Intro to the blog

Hey,

This blog is for you to enable discussion about current events and ideas of interest to you. The idea is to take the ideas that we learn about in the classroom and see how they work in the world around us. Don't think that you have only discuss stories about statistics and numbers. If you think about it for a little bit most stories probably have some angle that is relevent to what we're doing. I especially want to help you develop your critical thinking skills. Also, don't be afraid to make posts and comments. You might be surprised that you have something interesting to say or you might find that you'll benefit from other people's perspective on an issue that of interest to you.

In general a post should contain at least one hyperlink to material outside the class blog. Often, this is a story in a news site or a post from another blog. Include some analysis and discussion of the material, certainly pointing out the statistical aspects of it. Feel free to question the reasoning of what you read on the web and what your fellow students are saying. However, you should be respectful of your fellow classmates, so personal attacks are not appropriate. Remember, this is meant to be a discussion so calling someone or something "dumb" or "stupid" does not make a contribution.

To get an idea of some sites to visit to get ideas , I've put some links of interest on our main class site.

Your feedback is important in helping shape how we use the blog and the benefits we get from it. Feel free to send me an e-mail with your questions and comments.