Development of Learning Methods on Elementery Statistics Course

Through Participatory Online Methods

Ferra Yanuar, Hazmira Yozza, Izzati Rahmi Hg and Radiathul Husna

Department of Mathematics, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia

Keywords: Elementary Statistics, Participatory Online Method, Learning Achievement.

Abstract: The Elementary Statistics is one of the compulsory courses in the 1st term in the Department of Mathematics,

Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science at Andalas University. The main problem faced in this course is

the lack of activity of students that affect their academic achievement. This research concerns the impact of

the new learning method that is a participatory online method on the learning achievement of undergraduate

students who took this course in the academic year 2017 – 2018. The research was conducted by making

WhatsApp group, whose members were all students who took the course and class assistants. By comparing

the final grade in the academic year 2016 – 2017 and 2017 – 2018, it is found that this learning approach

worked successfully to increase student’ involvement, enhance student’ learning achievement, and

independence in learning process and teamwork.

1 INTRODUCTION

At present, learning that makes lecturers as centers of

knowledge transfer is still a hallmark of learning in

universities. With this approach, lecturers will

become central figures in the transfer of knowledge

and on the other hand, students passively listen only

to lecturer lectures. As a result, students become less

concerned with the learning process they are going

through. On the other hand, the world of work needs

college graduates who not only have good skills but

are also able to think logically and analytically,

critically and creatively, able to work in a team, have

good communication skills and other soft skills. As a

result, there will be an imbalance between the

competencies possessed by universities and the

expected competencies in the world of work.

For this reason, a paradigm shift is needed in the

learning process from traditional learning to a

learning approach that can make students the center

of the learning process. Student-centered instruction

[SCI] is an instructional approach in which students

influence the content, activities, materials, and pace

of learning. This learning model places the student

(learner) in the center of the learning process. The

instructor provides students with opportunities to

learn independently and from one another and

coaches them in the skills they need to do so

effectively. The SCI approach includes such

techniques as substituting active learning experiences

for lectures, assigning open-ended problems and

problems requiring critical or creative thinking that

cannot be solved by following text examples,

involving students in simulations and role plays, and

using self-paced and/or cooperative (team-based)

learning. Properly implemented SCI can lead to

increased motivation to learn, greater retention of

knowledge, deeper understanding, and more positive

attitudes towards the subject being taught (Collins &

O'Brien, 2003).

Elementary Statistics courses are compulsory

subjects in the Mathematics study program. This

subject becomes the basic subject in the Lab Statistics

course and the Opportunity Theory offered to the

second-semester students of the Mathematics Study

Program with a load of 4 credits. This course is

offered to provide knowledge and experience to

students in analysing data. This course will discuss

various statistical methods used to describe and

analyse data. The materials discussed in this course

are useful for students when they have to provide

information about a data and draw conclusions about

the population of the data and provide an appropriate

recommendation related to the analysis carried out.

For students of the Mathematics Study Program, this

Elementary Statistics course is the basis for studying

further statistics courses, such as Regression

168

Yanuar, F., Yozza, H., Rahmi Hg, I. and Husna, R.

Development of Learning Methods on Elementery Statistics Course Through Participatory Online Methods.

DOI: 10.5220/0008682401680172

In Improving Educational Quality Toward International Standard (ICED-QA 2018), pages 168-172

ISBN: 978-989-758-392-6

Analysis, Experiment Design, Non-Parametric

Statistics, Multivariate Analysis, Time Series

Analysis and others. This research aims to evaluate

the impact of a student-centered learning approach

through the online participative method on students’

learning achievement on Elementary Statistics

course.

The learning method that will be developed in this

research is by utilizing the WhatsApp (WA)

application. WA group will be made which consists

of all students who take this Elementary Statistics

course and assistant courses. The lecturers

periodically (once a week) upload the lecture material

along with the problems to then be asked by the

students to respond and give answers to the problems

given. The response is addressed to individual subject

assistants (private network). The assistant is tasked

with identifying students who respond and who do

not, giving an assessment (in coordination with the

lecturer) to then recap and report to the lecturer.

