Tiffany Timbers
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tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Tiffany Timbers
@tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
97 followers 88 following 54 posts
Associate Professor of Teaching in Statistics, Master of Data Science program Instructor, UBC, Vancouver, Canada | she/her
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Tiffany Timbers @tiffanytimbers.bsky.social · Sep 18
Preprint of “Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education” available: arxiv.org/abs/2509.12283

By Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda (an exceptional undergrad!),
myself and @rohanalexander.bsky.social

Comments and feedback welcome!
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
stat.ubc.ca
Join us on Oct 15 for an education leadership seminar featuring guest speaker Chelsea Uggenti, Assistant Prof. of teaching at the University of Waterloo.

🗣️Talk title: Discipline-Specific TA Training: A Scalable Model for Departments

🕐 1 - 2 PM
📍 ESB 4192 & Online

Learn more 👉 tinyurl.com/ydutyeub
October 9, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
What are kids books that introduce statistical thinking? I'm thinking ones aimed at > 5-6 year olds. So not Bayesian Stats for babies type books.
October 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
What are kids books that introduce statistical thinking? I'm thinking ones aimed at > 5-6 year olds. So not Bayesian Stats for babies type books.
October 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
@vancouverrisefc.bsky.social - the UBC Master of Data Science program has opened its called for data science capstone project proposals, we'd love to support women's sports here in Vancouver and work with you! We've worked with the @whitecapsfc.bsky.social in the past and its been fantastic.
September 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
The call for UBC Master of Data Science capstone project proposals is open 📢

- Soft deadline is Oct 15th (you get feedback)
- Hard deadline is Nov 30

Checkout our about link for more info and links to submit: ubc-mds.github.io/capstone/abo...
September 23, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
rohanalexander.bsky.social
😢
Screenshot of a quote from a professor about how they are reflecting on their role in an LLM world: "I love this question because it made me both very happy and very sad to think about. So, on some level, what is the actual mission and purpose? Like, why am I a teacher? What am I here for? For these students? That hasn’t changed at all. And I can send you the link to it, but I also looked up, we have, at the [names institution], this graduate profile, our kind of aspirational statement, of what we think all students who have left us with a degree should have. And it includes things like being scholars, they’re knowledgeable and curious, excited by ideas, and conscientious in their efforts to understand the complexities of their communities and the world. And I love that."
September 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
#LLM #GenAI #Education #DataScience #DataScienceEducation #rstats #pydata
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social Tiffany Timbers @tiffanytimbers.bsky.social · Sep 18
Preprint of “Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education” available: arxiv.org/abs/2509.12283

By Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda (an exceptional undergrad!),
myself and @rohanalexander.bsky.social

Comments and feedback welcome!
September 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Preprint of “Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education” available: arxiv.org/abs/2509.12283

By Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda (an exceptional undergrad!),
myself and @rohanalexander.bsky.social

Comments and feedback welcome!
September 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Feedback on our new preprint is welcome and appreciated!
rohanalexander.bsky.social Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · Sep 18
Preprint of “Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education” available: arxiv.org/abs/2509.12283

By Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda (an exceptional undergrad!), @tiffanytimbers.bsky.social, and me.

