of what I taught in lab this week (using SPSS to create a scatterplot, calculate Pearson’s r, and do simple linear regression).

This time I published it on YouTube rather than on Vimeo.
I also, in response to student feedback, created some Quizlet study materials. Click the Quizlet link to try them.
A next step will be to involve students in the creation of such materials—rather than my doing so. That may wait until next year, however, since I want to  introduce this year’s students to instruction in using Survey Monkey survey creation software.
Please go here to evaluate the video shown above
It would be fun to teach an entire course on these topics.

 
 

Retrospective Paean: Reflections on My First 32 Years of Teaching at Carroll – Aug 22, 2010

No longer can I ignore the emails from campus indicating that Fall semester will soon begin. Nor can I put off too much longer that manuscript review which is due September 3. Time to doff my invisibility cloak and return to campus rejuvenated, reinvigorated, enriched by extensive reading, and with a clear (closely guarded) plan of what I want to accomplish over the next five years. Invite me to coffee if you’d like to trade closely guarded secrets!
I did an unusually large amount of reading this summer—at least 20 novels including Stieg Larson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Richard Russo’s Straight Man and his Empire Falls, Rebecca Newberg Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, David Lodge’s Thinks; Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, Lesley Kagen’s Whistling in the Dark, Benjamin Taylor’s The Book of Getting Even, and Brady Udall’s magnificent The Lonely Polygamist. Among the nonfiction books I found especially interesting, provocative, or intellectully stimulating were Chris Anderson’s Free: The Future of A Radical Price, Nicoholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, and two books by social psychologist Ellen Langer, The Power of Mindful Learning and Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. More about each of these good reads can be found elsewhere. What else should I read?
The other day I decided to read cover-to-cover and, yes, word-by word the official 2010 – 2011 Carroll University catalog. How things have changed since I joined the Carroll community! I wonder if I have changed to the same degree (but please don’t send me photos of me from 1977).
Of the 120 individuals listed as Carroll faculty for 2010 – 2011 (included are administrators and librarians with “faculty status”) I am now seventh-most senior in years of continuous service. Three of those faculty listed who are more senior than I plan to make 2010 – 2011 their last year here (or so I have been told). Almost half the faculty and most administrators have only been at Carroll since 2006.
It might make an interesting exercise in my statistics class to use this data (faculty colleague, academic degrees earned, institutions from which degrees were earned, years of continuous service, academic rank) to better see who we are and how we have changed. Hmm, carpe diem (seize the the teaching moment)—I think I may have developed the content of my first Lab in PSY205 “Statistics and Experimental Design” on September 1.
What are the responsibilities of a senior faculty, such as I, who is such an increasingly scarce commodity? I’ve seen far too many former colleagues across these 32 years at my stage of faculty development become bitter, angry, despondent, frustrated or exhausted, as they tried to do too much (serving on every committee and task force and accreditation visit) or resisted institutional change they found inappropriate. How can one protect the integrity of an institution one has grown to love, preserve traditions deserving of being kept, and be guided and anchored by the collective wisdom and core values of Carroll’s founders—and yet be open to new ideas and supportive of younger colleagues who need the opportunity to make mistakes and to have the same growth opportunities as did I?
In a week I’ll have an opportunity to have lunch with members of Carroll’s 25-year Club (faculty, staff, and emeriti) who have served Carroll for at least 25 years. I enjoy that annual celebration with these campus colleagues, faculty and non-faculty, who have been mentors, friends, teachers and role models to me. How many lives these dedicated individuals have affected—and continue to do so as they’ve shaped and lived core institutional values across the years and have produced a rich collective legacy of traditions, successes, failures, and reasons for celebration. How they have enriched my life and inspired me.
 


