In this post, I have the honor of interviewing the 2017 winner of the Section on Statistical Education Best Speed Session Award, Melissa Pittard. If you are wondering, “What IS a Speed Session?”, let me give you a little history. At the 2013 JSM, Speed Sessions were introduced in an effort to reduce the number of concurrent sessions. In one session, twenty speakers each give a 5-minute talk about their work and then participate in a 45-minute electronic poster session later in the day. (If you want to hear more, watch this video!) The Speed Sessions have been very positively received, and this year’s JSM will have 480 Speed Presenters! Let’s see what Melissa has to say about her experiences participating in a Speed Session last year.
KM: First off, congratulations on winning the Stat Ed Speed Session award and thanks so much for agreeing to chat with me. Could you tell us a little about yourself?
MP: Sure! I am a senior lecturer at the University of Kentucky. I have been here for almost seven years. I teach both undergraduate and graduate service courses and in our new online Applied Masters in Statistics.
KM: For those who weren’t able to attend your Speed Session at JSM, could you explain your topic?
MP: The title of my talk was “Using Video Presentations for Assessment in Introductory Statistics Courses.” I assigned students to give short presentations of problems via video and submit them to Canvas as part of their exam grade.
KM: What a wonderful way for the students to practice communicating statistics. How did they do? Did they seem to enjoy this new assessment medium?
MP: They really did well. I think they were more thoughtful and thorough with their responses because they had to present them. I told them to present the solutions to the problems as if they were presenting to the class. They had to look at the camera, and present details.
Some of the students really liked it, and indicated that it helped them learn the material better, and some of them did not like the extra work involved. The number of students in this course is 132, so having students actually present to the class is not possible. This particular course is an engineering statistics course, but it is also part of our Gen Ed, so conceptual understanding is part of the learning goals for the course.
KM: Why did you choose to present in a Speed Session instead of one of the other formats?
MP: I didn’t think that this topic would lend itself to a 15-20 minute presentation, but 5 minutes seemed about right and if there were questions, they could be asked during the poster presentation.
KM: What did you particularly like about the Speed format?
MP: I liked that it gave me a chance to present the high points of my presentation (and listening to the high points of others). It was a good experience in being very brief, but thorough. I also liked getting the opportunity to talk to people who stopped by the poster because they wanted to learn more after the presentation.
KM: What advice do you have to future Speed Presenters on how to create a good presentation?
MP: Keep the number of slides down, even more than you think you should. Practice! Out loud (in your hotel room :) ) several times with a timer. Relax and enjoy it!
KM: That is really great advice for all future presenters! Thanks so much Melissa for taking the time to talk about your experiences and to share your work.
MP: Thank you Kelly!