Collaborative Statistics was written by Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean/ faculty members at De Anza Collegein Cupertino/ California. The textbook was developed over several years and has been used in regularand honors-level classroom settings and in distance learning classes. Courses using this textbook have beenarticulated by the University of California for transfer of credit. The textbook contains full materials forcourse offerings/ including expository text/ examples/ labs/ homework/ and projects. A Teacher's Guide iscurrently available in print form and on the Connexions site at and supplemental course materials including additional problem sets and video lectures are available. The on-line text for each of these collections collections willmeet the Section 508 standards for accessibility. An on-line course based on the textbook was also developed by Illowsky and Dean. It has won an awardas the best on-line California community college course. The on-line course will be available at a later dateas a collection in Connexions/ and each lesson in the on-line course will be linked to the on-line textbookchapter. The on-line course will include/ in addition to expository text and examples/ videos of courselectures in captioned and non-captioned format. The original preface to the book as written by professors Illowsky and Dean/ now follows: This book is intended for introductory statistics courses being taken by students at two– and four–yearcolleges who are majoring in fields other than math or engineering. Intermediate algebra is the only prerequisite.The book focuses on applications of statistical knowledge rather than the theory behind it. Thetext is named Collaborative Statistics because students learn best by doing. In fact/ they learn best byworking in small groups. The old saying “two heads are better than one” truly applies here. Our emphasis in this text is on four main concepts: thinking statistically incorporating technology working collaboratively writing thoughtfully These concepts are integral to our course. Students learn the best by actively participating/ not by justwatching and listening. Teaching should be highly interactive. Students need to be thoroughly engagedin the learning process in order to make sense of statistical concepts. Collaborative Statistics providestechniques for students to write across the curriculum/ to collaborate with their peers/ to think statistically/and to incorporate technology. This book takes students step by step. The text is interactive. Therefore/ students can immediately applywhat they read. Once students have completed the process of problem solving/ they can tackle interestingand challenging problems relevant to today's world. The problems require the students to apply theirnewly found skills. In addition/ technology (TI-83 graphing calculators are highlighted) is incorporatedthroughout the text and the problems/ as well as in the special group activities and projects. The book alsocontains labs that use real data and practices that lead students step by step through the problem solvingprocess. At De Anza/ along with hundreds of other colleges across the country/ the college audience involves alarge number of ESL students as well as students from many disciplines. The ESL students/ as well asthe non-ESL students/ have been especially appreciative of this text. They find it extremely readable andunderstandable. Collaborative Statistics has been used in classes that range from 20 to 120 students/ and inregular/ honor/ and distance learning classes.