Behind the Scenes: Vibrancy and Change on Campus

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The sound of the bagpiper at Opening Convocation has almost settled. I’m proctoring the 2nd of two two-hours exams I am giving today—and reflecting as I begin teaching year number 38 at Carroll.
I first got into the habit of awakening at 5:30 am. and being on campus by 7:00 a.m. when I was Faculty and Assembly President.  The sun-rise colored, dewy campus is beautiful in the early morning and bustling with activity. The football team is often practicing. The physical plant staff are inspecting their hard work before heading to the Campus Center for some much needed and deserved coffee and heading home after an eight hour shift. In those earlier days of my Carroll experiences, I got to know many of our physical plant staff personally and friendships developed that continue today (Thank you Dennis W. and your Dad, “Ott”). I had a number of their children as students (thanks for sending Heather my way—and yes, you have reason to be proud that she graduated summa cum laude).  I  learned much from them about the challenges they faced in making the campus a welcoming, safe, environment conducive to working and learning. They play an especially vital role right now polishing the campus in anticipation of our imminent Home Coming weekend.
Of course, there are others on campus already. If I so wanted I could text John G. or many other colleagues to join me for a quick coffee and conversation—either now or later in the day. Some of my staff friends are already working in their offices.  Some are no longer here, having retired after more than 25 years of service. I miss Jean Olsen’s red car parked by Voorhees.
A stream of student nurses (identifiable by their uniforms) passes me as I walk up the hill from the theater building where I must park my car because of the new science building construction. Construction cranes tower above Rankin Hall and where Maxon Hall used to be. Hours ago the construction workers restarted their work from the day before. A chorus of their hammering accompanies me as I climb up the stairs to my office.
I send an email invitation to the daughter of one of my former students suggesting that she stop by and say hello. I promised her Mom (Kit V.) at an Admissions’ Day event that I would be an unobtrusive guardian angel for her daughter if she was attended Carroll. I give my research assistants (I am again blessed with talented youth) some unsupervised tasks to do for me and head off to my morning classes.
So much positive activity goes on “behind the scenes” and keeps me here. I have been afforded numerous on and off-campus and virtual interactions with Board of Trustee Members. Thank you trustees and former trustees Charmaine P., Cathy D., John R. and Jim S. for enlarging my perspectives about this institution which you love. I appreciate your support across the years that we have worked together. Thank you, PE MacAllister for your recent guidance about when I should retire.
Regular interactions with former and present students continue to enrich and inspire me. Michelle B. informs me that she just started a five-year position as an oral examiner for the ABPP neuropsychology boards and that she will soon start a position as a national advocacy liaison on behalf of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. She will be starting the APA Women in psychology leadership training program in DC next month.
Current student Davis E. stops by to share an idea for an honor’s thesis for his English Communication major He modestly shares that he had recently published a Milwaukee Journal “article“. We make an appointment for him to teach me what he knows about EverNote. Once he has taught this Old Dog, I’ll probably add it to my list of learning technology tools I use.
Current student Kevin S. stops by to drop off a thank you letter for my Uncle James Stover for funding his summer research (which was recently recognized as best in its class). These two world-wise military veteran students enrich the campus and my life through their unique perspectives. Uncle Jim is so pleased by the return on his investment in Kevin that he decides to invest again, this time targeting deserving freshmen and sophomores. Fortunately we have many needy and deserving students who meet our criteria.
Thanks to all members of my extended Carroll Community for sharing, caring and daring to preserve the integrity of the institution while being aware of where there might be a need to change.


More Resources for Better Understanding Your Academic Institution of Higher Education

Subsequent to hearing remarks by Carroll University President Doug Hastad about “Changes at Carroll”, attendees heard a presentation “The end of the ‘gilded age’ in higher education” by Kevin Crockett (President of Ruffalo Noel Levit’z enrollment management division) about changes in post secondary enrollment trends. The August 27, 2015 Waukesha Freeman article is available online. In an earlier post (found here) I offered ten resources that may help an individual  better (or put into context) the health of his/her academic institution. I actually enjoyed the consultant’s quality data-filled 69-slide PowerPoint presentation (though several of my colleagues’ reactions reminded me of the infamous “Death by Powerpoint” and “PowerPoint is Evil” internet compositions.

  • CollegeScoreCard (click on link and try it) wonderfully introduces an important trend toward TRUE TRANSPARENCY in data sharing and a very useful interactive data base for comparing schools.
  • the UW Accountability Dashboard similarly exemplifies this healthy trend.
  • College Results Online is a third such gem.
  • Colleague John Garrison just alerted  me to this nugget which like glass, about which John’s new book provides a fascinating history, may enhance transparency.

…and here is a link to the U.S. Department of Education’s  data base “trove” that drives the data base. Let all of us users use it wisely.


