How I Learned to Stop Worrying About it and - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

How I Learned toStop Worrying About it and Just Teach MBA 580!

(

With Apologies to Dr. Strangelove

)Slide2

It is a course designed for graduate students in business who have not taken any statistics courses as undergraduates or in any previous graduate program.I am working with many students who have never envisioned studying the discipline until they entered an MBA program.MBA 580—What is it?Slide3

It is a course that is designed to teach students the introductory concepts contained in an undergraduate business core course or courses in statistics.Soup to nuts, so to speak!What is its Content?Slide4

I try to teach in one course the equivalent of two undergraduate introductory statistics courses.I try to expose students to the basic concepts of both descriptive and inferential statistics as well as to regression analysis.Two Courses in One—8 Credit Hours Compressed into 4!Slide5

The challenges addressed in this meeting dealt with the necessity of identifying topics that could be eliminated or deemphasized without sacrificing quality.Why do this? In my case the issue is time, or the lack thereof. Theme of the 2009 USCOTS Meeting—”Letting Go To Grow”Slide6

Maybe nothing?Maybe something?So—What Can One Do?Slide7

I work no problems by hand, and I do not require students to do so either. The textbook is used only for reference.I prepare my own set of problems as examples.The students can download this set of problems from the electronic course reserves of the university library.I use MegaStat and require all students to do the same as they learn how to perform basic statistical analyses.We both generate and interpret statistical outputs using MegaStat.

What is it that I Do and Don’t Do?Slide8

I give take home rather than in-class tests.I give in-class quizzes in order to preserve the integrity of the grading process.I give no homework, because I expect students to spend their time reviewing the past week’s material in order to prepare for the in-class quizzes.Class time consists of lecture, question and answer, and software demonstrations of techniques leading to the answers of selected problems.Implications to business professionals of the results of the work are stressed.

What Else is it that I Do?Slide9

I focus on statistical inference and regression analysis in this course.I cover the basics of descriptive statistics to the extent necessary in order for students to be able to understand statistical inference.I do not stress pictorial analysis of data sets.I spend a small amount of time covering probability, probability distributions and sampling distributions in order to highlight some of the basic theory in these areas so as to lay the foundation for the study of statistical inference. What Content Material is Emphasized? What is Deemphasized?Slide10

Only as needed!Evaluation of the knowledge of the statistical theory is minimal.On a few of the in-class quizzes, some theory may be tested.How Much Statistical Theory?Slide11

Obviously, I think so, or I wouldn’t use it!I believe that upon the completion of the course, students will have acquired the knowledge necessary to understand the role of statistics and utilize its concepts in the business world.Does My Approach Work?Slide12

Will I continue to teach the course in its traditional lecture format?Will I be asked to develop and teach an on line version of the course?If the latter

c

omes to pass, will it be a different

v

ersion of the course than what I am currently

d

elivering?

Beats me, stay

t

uned!

What Will I Do When I Teach This Course in the Future?