USCOTS 2019 - About

CAUSE has held the United States Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS) every other year since 2005. The 2019 USCOTS will be held on Thursday, May 16 – Saturday, May 18, 2019 at the Penn Stater Conference Center in State College, Pennsylvania, with pre-conference workshops on Tuesday, May 14 – Thursday, May 16. The conference theme is Evaluating Evidence.

USCOTS enables teachers of statistics to exchange ideas and discover how to improve their teaching. The conference features thought-provoking plenary sessions, interactive breakout sessions, informative posters-and-beyond sessions, and exhibitor technology demonstrations. Other highlights of the conference include opening and closing sessions comprised of inspiring five-minute presentations, a banquet with an after-dinner speaker and awards presentations, and birds-of-a-feather lunch discussions.

We trust that you will find USCOTS to provide a very welcoming, active, and fun environment. We hope that you will meet new colleagues and renew friendships with peers who are united by a common desire to teach students effectively to the next generation of citizens and scholars.

About the Theme:

This year's conference theme is Evaluating Evidence. Inspired by recent efforts of the American Statistical Association to educate researchers, decision-makers, and the public about sound statistical practice for drawing inferences from data in the twenty-first century, USCOTS will aim to help statistics teachers to implement modern approaches for conducting and teaching statistical inference. These recent ASA efforts include:

• Official statement on p-values (link) that has received more than 250,000 views,
• Symposium on statistical inference (link) held in Bethesda in October 2017,
• Special issue of The American Statistician (link) on "statistical inference for the 21^st century"

This conference theme will embrace all aspects of evaluating evidence, including but not limited to helping students to:

• Understand the reasoning process of statistical inference,
• Recognize appropriate interpretations and limitations of statistical inference,
• Design studies to facilitate evaluating evidence,
• Conduct research in a reproducible manner,
• Consider alternatives to traditional methods for conducting inference, and
• Reflect on the role of inference in the context of big data and data science.

The theme also refers to evaluating evidence about teaching effectiveness and student learning.

Participate:

Please consider submitting a proposal to participate in USCOTS. Follow this link for information about proposing a breakout session, pre-conference workshop, "posters and beyond" submission, or birds-of-a-feather lunch discussion. The deadline for proposing a breakout session or pre-conference workshop is November 30, 2018. Submissions for a "posters and beyond" contribution are due by February 1, 2019 if you would like to receive feedback, March 22, 2019 for final submissions.

Registration Costs:

• Registration before April 1 is $220.
• Standard Registration after April 1 is $250.
• Some full or partial registration grants may be available to those in need. Submit requests via this grant application form.
• $30 discount for participants from CAUSE Institutional Members Institutional Members.
• Add the Penn Stater Breakfast Buffet to your registration for only $5.00 per person, per day!
• Guest Banquet Vouchers are available for an additional $25/person.

Registration has ended.

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Planning Committees