Having just started using R, after almost 30 years writing my own code (in
fortran or C++) to do stats as needed, I don't really know what these "Task
Views" are, but from what I can infer from what the two of you have written,
it seems to me that the beginning of the process to produce an education
task view ought to be a task analysis (as conceived in instructional systems
design and evaluation - a concept very similar to analysis done in support
of software engineering, e.g the UML use case scenario documents). NB:
regarding concerns that the view may become too large, in software
engineering that is addressed by creating a core use case scenario and then
deriving extensions and sub-case scenarios (e.g. the task of opening a file
is so common, the steps for doing so are documented once, in its own
document, which is then referenced by all scenarios that require it).
As an educator, you know what needs to be taught, at what level, so starting
with that, assess each package for its utility for a given course. That is
where the books would be useful: someone has already put together something
useful, a book plus a package, for some kind of course (possibly conceived
as individual instruction for professionals' continuing education, or as a
general introductory course - every book represents a course when reading is
conceived as a form of education :).
And as an educator, you know there is no end to the numbers of courses that
could be designed. Every academic discipline is infinite in scope. There
is an infinite number of questions that can be asked in any discipline.
Therefore, whatever you put together, either as an individual or as a team,
will represent your vision of statistics education, and hopefully your
vision will be shared by enough people that many will find what you produce
useful.
I would encourage you in your efforts. Alas, all I can offer at this time
is moral support (too many things on my plate at present).
Cheers
Ted
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