Some MSOR Connections readers may have seen a paper or references (for example MacGillivray 1998a 1998b or MacGillivray and Hayes 1997) to the own-choice group project strategies I started in introductory statistics mainstream and “service” courses about nine years ago. Colleagues in statistics and the “serviced” disciplines particularly engineering often ask about aspects such as the types of contexts students choose how do I “guide” their choices analysis and reporting and how to assess such individual projects in large classes. These types of questions are not easy to answer in a formal paper in the way colleagues want so it was suggested that MSOR Connections could be a suitable medium for more anecdotal and informal comments.
