Call for Participation and Proposals: eCOTS 2026
The 2026 Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics (eCOTS) theme is "Sparking Joy and Discovery In a World of AI". This affordable online conference, organized by the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE), will take place from June 15-18th, 2026.
In a world increasingly shaped by technological tools and artificial intelligence (AI), how can we spark discovery and joy in ourselves and our students? The theme invites us to explore the impact of AI on instruction and assessment for statistics and data science courses. Are there ways to foster wonder, imagination, and critical thinking (with or without AI) and to center human values and interactions in our teaching? We welcome approaches where AI is a partner in the human creative process as well as those that are complementary to these new tools, where joy and/or discovery are the main focus.
As in past years, the conference will include hour-long invited keynote speakers, thirty or seventy-minute breakout sessions, birds of a feather discussion sessions, poster sessions, reading groups, speed mentoring, and regional face-to-face mini-gatherings. There will also be workshops before and after the conference.
For more information or to submit a proposal, see https://www.causeweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots26/proposals
Breakout Sessions
We seek compelling breakout sessions organized as 30- or 70-minute interactive webinars on a particular topic. Sessions should foster audience engagement and have at least one substantial opportunity for deliberations and discussion. The conference will have channels in Slack for additional conversations about these topics. The deadline for submissions for breakout sessions is Thursday, January 15, 2026.
Regional Meetings
Regional mini-conferences or workshops are designed to build the local statistics and data science education communities and integrate with eCOTS and its theme of "Sparking Joy and Discovery In a World of AI". These regional mini-conferences have a variety of formats and occur at different times. (Some funding from CAUSE is available to support regional gatherings: please reach out to Nick Horton [Amherst College] or Matt Beckman [Penn State University] with questions.) Regional meeting proposals are due by the end of the day on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026.
Workshops
Pre- and post conference workshops provide an opportunity for more extensive study of a topic and extensive interaction between participants and presenters. Workshop durations range from two hours to four hours (in two-hour blocks). Workshop proposals are due by the end of the day on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026.
Reading Groups
Are you interested in hosting a virtual reading group before or after eCOTS? The reading can be a book or a collection of articles from the Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education (JSDSE), CHANCE, The American Statistician, the Harvard Data Science Review, the Statistics Education Research Journal (SERJ), or similar venue. In the past, reading groups have met for 1 to 1.5 hours per week for 4 – 5 weeks. Generally, 1 to 2 chapters or articles is a good amount of reading to foster conversation. The reading groups have run before or after virtual events and utilized the CAUSE Slack channels. Proposals for eCOTS Reading Groups should be submitted by February 6, 2026.
Birds of a Feather Sessions
One of the highlights of the electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics (eCOTS, to be held June 15-18th, 2026) is to have conversations with other statistics and data science educators. Facilitated conversations about a common topic, called birds-of-a-feather discussions, help to accomplish this.
Please describe a birds-of-a-feather topic for which you would like to facilitate discussion. This discussion is not a formal presentation but rather an opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas with a group of statistics and data science educators. These sessions will occur in Zoom breakout rooms. Proposals for eCOTS Birds of a Feather discussions should be submitted by February 13, 2026.
Posters and Beyond
We invite submissions for the Posters and Beyond sessions at the Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics (eCOTS). This venue highlights innovative statistics and data science teaching activities, demonstrations, and classroom methods.
In our virtual setting, a "poster" or "beyond" session will be a short video presentation (less than five minutes) that will be posted on the conference website, with the opportunity to interact during a scheduled Zoom session time.
Submissions may fall into one of two categories: Posters or Beyond. The P&B session provides an opportunity for conference participants to display a "poster" of their ideas or research. Alternatively, "beyond" provides a venue to share a small demonstration of favorite examples, activities, and teaching methods. Abstracts for posters or beyond activities in the eCOTS Posters and Beyond session should be submitted by Monday, March 3rd, 2026.
Summary of Deadlines
The deadline for submissions for eCOTS 2026 Breakout Sessions is Thursday, January 15, 2026.
Workshop and Regional Meeting proposals are due by the end of the day on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026.
Proposals for eCOTS Reading Groups should be submitted by February 6, 2026.
Proposals for eCOTS Birds of a Feather discussions should be submitted by February 13, 2026.
Abstracts for Posters or Beyond activities in the eCOTS Posters and Beyond session should be submitted by Monday, March 3rd, 2026.
For more information or to submit a proposal, see https://www.causeweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots26/proposals
Program Committee
eCOTS 2026 Organizing Committee
Tyler George, Cornell College
Juan Gomez, Carmel High School, CA
Nicholas Horton (chair), Amherst College, https://www.amherst.edu/people/facstaff/nhorton
Vimal Rao, University of Illinois
Kelly Spoon, San Diego Mesa College
Sara Stoudt, Bucknell University
Maria Tackett, Duke University
Allison Theobold, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Jennifer Ward, Clark College
Jonathan Wells, Grinnell College
Beverly L. Wood, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
eCOTS 2026 Poster Session Committee
Heather Cook (co-chair), University of Southern Indiana
Jacqueline Herman (co-chair), Northern Kentucky University
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Nicholas Horton
Beitzel Professor of Technology and Society (Statistics and Data Science)
Department of Statistics
Amherst College
Northampton, MA United States
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