Comments appreciated!
Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda, Tiffany Timbers, Rohan Alexander Large Language Models (LLMs) have shifted in just a few years from novelty to ubiquity, raising fundamental questions for data science education. Tasks once used to teach coding, writing, and problem-solving can now be completed by LLMs, forcing educators to reconsider both pedagogy and assessment. To understand how instructors are adapting, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 42 instructors from 33 institutions in 10 countries in June and July 2025. Our qualitative analysis reveals a pragmatic mix of optimism and concern. Many respondents view LLMs as inevitable classroom tools -- comparable to calculators or Wikipedia -- while others worry about de-skilling, misplaced confidence, and uneven integration across institutions. Around 58 per cent have already introduced demonstrations, guided activities, or make extensive use of LLMs in their courses, though most expect change to remain slow and uneven. That said, 31 per cent have not used LLMs to teach students and do not plan to. We highlight some instructional innovations, including AI-aware assessments, reflective use of LLMs as tutors, and course-specific chatbots. By sharing these perspectives, we aim to help data science educators adapt collectively to ensure curricula keep pace with technological change.
September 18, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
tladeras.bsky.social
In a week (9/17), I'll be giving a talk at PositConf about WebR/Pyodide for teaching. Curious about how to use R and Python in the browser effectively for teaching? Come learn about how we use it for teaching intro courses at the Fred Hutch Data Science Lab! #datascience #teaching #rstats #python
September 10, 2025 at 6:19 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
THIS IS AMAZING!
emilhvitfeldt.bsky.social Emil Hvitfeldt @emilhvitfeldt.bsky.social · Aug 20
Happy to announce ✨quarto-revealjs-editable✨

This fully supersedes the imagemover extension, as I back then didn't realize the potential. You can now also move, resize, change font size and alignment for text in your slides

github.com/EmilHvitfeld...
#quarto #slidecrafting
August 21, 2025 at 6:45 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Spots are still available!

Become a more efficient #Python programmer at posit::conf(2025)! 🐍

⚙️ Improve machine learning with scikit-learn,
me (Tiffany Timbers) and Katie Burak.

🎟️ Learn more: posit.co/conference/
August 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
ubcmds.bsky.social
Are you interested in partnering with our talented data science students? @ubcmds.bsky.social is now accepting capstone proposals for our next cohort! Register for our virtual capstone information session on September 12, 2025 to learn more: bit.ly/416zaf4
An image of a woman studying Against a dark blue background, text that reads Got Data? Let Our Students Help Discover how your organization can collaborate with our MDS students to tackle your data challenges. September 12 Info Session In a gold coloured box, text that reads Reserve Your Spot
August 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
posit.co
Become a more efficient #Python programmer at posit::conf(2025)! 🐍

🐻‍❄️ Learn to wrangle, analyze, and visualize data efficiently using @pola.rs with @jeroenjanssens.com.
⚙️ Or, improve machine learning with scikit-learn, @tiffanytimbers.bsky.social, and Katie Burak.

🎟️ Learn more: posit.co/conference/
A promotional poster for a conference talk titled "Exploratory Data Analysis with Python Polars." The poster features a person smiling, with their name "Jeroen Janssens" and the word "Posit" next to their image. The bottom of the poster has the Posit logo, and the text "conf (2025)," "Atlanta," and "Sept. 16-18." Three isometric cubes in pink, green, and blue are in the bottom right corner. A promotional poster for a conference talk titled "Machine learning with scikit-learn in Python." The poster features two photos of presenters, with their names and affiliation listed as "Tiffany Timbers University of British Columbia" and "Katie Burak University of British Columbia." The bottom of the poster has the Posit logo, and the text "conf (2025)," "Atlanta," and "Sept. 16-18." Three isometric cubes in pink, green, and blue are in the bottom right corner.
August 12, 2025 at 3:46 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Super excited to be teaching at posit::conf again this year! Interested in learning about how to do machine learning with Python and scikit-learn? Register for our workshop!
posit.co Posit @posit.co · Aug 12
Become a more efficient #Python programmer at posit::conf(2025)! 🐍

🐻‍❄️ Learn to wrangle, analyze, and visualize data efficiently using @pola.rs with @jeroenjanssens.com.
⚙️ Or, improve machine learning with scikit-learn, @tiffanytimbers.bsky.social, and Katie Burak.

