The information in this course
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr. Steiger lecture. I was reminded of the MIT courseware project and though it would be useful to the internet as a whole if the procedures he used for explaining certain core concepts were more widely available. This is my first semester here at Vanderbilt and of the three courses I took, this one in particular I felt imparted the information in a way I could not have gotten simply sitting down with a book or working on a project.
The extent to which he presented the science of statistics not simply as a set of facts to be learned through rote memorization, but as a evolving fiels subject to professional biases and errors, was a mature viewpoint that students are frequently not exposed to in dealing with mathematics.
My one negative critique of Dr. Steiger is based off an experience approaching him outside of class. I came during office hours, but at a time when he was scheduled to meet with someone else. He took the time to answer my question, but the explanation was cursory and his attitude was one of irritation. I would have preferred for him simply to have scheduled another time when he wasn't rushed. As I've mentioned, I have an interest in the field and wanted to take advantage of Dr. Steiger's obvious depth of knowledge to help complete my understanding. The reception I got had a chilling effect on my future decisions to attempt to involve Dr. Steiger outside of class which I thought was unfortunate.