Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Online statistics training from Minitab has great animation and examples

Minitab statistical software is one of the most powerful and popular programs around, especially for those in the Six Sigma realm.

They recently released a suite of online training courses called Minitab Quality Trainer.



The training is very good, much better than what can be done by an instructor in a classroom. That is because the words have been streamlined, and the animation enhances the concepts being discussed. Online training can reduce the training time by 50% or more compared to traditional classroom training. Minitab has a lot of experience teaching these concepts, so it's no surprise. You can view a sample of Quality Trainer on their website.


There are nine chapters, covering the following topics:


Chapter 1: Descriptive Statistics and Graphical Analysis (60 mins)
Chapter 2: Statistical Inference (60 mins)
Chapter 3: Hypothesis Tests and Confidence Intervals (180 mins)
Chapter 4: Control Charts (75 mins)
Chapter 5: Process Capability (100 mins)
Chapter 6: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (60 mins)
Chapter 7: Correlation and Regression (60 mins)
Chapter 8: Measurement Systems Analysis (150 mins)
Chapter 9: Design of Experiments (120 mins)



One of the issues with their training is that there aren't any estimated times for each chapter. We like to solve problems, so we took the time to breakdown the chapters and sections, to give you and your employees a better idea how to schedule and plan for the training courses (see above). Completing all nine chapters takes about 15 hours, with some chapters as short as 50 minutes, while others are as long as 3 hours. For a detailed breakdown of each chapter section, download the estimated times here (.XLSX file).

The cost is also very reasonable. For an individual, they can have access to the training for only $30 per month (or $300 per year). If you have a network version of Minitab at your company, you can also add unlimited access to Quality Trainer for only a couple hundred dollars per licensed user.



To learn more about Minitab Quality Trainer, visit their website at http://www.minitab.com/en-US/products/quality-trainer/default.aspx