🎟️ Learn more: posit.co/conference/
A promotional poster for a conference talk titled "Exploratory Data Analysis with Python Polars." The poster features a person smiling, with their name "Jeroen Janssens" and the word "Posit" next to their image. The bottom of the poster has the Posit logo, and the text "conf (2025)," "Atlanta," and "Sept. 16-18." Three isometric cubes in pink, green, and blue are in the bottom right corner. A promotional poster for a conference talk titled "Machine learning with scikit-learn in Python." The poster features two photos of presenters, with their names and affiliation listed as "Tiffany Timbers University of British Columbia" and "Katie Burak University of British Columbia." The bottom of the poster has the Posit logo, and the text "conf (2025)," "Atlanta," and "Sept. 16-18." Three isometric cubes in pink, green, and blue are in the bottom right corner.
August 12, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
clauswilke.com
A paragraph is longer than a sentence.
open.substack.com/pub/clauswil...
A paragraph is longer than a sentence
Dear writers of the internet:
open.substack.com
August 8, 2025 at 2:36 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
I was lucky to mentor these amazing students this year! What an interesting and great project 🎉
ubcmds.bsky.social UBC Master of Data Science @ubcmds.bsky.social · Aug 8
This week, we spotlight the capstone project our students worked on with ALS GeoAnalytics called “Explainable AI for Obtaining Mineralogical Insights: Visualizing Predictions in Deep Learning Models”. Interested in becoming a Capstone Partner? Submit a proposal here: bit.ly/4lEuEfo.
A quartet of students in front of a classroom with a screen above them that has the opening slide of their presentation.
August 8, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
posit.co
Announcing a new blog series on LLMs from @veerle.hypebright.nl!

Part 1: "What LLMs Actually Do (and What They Don't)" breaks down complex concepts like transformers, hallucinations, and RAG in simple terms.

Check it out here: shiny.posit.co/blog/posts/s...

#RStats #LLM #PythonProgramming
Shiny - What LLMs Actually Do (and What They Don’t)
Shiny is a package that makes it easy to create interactive web apps using R and Python.
shiny.posit.co
August 6, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
jeroenjanssens.com
I just finished recording an amazing #PydyTuesday Uncut episode with @wesmckinney.com.

We look at scraped GitHub data, untangle deeply nested JSON, and create some sort of pulse signal for various popular GitHub repos.

📽️ Watch the full episode here: lnkd.in/eKtuxAjg
July 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Are you teaching an introductory #datascience course this fall? If so, consider adopting our open source textbook! We have versions for both R and Python, as well as worksheets and assignments to accompany each chapter!

- Python: python.datasciencebook.ca
- R: datasciencebook.ca
July 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Just read "A New Era of Learning: Considerations for ChatGPT as a Tool to Enhance Statistics and Data Science Education" by A.R. Ellis & E. Slade. I loved their ending paragraph, what a fun & cute easter egg!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
July 17, 2025 at 6:50 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Are you teaching an introductory #datascience course this fall? If so, consider adopting our open source textbook! We have versions for both R and Python, as well as worksheets and assignments to accompany each chapter!

- Python: python.datasciencebook.ca
- R: datasciencebook.ca
July 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
posit.co
Ready to plan your #positconf2025 adventure?

The posit::conf(2025) agenda is LIVE, packed with incredible workshops, keynotes, and talks.

Plan your perfect conference with Sam Parmar's Agenda Chat Bot, powered by #RStats shinychat, ellmer, and ragnar.

Check it out! posit.co/blog/posit-c...
July 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Timbers
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Just read "What should data science education do with large language models" by Tu et al., where they shared their thoughts on how data science educators should (and should not) use LLMs in data science ed.

Paper link: hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/pqiufdew...

Their use recommendations included 🧵:
What Should Data Science Education Do With Large Language Models?
hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu
July 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
tiffanytimbers.bsky.social
Interested in learning about using Python for #MachineLearning with the widely used scikit-learn package? Come take a workshop with Katie Burak and myself at #posit::conf2025 in Atlanta in September!

reg.rainfocus.com/flow/posit/p...
July 17, 2025 at 4:39 PM