For years I have taught students to read printed statistical tables: the Standard Normal Distribution, the t-Distribution, the chi-square Distribution. I want them to do certain tasks (e.g., construct a confidence interval) “by hand” a few times, rather than in Stata, so that they understand what it is doing. I also want them to be able to do it with no more than a calculator, in the final exam.
For the past few years I’ve been working with R-Shiny to develop web-apps, which allow exploration of a concept, self-learning exercises and self-marking assessments. I also use it increasingly in class to demonstrate ideas. I’ve been tempted to replace the paper distribution tables with online versions, but have been holding back because of the pen and paper exam.