Future directions for the teaching and learning of Statistics at the tertiary level

Significant advances in, and the resultant impact of, Information Technolog y (IT) during the last fifteen years has resulted in a much more data based society, a trend that can be expected to continue into the foreseeable fut ure. This phenomenon has had a real impact on the Statistics discipline and will continue to result in changes in both content and course delivery. Ma jor research directions have also evolved during the last ten years directl y as a result of advances in IT. The impact of these advances has started t o flow into course content, at least for advanced courses. One question whi ch arises relates to what impact will this have on the future training of s tatisticians, both with respect to course content and mode of delivery. At the tertiary level the last 40 years has seen significant advances in theor etical aspects of the Statistics discipline, Universities have been outstan ding at producing scholars with a strong theoretical background but questio ns have been asked as to whether this has, to some degree, been at the expe nse of appropriate training of the users of statistics (the 'tradespersons' ). Future directions in the teaching and learning of Statistics must take into account the impact of IT together with the competing need to produce schol ars as well as competent users of statistics to meet the future needs of th e market place. For Statistics to survive as a recognizable discipline the need to be able to train statisticians with an ability to communicate is al so seen as an area of crucial importance. Satisfying the needs of society as well as meeting the needs of the profess ion are considered as the basic determinants which will derive the future t eaching and training of statisticians at the tertiary level and will form t he basis of this presentation.