eCOTs Statistics Education Workshop 18th June 2026
This event was hosted by the Researchers of Statistics Education Network (RoSE Network).
We had a keynote talk by Dr Robert Wilson from Cardiff University. He spoke about curriculum design in a changing educational landscape, with the fast introduction of AI into our educational environments, and practice in teaching statistics can be done in a different way to support learning. 
Dr Wilson’s talk was positive and future focused. He likened the shift to previous technological shifts from history: 
Then we had a keynote talk by Dr Alun Owen who is head of Coventry University’s Statistics Advisory Service. He talked about previous technology too, and showed us a mystery machine (a calculator). 
Dr Owen spoke about a new tool he has been developing with colleagues at Coventry, called sigmaChat. They created an agent and fed it a knowledge base to inform its output. This is intended to be better than off the shelf chatbots, with a design that makes statistics communication to students more nuanced and catered towards student requirements, based on the experience of the educators who support them. 
I will admit I have a particular interest in the way that people use arm movements when speaking about statistics, and Dr Owen’s demonstration here was pleasing. After this, there were some Rapid Talks by Megan Barnard, Dr Rukia Nuermaimaiti and Dr Jacky Chan.
Overall, I see the developments of statistics education towards mathematics communication skills as part of a mathematics degree, and leadership. Also, more weight towards critical analysis.
Photography and write up by Stephanie Dickinson.
Stephanie Dickinson
Stephanie Dickinson is a Sustainability/Green Champion for the UCL Department of Statistical Science and is doing a masters in Science Communication at UCL STS.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mathematical-physical-sciences/stephanie-dickinson