Lynette Hudiburgh was recognized for using creative, innovative and engaging teaching methods at the undergraduate level.
Hudiburgh receives Knox teaching award
Lynette Hudiburgh, lecturer of statistics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is the recipient of the 2017 E. Phillip Knox Distinguished Teaching Award.
The award recognizes one faculty member who uses creative, innovative and engaging teaching methods at the undergraduate level.
Established by Miami alumnus E. Phillips Knox, the award is presented to faculty members whose achievements unequivocally merit recognition for excellence in teaching. Award winners receive a professional expense allocation of $3,000.
Hudiburgh has led efforts in the department of statistics to develop a hybrid model of STA 261, an introductory level statistics course for nonmajors that meets the Miami Plan formal reasoning requirement and serves approximately 600 students each semester.
The student evaluations of her courses are consistently among the highest observed in the department of statistics, according to her nominators. “It is no surprise that her courses are the first to fill during registration,” a nominator said.
The current model of STA 261 is a culmination of many years of research, Hudiburgh said.
Hybrid model offers a common experience for all STA 261 students
She has steered the course from a “hodge podge” of classes taught by many different individuals without a common syllabus or text.
Now, all students who take STA 261 have a common experience and engage with the same content.
“This more consistent approach has led to greater collaboration among faculty and graduate students to create the best learning experience possible for the students and has led to a decrease in the percentage of D’s, F’s and WF’s each semester,” Hudiburgh said.
STA 261 students have diverse backgrounds, many different majors and are quite varied in their preparation for — and attitudes about — statistics, Hudiburgh said.
Students describe her classroom environment as welcoming, with discussion encouraged and questions always answered. She “expands the context of statistics to focus on inclusion from all backgrounds with group projects, partners in class and overall responsibility for one’s work,” one nominator said.
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