Because a very diverse group of people have signed up for this online course, with different backgrounds, different interests, different capabilities, and different levels of time-availability, I cannot design a common course useful for all. So, I am sending out this letter to get feedback on what different people want, so that I can subdivide them into suitable groups. Based on the interactions I have had with participants, I would like to suggest that participants of this online course can be sorted into the following categories. The feedback form will enable me to assign different people with different interests into suitable categories, so that each subgroup can receive trainings relevant to their interests and capabilities. It is important to note that Islamic orientations creates radically new approaches to all conventional topics, so that new and exciting pathbreaking research is possible in all areas of social sciences. After having a look at the categories of participation below, please fill out the Google Form linked below, so that I can have a better idea of your interests, and create suitable groups for all participants in this course.
Auditors: Follow my blog, read posts, and comment on topics which interest you, from time to time. Share posts with friends via social media. For this purpose, go to the blog: bit.do/aziwv and click on the blue “Follow” button on the middle of the right-hand side.
Regular Students: You can follow the self-study course Intro Stats: Islamic Approach . If you would like to be in a group, and doing regular scheduled classes, with exams, and feedback, this can also easily be arranged. In fact, we can even arrange graduation and certificates for this purpose. There are actually two courses here – one is a course on Descriptive Statistics, which provides substantially better training than conventional courses which are based on the assumption that data sets are generally normal. The second is a course on Basic concepts of probability theory which covers critical probability theory concepts for one random variable. The case of multiple random variables and joint distributions is planned for development for a later stage.
Teachings Assistants: If there are groups of regular students who would like to take the course in a SCHEDULED format, with weekly lessons, then I would like to organize them into small groups with a teaching assistant – preferable someone who has knowledge of the material being covered. However, this is not completely necessary. They can handle the administrative chores associated with assigning lessons, grading quizzes, communicating with students, providing feedback to students about progress, and providing feedback to me about course structure and leaning outcomes. Research Assistants
Supervisees: Some students would like to do research under my supervision. The goal here would be to produce a publishable paper. I have a large number of unfinished research projects, from which you can get ideas. For those who would like to do this, to produce research paper, I recommend that you should start by reading the post on – Guidance for Research for MPhil/Ph.D. Students. Next read Thesis Writeup Guidelines. Next go to IIIE Student Guide. This last website contains a step-by-step guide to preparing a research proposal. Follow the outlined steps, to produce a research proposal. This is actually a very good way to begin a research project – it avoids waste of time due to selection of research topics. In this process of preparing a research proposal, you can get feedback from me regarding choice of topics, etc. Once you have a good proposal, getting the research done is made much easier because a good proposal gives a good roadmap, with clarity about the goal that you have and a lot of guidance regarding the path that you must follow.
Teachers of Courses: I have online course already AVAILABLE on TEN different topics – see the post on Another Syllabus for Islamic Economics for a list of course, with links to websites with lectures notes and video lectures. Teachers who teach in these areas can look at the materials available and utilize them as either the main syllabus, or as supplementary units for adding to their current syllabus. They will find a lot of coverage of new and unusual topics, presented in ways not easily available. The initial challenge of learning a new approach will be made up for by the extra value you will be able to add to the students education. Also, these approaches all lead to new approaches to the subject matter with lots of angles for doing new research on the topics presented.
Colleagues (Producing Textbooks); I have MANY collections of lecture notes in various stages of completion for courses in Micro, Macro, Monetary, Game Theory, Econometrics, Statistics, Mathematics, Bayesian and others. My great desire is to write up TEXTBOOKS by building on these lecture notes. I would be happy to find volunteers who are experienced Teachers, and are willing to do the work of writing up the notes, and doing the necessary work in filling the gaps, preparing exercises, finding data and other real world examples to illustrate the concepts, and the many other issues involved in preparing a textbook. We can produce a textbook together as co-authors. Another type of work required in this context is setting up an online course. Someone who has some experience with setting up online e-courses could be very useful here.
Co-Authors for Research Papers: I also have many research papers in draft form which I have not had time to complete writeup. These could be written up and produced for publications. Again, I would be happy to guide anyone who is willing to do the work involves, and has sufficiently good language skills for doing writeups, for co-authoring a joint research paper.
==========END OF EMAIL====
ORIGINAL START OF EMAIL -- LATER OMITTED --
This online course, Real Statistics: An Islamic Approach (RSIA), was launched for TWO purposes. One was to prepare the final draft of a radically different approach to statistics that I have been working on for more than fifteen years. The SECOND purpose was to train teachers of statistics to use this new approach in their courses.
ONE: Preparation of RSIA Textbook – Intro Stats students are generally not prepared to understand deep discussions on methodology. So, the textbook should get into numbers and statistical calculations very quickly. Philosophy can come in while doing statistical analysis. I was inspired by the Freedman, Pisani, and Purves textbook which starts out by discussing data regarding Polio Vaccination, and how we can use this data to assess whether or not the new vaccine is effective. One of the key elements of an Islamic approach is to teach useful knowledge. That is, how statistics is used to solve real world problems.
Teachers who would like to use this approach starting this September can follow existing outline, available from : Intro Stats: Islamic Approach. This provides a lecture-by-lecture outline of the course. For each lecture, there is a video lecture, slides which provide an outline of the lecture, Transcript which provides a text for the lecture, Questions/Problem Sets, and also Computer Lab and Computer exercises. So there is a FULL set of support materials available for anyone who want to teach the course in this new way. In addition to the online materials, we have several people who have taught this course multiple times, and have a lot of experience in delivering these course materials, and dealing with any difficulty which might arise. Nadia Hassan is my graduate student who has the most experience with teaching this course, and I would also be available to help. I will be happy to provide contact information and support to anyone interested in teaching this course starting September.
Students & Others: Those who would like to self-study the course, can also go to the same website Intro Stats: Islamic Approach and just work through the course on a lecture-by-lecture basis. The course is completely set up for self-study, and the website provides step-by-step instructions on the sequence in which the materials are to be covered. If there are any questions or problems with self-study of this online course, please let me know and I will try to provide support.
TWO: Principles of an Islamic Education. My intention was to provide teachers of the course with a much deeper discussion of the ideas that went into the creation of the course. One of the main points was that, without our conscious knowledge, a Western education indoctrinates us into believing certain ideas which weaken our faith, being against basic principles of Islam. One of these ideas is the Western WorldView, which is radically different from the Islamic WorldView. A sequence of lessons which clarifies the contradictions between the two, and how we can take steps to resolving them is available in the FIRST UNIT of study developed for this online course: An Islamic WorldView. The SECOND UNIT of study was Principles of an Islamic Education, which are dramatically different from the principles we have learned – by demonstration – in our Western education. The FIRST difference lies in the PURPOSE of education – what is our INTENTION? But there are many other differences, which are clarified in this Unit of Study.