Improving Statistics Self-Efficacy: Learning from errors and Feedback
by
T. Simin Hall
UNCG

This study investigates resources that increase adult students’ self-efficacy through the process of feedback in learning statistics and the ability to do quantitative research. My research focuses on how students’ anxiety in courses such as statistics may be modified through instruction that enables students to learn from providing and receiving feedback to each other. The statistics anxiety addressed in this research is associated with potential blocks students face in translating the contents and the concepts of statistics to the steps of deriving solutions. It is hypothesized that students’ anxiety is moderated by feedback sources that enable students to actively participate in analyzing their own and their peers’ mistakes.

The network portfolio resources on the web provide facilities that make the feedback on steps to solution and errors monitoring possible. These resources transform the concept of technology to an environment for social interaction and also provide a medium for recording reflection from peers, instructor, and students themselves.

The conceptual framework of my study is social cognitive theory. Social cognitive theory attempts to explain human behavior in terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental determinants. This study is intended to provide empirical evidence that self-efficacy is enhanced by feedback that fosters problem solving skills.

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Date received: July 7, 2007