Teaching statistics using R at a college or a university level: it can be possible?

Abstract

Although the advantages of R are well-known (free, open source, continually updated by experts), it is not the first choice among college students, especially those not majoring in mathematics or statistics. A problem that appears when teaching R is that once the great potential of the software is understood, the temptation is to focus immediately on more advanced analysis, which adds frustration for beginning learners of R. Our online module begins with basic visualizations and summaries of data, followed by how mathematical functions can be used to model data, and concludes with some inferential statistics, such as linear regression. This approach will not only help R beginners, but can also be used by school teachers in a global plan to bring R to the youngest learners.