Framework for Accessible and Inclusive Teaching Materials for Statistics and Data Science Courses

Abstract

This month, in the CAUSE (Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education) / JSDSE (Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education) webinar series, Mine Dogucu will discuss the article, Framework for Accessible and Inclusive Teaching Materials for Statistics and Data Science Courses. The paper, coauthored by Alicia Johnson and Miles Ott, argues that despite rapid growth in the data science workforce, people of color, women, those with disabilities, and others remain underrepresented in, underserved by, and sometimes excluded from the field. Thus, this pattern prevents equal opportunities for individuals, while also creating products and policies that perpetuate inequality. And the authors of the paper argue it is critical that, as statistics and data science educators of the next generation, we center accessibility and inclusion throughout our curriculum, classroom environment, modes of assessment, course materials, and more. In the webinar, with some common strategies applied across these areas, Dr. Dogucu will present a framework for developing accessible and inclusive course materials (e.g., in-class activities, course manuals, lecture slides, etc.), with examples drawn from the authors’ experience co-writing a statistics textbook. This framework establishes a structure for holding ourselves as educators accountable to these principles.