About

The “Go big or go home” blog is part of an ongoing project to build greater interactivity and engagement within large introductory statistics courses at the tertiary level. The current project team is: Anna Fergusson, Rhys Jones and Emma Lehrke. We all currently teach on the very large introductory statistics course STATS 10x (STATS 101/STATS 108) offered by the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland.

Anna Fergusson

Anna is obsessed with teaching, in particular with developing inclusive, engaging, accessible, effective and fun ways to introduce people to learning statistics and data science. Before joining the University of Auckland as a Professional Teaching Fellow at the start of 2015, she was Head of Mathematics and Statistics at Avondale College, Auckland. Anna was one of core team of high school statistics teachers contracted by the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to develop teaching and assessment resources to support the implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum for Mathematics and Statistics.

Anna loves the challenges of curriculum, assessment and technology-based learning design. Her research has focused on exploring task and tool design for teaching statistical modelling. For her PhD research project, Anna is currently working closely with high school statistics teachers to develop tools, tasks, assessment and learning programmes to support data science education at high school level.

Dr Rhys C Jones

Dr Rhys Christopher Jones is a Teaching Fellow in Statistics and Director of the Science Scholars Programme at the University of Auckland, in the Faculty of Science. His teaching and learning interests are in the areas of curriculum development, the use of technology in engaging and motivating students and the role of context in statistics education. He has a broad academic background in the areas of biology, chemistry, statistics and education, and has held lecturing positions at Cardiff University, London South East College and Birmingham City University.

Rhys has also held senior technology enhanced learning roles in several universities, aimed at utilising multiple technologies to improve student engagement and motivation in their learning pathways. He has taught a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including: statistics, research methods, biomedical science, genetics and immunology, nutrition and organic chemistry, mathematics for science, health and well-being and clinical anatomy and physiology.

Emma Lehrke

Emma is a reflective and innovative teacher who aims to facilitate the best outcomes for all learners. In 2018 she returned to New Zealand from the United Kingdom and joined the department of Statistics as a Professional Teaching Fellow. Before moving into tertiary teaching Emma was a Secondary teacher of Mathematics and Statistics and she held the role of head of Statistics at Avondale College, Auckland. She is currently studying towards a Master of Professional Studies (Mathematics Education).

Emma is interested in Statistics Education and her current area of research interest is in supporting student understanding of chance processes. She enjoys sharing her teaching experience and expertise through facilitating workshops to support professional development of teachers.