I am an Assistant Professor, Teaching stream, in the Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada. I enjoy teaching applied statistics courses and am interested in effective statistics teaching strategies that can improve students’ attitudes toward statistics and develop their communication skills in statistics. I am also interested in arts-integrated pedagogy that can foster students' communication of statistics through the arts.
Why did you decide to go into Statistics/Statistics Education?
My favorite quote is by Margaret Easto Kidd: "If you love something, teach it to a friend." Once I fell in love with the subject of statistics because I learned that I can tell stories with data and make really pretty data visualizations, I wanted to share my excitement and passion with others. I realized that I enjoy teaching statistics, sharing my knowledge with others. I also realized that in that process, I actually learn from others since everyone brings interesting perspectives to making meaning from data. Along the way, I met very cool educators who are very passionate about statistics teaching. They inspire me everyday!
What's a class/workshop at your workplace/university that you wish you could take and why?
I really want to learn and understand GitHub, Quarto, and making websites with R. I think it would be great to present and share the statistical projects that I have been working on online. It would be neat to have a digital portfolio of statistical projects.
What Statistics Topic do you think is the most difficult to teach well?
I have observed that, in general, students tend to struggle with interpreting statistical terminologies, particularly when the terms are used in the context of data.
What advice would you give to someone who is new to teaching statistics?
I definitely recommend speaking to your colleagues within your home department to understand the history and nature of the courses you are assigned to teach. It is very important to know the students' background and program of study before you design a new course or aim to make improvement to an existing course. At the same time, I recommend that you keep abreast of current research in statistics education. The Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education is a great place to refer to and to get inspiration from many statistics educators who care about students' learning and are willing to share ideas concerning statistics teaching.
What is your go-to source for data?
I like the OECD data repository, particularly Better Life Index under the theme of Social Protection and Well-being. I also like using Statistics Canada's surveys (https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/survey/list). I have also used the General Social Survey (GSS) from the Survey Documentation and Analysis.
What statistics class(es) are you currently teaching? What statistics classes do you enjoy teaching the most?
Introduction to Statistics, Intermediate Statistics, Statistics with Applied Probability. I mostly enjoy teaching applied statistics courses where I can teach statistical concepts using R, but put the emphasis on the effective communication of statistical results. I love teaching applied regression courses where I can incorporate various real-life data sets into teaching and learning statistics.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
I enjoy doing yoga, dancing, and painting.
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