EDC Grant Final Report (October 31, 2010)

Building the Canadian Statistics Educator Network

Principal Investigator: Dr. Bethany White

Statistical & Actuarial Sciences/The University of Western Ontario
Western Science Centre, 2nd Floor

The University of Western Ontario

London, ON N6A 5B7

Table 1: Final Budget

Item (including any applicable taxes)

/

Budgeted

/

Actual

(Graduate) Student Assistant Salary & Benefits
Specialized software development (dynamic enrollment application):
Subscription to the Professional Edition of Smart-Survey:
Materials:
·  Promotional bookmarks printing
·  Printing/photocopying (CoP journal papers, CSEN materials for review, conference presentation printing, grant administration, etc.) / $1,872
$500
$110
(2 month estimate)
$100 / $1,800
$400
$50.79
(1 month)
$70.88
$161.64
TOTAL / $2,482 / $2,482

Project Summary:

Based on the literature on communities of practice (CoPs) and feedback collected via a preliminary needs assessment survey the Canadian Statistics Educator Network (CSEN) was developed and is now fully functional and active. It went live on May 22, 2010. Information on the network and a link to registration is available at http://www.stats.uwo.ca/CSEN/. Registration and membership is completely free-of-charge to members. Members have access to the following resources through the secure environment:

·  Discussion Boards to allow for introductions and asynchronous discussion about teaching related issues,

·  Weblinks to summarize useful web resources for statistics instructors,

·  Teaching Resources to store member-contributed teaching resources,

·  Member Directory listing members and contact information of those who consent to have their information listed.

Figure 1: Screenshot of the CSEN web environment

As of October 31, 2010 there were 127 members registered in the online environment from across Canada and even outside the country (see Table 2 for a breakdown). There has been some activity on the discussion boards, particularly in the form of introductions sharing backgrounds and interests. There have been a couple of specific questions posted as well. I have received a number of emails from members outside the environment so I suspect that there have been other contacts being made via email outside the CSEN based on directory contact information.

Table 2: CSEN Membership Effective October 31, 2010 (total number of members = 127)

Province / %
Alberta / 3.9%
British Columbia / 25.2%
Manitoba / 4.7%
New Brunswick / 1.6%
Newfoundland & Labrador / 0.0%
Nova Scotia / 3.9%
Ontario / 48.0%
Prince Edward Island / 0.0%
Saskatchewan / 1.6%
Other:
United States
France
Iran
Pakistan
Thailand / 3.1%
1.6%
0.8%
0.8%
0.8%

Dissemination:

Invited talk at the Statistical Society of Canada Annual Meeting in Québec City, May 26, 2010 “The Canadian Statistics Educator Network - Le Réseau canadien des éducateurs en statistique” Abstract available online at http://www.ssc.ca/webfm_send/429.

Promotional bookmarks were created and distributed at the Statistical Society of Canada 2010 Annual Meeting.

White, B. (August 2010) “Join the CSEN! Connect with Other Canadian Statistics Educators” SSC Liaison, 24(3), available online at http://www.ssc.ca/webfm_send/482.