Proposal Description

Statistics education in Africa has come a long way today with a growing community of statistics educators innovating to improve the way the subject is taught. This session will highlight an upcoming special issue of SERJ (Statistics Education Research Journal) which focuses on research happening across the African continent. The aim of this session is to highlight not only the exciting statistical education research happening on the continent but also the opportunities for international collaborators to get involved.

The session will be chaired by Dr. James K. Musyoka who has been leading innovations in statistics education in Kenya and beyond. He has understanding of opportunities and challenges that exist in the African education context. As a former vice president of IASE James also understands the international statistics education community and has acted as a bridge bringing others from across the continent into the community.

There will be 4 presenters in this session as follows:-
1. Prof. Dr. Daniel Frischemeier is an ISI council member and the ‘Editor of Special Issues’ for SERJ. He will present on the upcoming special issue focused on African Statistics Education Research and how this initiative has attempted to make the initiatives on the continent more visible to the global community.
2. Dr. David Stern, who is an outgoing member of the ISI council and formally served as IASE vice president. He has long been involved in many initiatives to improve maths and statistics education in Africa. He has a wide understanding of several African education systems, and his talk will focus on how to turn on the challenges into research opportunities for lecturers in Africa.
3. Prof. Eric Vance leads the global LISA (Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis) network. In Africa the LISA network has played a pivotal role in creating opportunities for young statisticians across the continent. Eric will present on how the LISA has enabled its members to enter into statistics education research.
4. Prof. Olawale Awe has been leading one of the most dynamic teams of statistics and data science educators on the continent. His talk will present recent developments in both Statistics and data science education while also describing the supportive role IASE has played.

The session will include an extensive discussion where the audience is encouraged to get involved in African statistical education research. Opportunities will be highlighted for international partners to engage with the exciting work happening on the continent and its potential for global influence.