Rasch - Winsteps - Facets Online Courses

• Instruction by Mike Linacre, Ph.D., author of Winsteps and Facets
  
• Theory and practice of Rasch measurement
  
• Very practical
  
• Step-by-step instructions and explanations: analyzing real datasets
  
• Work at your own pace for 4 weeks on your own computer: 10-15 hours per week
  
• One downloadable tutorial for each week (printable PDF file) - keep this for reference
  
• Course software and datafiles
  
• Discussion Boards (Forums) for interaction with instructor and other participants
  
• Ask any Rasch-related questions you want about the Course material or your own projects
  
• Weekly assignment for C.E.U credit
  
• Hosted by Statistics.com, who handle all administrative and financial aspects
• Total number of participants enrolled in 21 Rasch Courses from Feb. 2006 to May 2010: 683

Comments by Participants in the "Core Topics" Course

• "Statistics in itself and Rasch too are like entering a new world, learning a new language. I am so happy that software will take care of the hardcore maths for me. However, I appreciate the explanation in more or less plain everyday English. I never got lost and that contrasts with the usual statistics books and for that I add a big THANK YOU" - F.K.
• "The feedback on the discussion board is almost instant. That's wonderful because we cannot spend too much time on it due to other work! The course is well-organized. The handouts and extended reading materials are very useful. The discussion is hot and your response to us is illuminating." - L.W.
• "I could have used more time to take in the material. A busy work load prevented me from getting the most from the course." - R.L.
• "I would much rather do the course in person, but for what it is, this course was very good." - J.S.
• "Enjoyed the course and the way Dr. Linacre laid out the lessons each week. I wanted to just get a feel for Rasch Modeling so that I could spend time on my own after and learn more in depth. This is what happened so it was a perfect fit for me. I did not have much time to join in the discussions, but I appreciate very much the way the course was constructed and how you hit on many of the main points. I was interested in getting an idea of what Rasch analysis is and my goal was to absorb maybe 50 to 60% the first pass through and then begin filling in after the class. I think this course helped achieve all that. Appreciate your time and comments. Thanks very much for a very enjoyable course. " - J.Sc.
• "Thank You Dr Linacre for this very pedagogic and learning course! I have learned a lot but I am also aware of the need of more knowledge in Rasch analysis. I think this have been a good way of learning but sometimes I have missed to discuss in my own language. Next time I will bring a friend to the course :)" - G.Sw.
• "I would like to thanks Dr. Linacre for handling the course, and his promptness in answering all of my questions; I am bringing back a pile of new experience and knowledge from this course. Thanks very much for this very helpful course; I have learned a lot of new ideas and found answers to my questions, which of course I could not find answers for them elsewhere. I wish to register in another Rasch course which is in March, too. That means my questions may still be bothering you in future." - S.V.A.
• "Lectures were very helpful and easy to follow. Instructor was excellent with help and feedback - very personable. Not a fan of multiple-choice tests for stats courses, but that's just personal preference. A lot of material to cover in a short time - might have found the course a bit easier to digest if the material had been spread out over an extra week or two. I learned a lot and can't wait to apply what I've learned to my own data. Looking forward to the further topics course!’ - K.W.
• "This course is really well organized and I was extremely impressed with Dr. Linacre's participation on the discussion board. He truly goes above and beyond the call of duty to help his students learn the principles. I liked all of the hands on assignments." - N.T.
• "Dr. Linacre continues to amaze me with his ability to address nuances of interpretation both through his lessons and his feedback." - A.A.M.
• "Discussion board was very helpful. Dr. Linacre was exceptionally patient and thorough with responding to questions.’- S.F.
• "Thanks that was fun!" - S.S.
• "Hi Mike, I would like to thank you very, very much for all your input into this course. I now feel that I am a step on from total ignorance and I look forward to taking the next course, work-time permitting. Thank you also for being so patient with all my questions and for always replying to everything, even if somewhat banal at times." J.H.
• "The Course would have been more useful if it did not chop and change between data types. I would have preferred it to focus in depth on using Rasch for testing purposes in lessons 1 & 2 and then moved on to using Rasch for rating scales and have covered all topics more in depth. I also expected more input from the instructor explaining things rather than providing material for reading. You could almost have a separate course on the two data types and done each in much more depth. I have not learnt what I thought I would and having read on the discussion board that the next course covers some of the areas we already have I no longer intend to enroll in it and I think I will need to teach myself the more technical aspects by reading and experimenting. I was really looking forward to this course and have picked up a few tips but overall I am very disappointed." - D.O.
• "I had some experience using Winsteps and the Rasch model before starting this course. I am not sure I could have kept up if that had not been the case. I know I got more out of the course because I had my own research already set up for Winsteps etc. I think there could easily be another Rasch course as an introduction to this course. Winsteps is a bit of a tricky program to use and more time spent with that and more introductory uses of the model. Also I would love to see more topic specific Rasch courses. For me a Rasch Model for education or language research would be great and I know others that would take it. I am sure there are other disciplines that this would work for like medical research etc. Dr. Linacre, Thanks for your feedback and help throughout the course. My questions were pretty specific to my research area yet you were very helpful and tailored answers to my needs. Comments were also very timely - I was always surprised by how fast they were. Thanks again for the help. I have a lot of work to do with the information obtained in this course...better get back to it. " - M.R.
• "Thanks so much for all of your help. As a biologist trying to enter the world of educational measurement, I have been confused about so many of the statistical topics I have encountered. This course was very helpful in that I think I will be able to use much of it to analyze my dissertation data. Although I didn't have the time to go through every lesson in the depth I would have usually liked, I still feel that I learned much about WINSTEPS and Rasch. I will continue to peruse the lessons and hope to see you for the advanced class. Thank you so much. " - P.P.
• "The presentation or ordering of topics could be improved. I was sometimes confused as to how topics related to previous and subsequent topics. Especially in how to analyze item, person and model fit." - A.C.
• "I really liked the course. I'm going to take the [Further Topics] Rasch course!" - A.G.
• "Mike, I really appreciated all the time you took to answer our questions, not only related to the course topics but also to our data. I could see from the timetable marked on the discussion board that sometimes you are awake up way into the night just to answer us. I can see now that I moved from the complete ignorance in Rash measures to some "light" understanding of its principles. I would like to know more about it, mainly in practical way, how to enter information and interpret it. Therefore, I could continue analyzing the data I have using traditional statistical models. I am not sure if the next course will be more practical or more theoretical (mathematical explanations). Can you tell me more about it?" - S.W. [for answer, see "Further Topics" above]

