OZNZNeTS

The 6th OZCOTS (Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics) was be held at the Sofitel Melbourne on Thursday 3rd July and Friday 4th July 2008. Invited and contributed papers on topics across the statistical education spectrum will be of interest to statisticians, statistical educators and the statistical profession.

OZCOTS 2008 combined the interests of the Statistics Education Section of the Statistical Society of Australia Inc with one of the activities of Professor Helen MacGillivray’s Australian Learning and Teaching Council's Senior Fellowship program entitled “The teaching and assessment of statistical thinking within and across disciplines”.

The Australian Learning and Teaching Council was established late 2004 and its mission is to promote and advance learning and teaching in Australian higher education. The Australian Learning and Teaching Council's Fellowship Scheme supports leading educators to undertake strategic, high profile fellowship activities in areas that support this mission. Senior Fellows undertake a full time program of highly strategic fellowship activities over one year, and Helen’s senior fellowship is one of only four awarded in two years across all disciplines. Helen is also President-elect of IASE (International Association for Statistics Education).

The OZCOTS satellite included presentations from members of the Fellowship’s international collaborative team from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, as well as from The Senior Fellow. Discussion and brainstorming forums are planned on resources and resource needs of tertiary teachers of statistics, and on the national and international scene in learning, teaching and assessment in developing statistical thinking.

The proceedings for OZCOTS 2008 can be downloaded here [pdf].