Brenda Gunderson

Dr. Gunderson is featured in ACUE’s modules: Using Active Learning Techniques in Large Classes, Delivering an Effective Lecture, and Motivating Your Students.

Her contributions to ACUE’s Community of Professional Practice include:

• For This Large-Class Lecturer, Cartwheels and Communication are Key

Gunderson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Statistics at the University of Michigan. She coordinates and teaches the largest undergraduate statistics course, Statistics and Data Analysis, with approximately 2200 students each term. She serves as the Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Training Leader, developing and leading the training for all new Statistics GSIs. The training includes both general teaching pedagogy and course specific details. She is also the undergraduate advisor for students electing to major or minor in Statistics and a member of the Statistics Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Her research focuses on Statistical Education, in particular using technology to enhance teaching and learning.

Gunderson received the UM Teaching Innovation Prize for her work on Infusing Technology for Guided Continuous Learning in a Large Gateway Course. By carefully selecting and interweaving technologies, instructors can guide groups of students through challenging material in a way that feels highly personalized. She was co-investigator for the UM grant Enhancing Undergraduate Education through the Deployment of Quality Learning Objects. Her work on this grant led to receiving the Innovative Use of MERLOT Award and a Sloan-C Effective Practice Award. She is involved in a number of projects that look at various interventions to help engage students and provide multiple paths for developing, practicing, and testing their understanding of concepts and relationships. These projects are focusing on the analysis and use of data about our students, courses, and programs for improving teaching and learning. Her more recent work has been in the Expansion of E2Coach to the Introductory Statistics Course. E2Coach (Electronic and Expert Coach) is a data-driven, personalized program that combines next-generation learning analytics with the best of behavioral change theory.

Gunderson holds a PhD in Statistics from The University of Michigan.