Augmenting My Teaching Capabilities: Top Technology Learning Tools Revisited

Photo on 9-10-15 at 11.23 AM
Caveat Lector: This blog piece is laden with hypertext links that lead you to additional thoughts I have about these learning tools!
With the deadline for responding to Jane Hart’s annual list of top learning tools imminent, here are my present thoughts on my top technology learning tools:
Reading: I need tools that increases the likelihood of my being able to stay abreast of current events and aware of current research findings that I then can incorporate into my classes in an ongoing basis. Driving to school today while listening to NPR I was alerted to some research dealing with “nudging” individuals to buy more healthy foods by partitioning grocery carts. When my commute was temporarily blocked by a Waukesha train, I took the time to dictate into my cell phone that I should incorporate “nudging research” into my experimental social psychology class. I later added that particular NPR stream to my RSS reader/aggregator.  Though I have tried Feedly, I am presently using Inoreader.
I do a lot of online reading, (though I am convinced by Naomi Baron that the printed book has a bright future– Lego Ergo Sum) heeding and feeding my need to learn from Twitter (where I tend to follow a selective list of individuals who share or enlarge my interests), Facebook (where I maintain relationships with former students), and LinkedIn (which has some interesting capabilities for also keeping in touch with alumnae, Board of Trustees, and professional contacts).

Writing: I enjoy writing, and have investigated all of the writing tools on Jane’s list. I also have far-too-many writing (and other) apps on my far-too-many computers which I use across the day. My favorite journaling app of the moment is Day One. Its simplicity (and beauty) intrigues me and it motivates (nags) me to write. Of the six blogging pieces of software I have investigated I continue to use WordPress . It continues to teach me, and it gives me access to a number of individuals who write better than I. It is important to me that I learn from them. As I continue to try and reach out to non-English speaking audiences I am always looking for good language translation software that improves upon Google Translate.

Arithmetic: Among the courses I teach is “Statistics and Experimental Design.” I am also a partner of a consulting firm with Gregory K. Schneider and Jane Schneider. For data analysis purposes I use (and teach) SPSS, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences though I follow very closely  the possibility of switching to something (which is as all encompassing but more user-friendly and which is open source) such as JASP.  For conducting surveys I teach and use SurveyMonkey.

Testing/ Quizzing: I continue to search for the ideal Testing/Quizzing tool. Though I have examined ProProfs Quizmaker and Quizlet, I still find of most value a much outdated but still reliably serving my needs software StarQuiz.

Screen Casting: Of the many screen casting tools I have explored, I keep coming back to using Screenflow though I am determined to give Camtasia (both Mac and PC versions) a thorough examination this academic year. I’ve been able to use such software to incorporate into my Statistics classes supplemental tutorials on the use of SPSS.  I prefer using Vimeo to YouTube as an outlet for my video productions.

Other Tools on my shortlist for mastering this academic year are Evernote, Imovie, and either Scoopit or Paperli.

What tools do you use to augment your teaching capabilities? What evidence do you have of their success—-or failure?

I welcome your thoughts.



The Poetry of Teaching and Learning

I am blessed here at school with the opportunity to interact with a number of bright, creative, and fun to be with colleagues. Those interactions, whether in person or via social media, invariably both humble me and enrich me and my teaching. Today I shared with my students a poem written by Antler which my poet/author/Lego-fanatic/musician colleague BJ Best had shared  on his Face Book page not long ago when his son entered Kindergarten.

Antler (from his Selected Poems)

“Raising My Hand
One of the first things we learn in school is
if we know the answer to a question
We must raise our hand and be called on
before we can speak.
How strange it seemed to me then,
raising my hand to be called on,
How at first I just blurted out,
but that was not permitted.

How often I knew the answer
And the teacher (knowing I knew)
Called on others I knew (and she knew)
had it wrong!
How I’d stretch out my arm
as if it would break free
and shoot through the roof
like a rocket!
How I’d wave and groan and sigh,
Even hold my aching arm
with my other hand
Begging to be called on.
Please, me, I know the answer!
Almost leaping from my seat
hoping to hear my name.
Twenty-nine now, alone in the wilds,
Seated on some rocky outcrop
under all the stars,
I find myself raising my hand
as I did in first grade
Mimicking the excitement
and expectancy felt then.
No one calls on me
but the wind.”
My first week of teaching has been rewarding. Time to load the car before heading to North Lake for a swim.
I wish everyone in the USA an enjoyable Labor Day holiday.



Razing the Bars (Wordplay continued)…

Shoveling Cleaning my office today I came across this history of the spell checker poem  “Candidate for a Pullet Surprise:”
“I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea…”
I sometimes use it as a “screen” for hiring student assistants who can proofread carefully, spell, and have a good sense of humor. Sometimes I have them read it aloud or dictate it to a computer.