How to Data Project Status

Last updated Summer 2023

Where we are now

This reference website started in Summer 2021. It aims to:

• give students a one-stop shop to find code for any of the math/stats procedures from any data-related course they’re taking, and
• enable instructors to send students to a single page for all the code for a course (like this example).

If a student took an intro stat course in Excel, then moved on to a subsequent course in R, they can use this site to translate the tasks they understand from the first course into R, so they retain the techniques they learned when they move to new software. The site has grown since it started, thanks to several volunteers!

But so far, all volunteers and courses have been at Bentley University, where the site was created. We would love to change that.

Where we want to go

We’d love to have new volunteers join us in any of the following ways. If you’re interested in any of these things, reach out to me (Nathan) directly.

• Use the site: The contents of your school’s intro data/stats courses are probably already among the 100+ how-to items on the site. Send me your course title and the list of tasks from the site, and I’ll create a topic page for your course.
• Add content: Not every stats/data technique is here yet. If you or your students want to contribute something to the academic community, you can add new solutions, or translate existing ones into other programming languages. See the contributing page or email me directly.
• Research: As a set of expertly vetted question-answer pairs, the website raises interesting research questions, such as how well AI can do at answering the same set of questions.
• Develop: I’d also like to add new functionality to the site. If you’re a serious Python coder, let’s talk.

I’d especially like to get a group together informally at MathFest 2023. I can help anyone who wants to contribute get over the initial learning curve, and we can brainstorm ideas for new uses of this resource. Send me an email!

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