2 METHOD

This research is to improve learning methods,

therefore the method that is considered appropriate is

a classroom action research method, namely a

systematic study conducted in an effort to improve

educational practices by taking practical actions and

reflection of these actions (Sukidi, 2002; Kasbulloh,

1998; Wardani, & Wihardit, 2008; Wibawa, 2003).

The chosen research approach is a qualitative and

quantitative approach that is a research based on facts

and comparative analysis, aims to conduct empirical

generalizations, establish concepts to prove the theory

and develop and collect data and analyse the data

running at the same time.

The learning method that will be developed in this

research is by utilizing the WhatsApp (WA)

application. WA group will be made which consists

of all students who take this Elementary Statistics

course and assistant courses. The lecturers

periodically (once a week) upload the lecture material

along with the problems to then be asked by the

students to respond and give answers to the problems

given. The response is addressed to class assistants

(private network). The assistant is tasked with

identifying students who respond and who do not,

giving an assessment (in coordination with the

lecturer) to then recap and report to the lecturer.

Population in this study is all student that took

Elementary Statistics course in academic year

2017/2018. The students are grouped into three

classes A, B and C, consisting 33, 34 and 30 students

respectively. All population member are included as

participant in this study.

This classroom action research is carried out in the

even semester of the school year 2017/2018. This

classroom action research was done through two

cycles. Each cycle consists of four steps, planning,

imlementation, observations, and reflection.

In planning stage, a strategy is designed to achieve

the learning objectives, starting from identifying the

problems that arise in learning Elementary Statistics,

analysing the causes and then developing an action

plan through the development of the Semester

Learning Plan, student worksheets for lectures and

tutorials. In this activity, an indicator of the success

of the action was also determined and the instrument

used to measure the success rate of the action. This

step are conducted through week 1.

In the implementation stage, actions that have

been planned are implemented. The learning

approach used is participatory method. This strategy

is applied to any beginning topics, such as Statistic’s

are, Table data. This step is conducted through week

2-4.

Then, observations of the events encountered in

the implementation of the action included obstacles

encountered and activities carried out by students

during the learning process. The observations were

done indirectly since the proposed method was

online. This activity was carried out in conjunction

with the implementation of the action.

The last stage of this class action research is an

evaluation of the results of actions taken based on

predetermined indicators.

Data were collected during the implementation

step. The measurement of student responses is done

by making an online questionnaire and asking all

students who take the Elementary Statistics course to

complete it. The response measured is the student's

perception of the effect of this participatory online

learning method on students' active involvement,

motivation to learn material independently, improve

teamwork. The questionnaire is using a Likert scale.

Data were analysed by descriptive statistics (central

tendency and variability measures) as well as

statistical table and graph.

Indicators used to assess the success of teaching

methods and assessments developed in this Class

Action Research activity, namely:

a. Learning Outcomes. Learning outcomes will

be measured from independent assignments

and written exams.

b. Value distribution. This activity is considered

successful if the percentage of students who

Development of Learning Methods on Elementery Statistics Course Through Participatory Online Methods

169

get a score below B is reduced from the

previous teaching year.

c. Student responses to the development of

learning methods and/or assessments applied.

This learning method is concluded

successfully if more than 60% of students give

a good perception of this learning method.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Here we will describe development of learning

method and assessment method as a solution of

problems faced in Elementary Statistics course. We

will also discuss the result of the action done.

3.1 Development of Learning Method

In the previous school years, learning Elementary

Statistics courses were carried out by combining the

TCL and SCL approaches with the Think Pair and

Share (TPS) method. From the evaluation, this

method was not effective enough to enable all

students. In addition, because large classes make it

difficult for lecturers to assess the activity of all

students. The tutorial activity also did not provide

enough opportunities for all students to be active in

learning activities. From the learning outcomes of

previous years, it was suspected that the learning

outcomes of students in this course were related to

their activeness in the learning process. Therefore, it

is necessary to improve the learning methods that are

carried out so that they can activate students and

further improve the quality of student learning

outcomes.

