Congratulations! 2014-15 QME Teaching Award Winner: Elizabeth Fry

The QME Teaching Award is given each year to recognize a graduate student in the Quantitative Methods in Education program for excellence in teaching. This award will be presented at the department annual spring pizza party on May 8.

Stat ed student Elizabeth Fry won this year's award, much to the delight of her stat ed peers and faculty members.

In Liz's own words:

Liz at ICOTS-9 this past summer in Arizona

"I have been teaching in QME for almost 3 years, after having taught for two years in Ohio. My first year teaching in Minnesota, I taught EPSY 3264, otherwise known as the CATALST course. This is an innovative introductory statistics course for undergraduates that teaches the ideas of statistical inference through simulation-based methods. 

For the past two years, I have been teaching EPSY 5261, an introductory statistics course for graduate students in various different programs. In this course, I use the Lock et al. (2013) textbook, teaching inference first through bootstrap intervals and randomization tests, and then moving on to learn parametric methods. 

This past year, I took on a new challenge: Teaching online for the first time! I enjoy taking a subject that many students initially find intimidating, and showing them how interesting and engaging it truly is through the use of many collaborative activities and group discussion.

It is an honor to receive this award for something I love doing so much! I have grown tremendously as a teacher during my time in QME, and that is largely thanks to being in a supportive environment with mentors and colleagues who are also passionate about teaching. "


Congratulations, Liz, on this wonderful, well-deserved award for all of your great efforts, expertise, and teaching passion!

March Workshop: "Teaching Statistical Investigation Process with Simulation and Randomization-Based Inference"

Amid the busy semester, a couple of stat ed students escaped Minnesota's chilly spring to bask in the sunny dryness of Arizona!

Nicola and Anelise joined Cal-Poly colleagues Allan Rossman, Beth Chance, and Soma Roy in presenting at a workshop called "Teaching the Statistical Investigation Process with Simulation and Randomization-Based Inference" at Mesa Community College in Arizona on March 6 - 7.  The workshop included a brief taste of to two curricula: Introduction to Statistical Investigations (ISI; Tintle et al., http://www.math.hope.edu/isi/ ); and CATALST.  

This was part of a series of free workshops by the ISI team designed to help teachers of statistics gain familiarity with randomization-based methods and the process of statistical inference.

In the brief weekend trip, Anelise and Nicola also managed to explore Arizona State University, enjoy some ice cream on a warm evening, and take a few snapshots.

A happy balloon cactus greeted them in the airport!