An early ASEARC-taught subject: has it been a success?

The Applied Statistics Education and Research Collaboration (ASEARC) aims to “involve joint development and delivery of subjects and courses. : : : There would be effciency benefits involved in sharing subjects. There would also be significant benefits in : : : students accessing subjects that would otherwise not be available to them, developed and presented by experts who would not usually be accessible. In parallel with the subject review the technological and administrative environment will also be assessed : : : ” A 300-level subject covering Sample Surveys and Experimental Design has now been taught jointly to the Universities of Wollongong and Newcastle for two years, first using video-conferencing and then the Access Grid. In each year, the subject was delivered by the same two lecturers. We provide an initial review of the subject. We discuss its organisation, the use of the technology, changes in our teaching and administrative styles needed to cope with this mode of delivery, feedback from students, and our reaction to all of these. An overview of the subject results is given.