Progress on Where Are We Now Project / Statistics Education Downunder: a snapshot of a decade and a glance to the future

In the last MSOR Connections we introduced the Where Are We Now project, aimed at identifying and disseminating good practice in learning and teaching MSOR across the higher education sector. There we described our preliminary analysis using the Subject Review reports as the primary source of information. The next step is to concentrate on a number of areas of current importance, to identify good practice in these areas and disseminate that via a number of means. The areas are Access/widening participation, and its implications for student support; Innovative use of CAL/IT and other methods in teaching and learning Student mentoring and peer tutoring; Student record systems that help in early identification of potential progression problems; Effective and innovative assessment; Transferable skills; There are of course overlaps between these areas and with other LTSN projects such as Evaluating and Enhancing the Effectiveness of Mathematics Support Centres… /… Some tempting phrases considered for the title of this article included “…:the good, the bad and the beautiful” or “….: the increasing contrasts of statistical richness and statistical poverty”. On reflection, the diversity and contrasts in statistics education indicated by such phrases, are not surprising given the roles played by the statistical sciences across so many areas and ages interwoven with social, industrial, scientific, business and government concerns. Features of the past decade include the excellent work of individuals in various areas at school, tertiary and continuing education levels in thoughtful respo