Abstract:

R is a very powerful free software for data analysis, and the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) RStudio facilitates its use. Among the complements available, the Shiny package allows to create interactive applications that can be used to experiment, as they show the results from changes in different inputs. Using this interactivity as a key point, we have been developing a variety of teaching resources at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Murcia.

Our first applications were mainly for helping students to understand complicated concepts. However, in the applications in which we are working right now, the possibility of evaluating knowledge and skills is also incorporated. These applications are programmed in such a way that, keeping a common structure, they provide personalized exercises for each student. On the one hand, the common structure allows students to work collaboratively and, on the other hand, the individualized component requires the autonomous work of each student. During the execution of these applications, the student can self-evaluate, and, moreover, the final result is easily evaluated by the teacher.

This set of applications allows us to face the learning of Statistics from a different perspective, more attractive and motivating. The interactivity provided by the Shiny library is key to achieving this goal.

Keywords:

Shiny, Evaluation, Self-learning, Collaborative learning, R, Statistics for Business.