Comments by Participants in the "Further Topics" Course

• "Thank you so much for your leading through the course! I enjoyed the challenge! (Mainly, it's been a challenge of working time management...) And I'm sure I will make good use of all that I've learned during the course in the analysis of the data of our recent study." - C.F.
• "Thank you for offering this course, and for your very enjoyable style of teaching." - M.K.
• "Many thanks to you for your very clear course materials and for being so energetic on the discussion boards. I really enjoyed the course - I only wish I'd had more time." - T.G.
• "Thank you very much. I enjoyed every bit of the course. I wish it would continue." - J.J.
• "I've looked into the teaching materials and they are truly intriguing !!" - W.T.
• "Thanks for your effort in introducing to us in the world of Rasch." - J.R.
• "I enjoyed the course and learned a lot." - L.L.
• "Thank you for your kind tutoring. I feel much better equipped now in working with Winsteps." - R.S.
• "Thank you for a thoughtful, thought provoking course." - V.S.
• "I had a good opportunity of reminding me of Rasch technique." - E.C.
• "Thanks also for such an excellent course." - D.V.
• "Thank you for a very nice and interesting course and especially for all your kind answers on the Discussion Boards." - A.S.
• "It will be helpful to provide more opportunities of practicing real & simple data analysis." - E.C.
  

  Comment: The Courses are built around case studies (example datasets). If you would like extra practice on a specific topic, please ask on a Course Discussion Board. There are plenty more example datasets readily available.

• "A very good Course" - A.N.
• "It was very interesting, informative, practical, and challenging. I deeply appreciate Dr. Linacre's easy-to-follow tutorials and kind suggestions on board." - T.K.
• "Liked it very much, excellent course material and great moderation, efficient and convenient learning experience, will book further courses soon." - S.H.
• "I think I had too much of a gap since taking the first Rasch class so I felt somewhat lost on some of the basics. While I could follow the exercises, I'm not sure how well I'll be able to apply them on my own dataset. I think the instructor is excellent and the materials are very easy to follow; however I think I need a more hands on "real" classroom approach at this point." - A.B.