TCL and TPS methods will still be used to ensure

that all material can be completed within the allocated

time period of the meeting. In addition, quite a lot of

material is not right if presented in other ways. The

development of learning methods carried out is by

Participatory Online Learning methods. The material

chosen to be delivered with this strategy is the

material of the Scope of Statistics, Presentation of

Data with Tables, Presentation of Data with

Descriptive Images and Data Size.

The procedure performed is as described

previously. First the making of WA group by subject

lecturers. All members are made group admins so

they can include other course participants who have

not been documented as admin by the lecturer. This

WA group consists of three groups, based on the

division of the subject class, WA Class A group, WA

Class B group and WA Class C. group The following

is the look of the WA group.

The teaching and learning process with this

participatory online method is as follows. The

lecturer periodically (once a week) uploads the

lecture material along with the problems

(assignments) to then be asked by the student to

respond and give answers to the problems given. The

response or answer to the problem given is addressed

or sent to the individual assistant courses (Capri) via

WA as well. The assistant is tasked with identifying

students who respond and who do not, giving an

assessment (in coordination with the lecturer) to then

recap and report to the lecturer. Five students who

give the earliest response will be given a bonus value.

3.2 Development of Student

Assessment Strategies

Process assessment is measured through structured

assignments and tasks with participatory online

methods, namely by filling out the online

questionnaire is http://bit.ly/tindakkelas. and tutorial.

From the tasks collected by students, the ability to

think logically and analytically (judged by the

accuracy of results) and team collaboration (judging

from the level of similarity of results of each student

in the same team) will be assessed. Process evaluation

was also carried out during the tutorial. Tutorials are

carried out with a small group discussion approach of

2-3 students). The assessment conducted in this

tutorial activity was active and critical thinking,

analytical and creative, team work, team

independence and time management. Assessment of

student learning outcomes is carried out through

written tests.

3.3 Student Assessment of

Participatory Online Methods

The assessment or response of students to this

participatory online method is obtained by making an

online questionnaire, which is accessed on the

http://bit.ly/tindakkelas. It is expected that all

students can access this online questionnaire and fill

out the questionnaire.

Of the three parallel classes involved in this class

action research, there were 79 students who

completed the questionnaire. The following figure

presents information on the percentage of students

who fill in for the three classes.it Assessment of

Participatory Online Methods.

ICED-QA 2018 - International Conference On Education Development And Quality Assurance

170

Figure 1: Student responses to the questionnaire.

Of all the images above it is known that the

dominant student gave an Agree with response to the

statement given (ie more than 60%). Related to the

statement whether the use of participatory online

methods through WAG media made students more

motivated in learning Elementary Statistics, 73.4% of

them responded in agreement. Likewise, with a

statement stating whether this participatory online

method is interesting and fun, more than 70% of

students answered Agree. Based on the percentage of

student answers it can be seen that the proposed

method is acceptable to students. More students were

motivated to learn Elementary Statistics course.

Development of Learning Methods on Elementery Statistics Course Through Participatory Online Methods

171

Figure 2: Comparisons The Grade Between Academic Year

2016/2017 and 2017/2018.

4 CONCLUSION

In this study, classroom action research was

conducted to determine the effect of the application

of participatory online methods on student learning

outcomes in Elementary Statistics courses. From the

results of this study concluded that this method is

effective enough to improve student learning

outcomes with the decreasing number of students

who fail in this course. In addition, students also

considered that this approach provided another

atmosphere in the process of learning distribution. In

the opinion of students, this method is quite fun, able

to increase student involvement, improve student

understanding, be able to improve teamwork and

motivate students to be more diligent in studying

lecture material.

REFERENCES

Collins, J. W., & O’Brien, N. P. (Eds.). (2003). Greenwood

Dictionary of Education. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Kasbolah, Kasihani.(1998). Penelitian Tindakan Kelas :

Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Direktoral

Jendral Pendidikan Tinggi.

Sukidin. (2002). Manajemen Penelitian Tindakan Kelas.

Bandung : Insan Cendikia.

Wardani, I, Wihardit K.(2008). Penelitian Tindakan Kelas.

Jakarta : Universitas Terbuka.

Wibawa, Basuki. (2003) Penilaian Tindakan Kelas.

Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan

ICED-QA 2018 - International Conference On Education Development And Quality Assurance

172