A lot of applied statistical techniques are best learned by doing, such as experimental design, predictive modelling, simulation, etc. Probability models (what is covered in STAT 334) are often fairly theoretical, but STAT 334 is a course for business and accounting students, who are more interested in the applications. They are also familiar with the idea of case studies from the business courses they take.
Because of that, I decided to have a Case Study Competition in STAT 334. The choice of topic was completely up to the...
Last year I applied for and received a LITE Seed Grant to add some new techniques to STAT 334. The three main things I added were interactive tutorials, a case study competition, and oral exams. I'll talk about each one in a different post.
Part 1: Interactive Tutorial Activities
Different instructors use tutorials in different ways, but for me the most effective way is to give the students...
I used Lego in a grad level ActSci course and it was great!
I'm teaching ACTSC 635: Actuarial Communications, a small class, and we did an interactive kinesthetic learning activity (similar to Lego Serious Play).
Phase 1: Written communication only (in partners)
Each student received a different Lego structure
They had 15 minutes to write instructions for building it
They built their partner's structure from the instructions
Not surprisingly, this was very difficult, and only 3 out of 18 got it.
Recently, I was in South Sudan to continue the work with our partners in expanding the Youth Peacemaker Network in the country. The initiative is driven by the ...
