Ron Wilkins writes:
I attended Yale for two years and then graduated with an MA in 2002. Now I am an actuary at a company called NCCI in Boca Raton. Anyhow, I am interested in studying statistics further, perhaps by taking on-line courses. I’m interested in learning about survival analysis, Bayesian analysis, and extreme value theory, among other things. Does Columbia offer on-line statistics courses? If not, can you recommend other possibilities for taking statistics courses on-line?
Columbia does not offer any such courses. Does anyone know of any such courses?
MIT offers OpenCourseWare. They have a bunch of classes on statistics, but I don't know if any will be advanced enough for you. Check them out here.
Colorado State has an online Masters program, and you can also take courses as a nonmatriculated students. Here is the URL: http://www.stat.colostate.edu/distance_degree.htm…
The first course in Harvard's statistics sequence for political scientists, Gov 2000, is being offered as a distance course this year. I believe the second course, Gov 2001, may be as well (but don't quote me on that). Course details for the former are at http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~gov2000 (Replace "2000" with "2001" for the latter.) Both courses websites have extensive lecture notes that would allow you to gauge their appropriateness.
Statistics.com is a popular option, and low cost. Some teachers have strong backgrounds either in statistical software or applied stats, but others are not as experienced, so read the bios before choosing. Many quick courses with a combination of "lectures" (a page to read with exercises and homework to submit) and bulletin board discussions. Many are no more than 4-6 sessions for specific topics; others are longer and cover broader ranges.