Statistics 2040
Elementary Statistics Using Excel
Course Introduction: STAT 2040 Elementary Statistics using Excel, is designed for non-math majors and focuses on the basics of statistics that all students should understand in order to effectively manage their personal, family, and professional lives. Students will develop their math skills related to statistics as they complete assignments. Core topics include an introduction to the purpose and use of statistics, describing and exploring data, probability and distributions, confidence intervals and sample sizes, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression, and analysis of variance.
Expectations: A basic working knowledge of Microsoft Excel is critical to your success in this course. If you don’t feel comfortable with Excel then go get some training and then come back and take this course. I EXPECT YOU TO ALREADY KNOW THE BASICS OF USING MS EXCEL. Expectations and grading for this online course are identical to the regular STAT 2040 course (i.e., you should not expect this course to be easier than the STAT 2040 courses that meet on a regular basis). In fact, this online course may be more difficult since you must rely wholly on your self-discipline to get the work done. The final grade is based on 8 exams (100 point each x 8 = 800 points) plus a comprehensive final exam (100 points). An extra credit project is available for students wishing to bolster their grade. Deadlines are established for each exam in order to force students to keep up and not postpone all the work until the end of the semester. However, students are free to progress at a pace faster than the minimum requirement and may complete all course work as quickly as they please.
Text: No text is required. The powerpoint presentations on the website contain all the information you need to know. Other internet-based resources are also available, with links through the class website. This is basic statistics and there are numerous library and internet resources available to you.
Contact Information: I encourage you to make contact with me. Open labs may be scheduled as requested by students. If you get behind in this class it will become progressively harder to get caught up. Therefore, you must make every effort to keep up. Many students find Statistics to be a difficult subject. I am willing to do everything I can to help you and I have designed the course to be as simple as possible. Nevertheless, if you find yourself struggling, get help immediately. If you are willing to put forth the effort, there is help available and you can get through this course. My contact info is: Dr. Bill Christensen, office phone 652-7887, email: christenb@dixie.edu.
Instructor Introduction: I am Dr. Bill Christensen and I am happy to have the opportunity to guide you through your discovery of statistics. I obtained my education at California State University at Hayward (B.A. in East Asian Studies and MBA in Management), Michigan State University (ABD of Ph.D. in Management) and Oklahoma State University (Ph.D. in Marketing). My areas of emphasis are Operations & Supply Management, Business Strategy, Logistics, and Statistics. I have traveled extensively, including over 50 trips to Asia and Europe.
Computer needs: Review the computer specifications web page, and make sure you update your multimedia drivers and check your web browser.
ACCESSING THIS ONLINE COURSE: To access STAT 2040 or other online courses on WebCT, please complete the following steps:
1. Go online to http://www.dixie.edu/online/vista/ - this is the WebCT entry page.
2. You must now formulate your WebCT ID and password. Go to the WebCT entry page and click on What is your WebCT ID/Password?
3. Finally, you can log on, click on Log on to WebCT (WebCT ID and passwords will NOT be active until the beginning of the semester)