  Comment: Please do analyze your own data in parallel with the Course datasets. Questions about your own analysis are welcome.

• "I learned a lot and liked especially the possibility to connect the course content to my own data" - R.S.
• "The course has been very interesting. The abilidad of professor Linacre has made its better understanding possible." - J.R.
• "I was very happy with the course and the atmosphere on the Discussion Board was very nice. I just wish the course had been longer." - A.S.
• "Mike Linacre is an excellent teacher, as well as a leading researcher in the field. His very personable style makes studying with him a pleasure, as well as a challenge." - M.K.
• "Thanks for leading another engaging course. It was definitely more challenging than the [Core-Topics] introductory Rasch course!" - C.S.
• "This was a great course. I will be following up with more. I am very impressed with the software (as well as the course for learning how to navigate and interpret reports) and really appreciate how dedicated you are as an instructor. Your enthusiasm is endearing." - G.T.
• "First of all, I would like to give you my special thanks for running this course so professionally and in such a consistent way. Your enthusiasm for Rasch Measurement Model is contagious and this is what I like most. Unfortunately, I could not be as active as I anticipated due to heavy work commitments. As a result, I did not get chance to analyse my own data using Winsteps. However, based on what I have achieved in this course, I am very sure I will be able to analyse my own data as soon as I get chance." - R.S.

Comments by Participants in the "Many-Facet Rasch Measurement" Course, Oct 23 – Nov 20 , 2009

• Congratulations to Statistics.com and, of course, to Mike Linacre, the best professor I've ever met. I hope you will soon offer an 'Advanced Rasch' or similar course with Prof. Linacre. Thank you from Spain!
• It would have been better for me if the course was much longer (over 2-3 months) to be able to read everything to try and understand all, and to be able to experiment more with my own data and analyses and clarify more questions I have. However, with a full time job and no time allocation to study, this was impossible...Anyway what I have managed to get out of the course is very useful, many thanks for the quality of materials and the instruction by Mike.
• I got frustrated with myself as much as anyone in reading single words like 'crucial' that Mike wrote in lessons or discussions that led me to answering some assignment questions in the wrong way rather than trusting my understanding of the concepts as a whole.
• I enjoyed this course very much and found it very useful for my day-to-day work. Mike Linacre was very helpful - a great teacher! Thank you.
• The course was excellent as we were given a solid foundation in FACETS which will help with our own research. The course readings and the extra readings were excellent.
• Mike is a wonderful instructor!
• For a few of the easy multiple choice itemson the Quizzes, the distracters were difficult to interpret. Maybe the wording could be changed a little. Overall, though, the quiz items were useful because they encouraged me to apply the concepts to slightly new conditions. There were a few typos in the lesson material, but nothing that got in the way of understanding. The instructor was very accessible on the discussion board and if I had been working on my own data set or project, I would have posted more substantive questions.
• Mike is a great instructor. He helps me a lot on running Facets and always give prompt valuable feedback.
• The content and material were all highly relevant and just right. The pace at times felt a little fast. However, this is mostly my problem...as I needed to juggle a lot of things in tandem with the course. Personally it would have been nice to have a little more time to ask questions regarding own projects after the assignments are due. Alternatively, to have a course where it is more like a seminar where attendees bring their own research to the table and can benefit from instructor feedback. I really enjoyed that aspect of the course. I am just getting to my own project again but am afraid that I will not be able to ask questions before the instructor leaves the online discussion area. So all in all, the course was great and I would highly recommend it to others.
• The course was excellent! I learned a lot!

Comments by Participants in an earlier "Many-Facet Rasch Measurement" Course

• "Thanks for your help and advice, Mike. This course has been really helpful in clarifying my conceptual understanding of using Facets." - P.
• "Dr. Mike knows how to break down information to make it clear and useful. His work in Rasch measurement is truly amazing. It is a privilege to take a course with him." - R.Z.
• "The course was of excellent quality. Professor Mike Linacre is an excellent teacher, as well as an eminent scholar in the area of measurment, and Rasch theory in particular. I am very sorry to be in the position of now completing all the on-line courses he offers. I feel that there is still much more I could learn from Mike, and about Rasch measurement." - M.K.
• "Thank you very much :)" - B.
• "Good course. I have clarified many points on FACETS analysis. The instructor's quick response is very impressive and helpful." - Y.Z.