MS 150 Statistics online week two update

A visual look at the end of week two in online MS 150 statistics

Submission rates for week one improved as students submitted work due week one during week two. Assignments are due on the next weekday with a seven day late turn-in grace period. This is absolutely necessary due to the many issues our students face in terms of unreliable power, limited access to Internet, the need to travel to access Internet, and equipment issues that the students have with their own technology. Week two submission rates are likely to improve during week three. Historically there is some fall off in the submission rates during the course of a term. Hints of that fall off can be seen in assignment 2.3 which lock for submission in 48 hours and may not achieve a 100% submission rate. Test one is also closed for submissions and saw a submission rate of 88%.

Updated results for the student technology poll indicates that while the majority of students are accessing the course with a laptop or desktop, at least four students are using only a smartphone to get their work done.

Only 45% of the students have responded to the second poll to date. The results are biased because students who are not having problems are more likely to be able to access the poll and respond to the poll. That said, almost half of the students in the course are having either no issues or only minor issues that they can resolve with Google Sheets and Schoology to complete the homework.

As a result of strong student performances on the homework, test one, and test two (thus far), grades in the course remain high. The single F is a student on another island. The campus there is working with that student. The student seems to have equipment issues, Internet issues, and limited ability to access the campus in that state. The student appears to be able to login only once a week at best, and then only by using borrowed equipment from the state campus.

My students in Kosrae appear to be reliant on access to the Kosrae campus for Internet access and, for some, for equipment access. This could be problematic this fall as current plans are to have the quarantine center in Tofol, with one isolation unit next to the state campus. This could make campus access problematic. 

On Yap some of my students are relying on the campus to access technology and the Internet, others appear to be using access possibly from some form of government office that is connected to the Internet.

On Chuuk, my students are apparently using campus Internet capabilities to get work done. I am less certain from where my students on Pohnpei are accessing the Internet. 

This suggests that were a state to move into a lock down condition during a term, student ability to continue to participate in a course could be severely curtailed or even completely eliminated. Campuses could be closed down, government offices deemed non-esssential could also be off limits. 

Either the institution will have to work with state and national leadership on carefully crafted campus exemptions from full lock downs, or students will have to have their own technology and home Internet access in order to participate in a course.