1. Improving Inferential Statistics Teaching Methods to Accommodate Millennial Learning Styles Dr. Buddy Bilbrey

2. Purpose of the work
Create a method that reaches the students in a way that enforces learning
Quantify changes to drive process improvement in teaching inferential statistics

3. Motivations from last year
Session last year two striking methods for instruction were proposed
1) skip early inferential statistics
2) write/use software to provide tools for students
Both methods were driven by the lack of time to cover the undergraduate topics inferential statistics
AACSB constraint – cover topics in detail reasonable to industry expectations

4. Difficulties from THIS year
Variables hard to control over multiple semesters
Technology
Communication with Math Department
Lack of Excel Skills
OFAT for this experiment

5. Traditional Method Assign homework relative to the lectures
Homework will be done on students’ time
Lecture with examples and notes
Homework is designed to test knowledge, not teach the material
All work graded after submission

6. What was happening? Students were bored/uninterested in class
Life is MUCH more interactive for them today
Communications are instant
Immediate access is the “norm”
Examples: Facebook, texting, Snapchat, etc.
Preconceived notion that “Statistics is hard”

7. New Approach
Students are asked questions for the problems during class – answers are unknown and problems are algorithmically generated
Forces students to follow and keep up with the class
Use end lecture time for hands-on problems (Short extra credit problems to encourage effort)
Can’t lean on neighbors for answers

8. Preliminary Results variance reduced

9. Preliminary Results Total Points – Normalized by Max Pts

10. Current Problems – Future Work
Noticed that the students won’t draw the normal curve
Homework is broken down into very small problem sets vs. the traditional (Spring 2018)
Trying to guess the solutions instead of working the problems
Which data to remove? Dropped students?
Online lectures?

11. Questions?