Towards more real-live teachings of business statistics: a Review of Challenges, Teaching Innovations and Strategies for Reform in Egypt

Transcription

1 Working Paper No. 2013/21 Towards more real-live teachings of business statistics: a Review of Challenges, Teaching Innovations and Strategies for Reform in Egypt Dina El Kayaly 1 September 2013 The author, 2013 ¹Regional Information Technology Institute RITI, Egypt

2 The Maastricht School of Management is a leading provider of management education with worldwide presence. Our mission is to enhance the management capacity of professionals and organizations in and for emerging economies and developing countries with the objective to substantially contribute to the development of these societies. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). Publication does not imply endorsement by the School or its sponsors, of any of the views expressed. 2

3 Towards more real-live teachings of business statistics: a Review of Challenges, Teaching Innovations and Strategies for Reform in Egypt By Dina El Kayaly Importance of the topic Whether designing new products, running a production process, evaluating current customers or prospecting new customers, today s business managers face greater complexities. Statistics provide managers with more confidence in dealing with uncertainty in spite of the flood of available data. It supports managers in their decision making process and provide more stable leadership to their staff. The objective of the article Over the past few decades, large amount of research was dedicated to the teaching of statistics, leading to changing course content and structure, in both introductory and advanced courses for statisticians and those from other disciplines. In the light of such trend future directions in the teaching and learning of statistics must take into account new innovative educational instructions, educational technologies and the abundance of Web resources that are now available. This article studies different aspects of currently identified challenges in the teaching and learning of statistics in Egypt and gives an overview of useful strategies and innovations for developing real-live statistics courses in the context of recommendations for reforms. Methodology The article presents a review of the literature on the topic of statistics education and gives instructors a set of guidelines for generating new and effective teaching material. The article also studies the probable effect of new innovative educational instructions, educational technologies and the abundance of Web resources through depth interviews with professional experts and some customers of such courses. The summarized recommendations incorporate many innovations employed in a variety of successful statistics classes today in Egypt. Search Keys Statistics education; Technological innovation; Teaching and learning statistics; Statistical literacy. 3

4 Introduction Statistics is one of the most important quantitative subjects in a university curriculum, and one of the challenges facing professors because they serve students with varying backgrounds and abilities, many of whom have had negative experiences with statistics. The most critical issue is that these courses are related to long developed attitudes towards the value of statistics for many students, and hence future employees, employers and decision makers. Many researchers have highlighted the need to reform the teaching of statistics. We attempt to outline the currently identified problems and challenges in statistical education and summarize the recommendations that we consider to be potentially useful in the teaching and learning of statistics in Egypt. The purpose of the paper is to review the experience of other developing countries and extract lessons learned helping the reader to: - review the current challenges of teaching statistics in the Egypt; and - highlight the teaching strategies and learning theories proven to be useful in statistics education. The article essentially comprises of three sections and proceeds in the following manner. Section 2 gives an overview of the current state of statistics teaching summarizing problems. Section 3 addresses strategies for reform-based teaching of statistics with a special focus on the use of technological resources available in today s information driven society. Section 4 emphasizes the potential of the technology for teaching and learning statistics. Section 5 summarizes the teaching recommendations. 4

5 2. Current Challenges of Teaching Statistics in Egypt Over the past few decades researchers have been trying to understand the challenges in learning and teaching statistics and to identify the obstacles that are needed to train future statisticians. Yet, it seems that there is still a gap between the research and practice of teaching statistics. Most statisticians in Egypt- are not aware of the full potential of their discipline. In an attempt to improve the teaching and learning of statistics at the tertiary level, we summarized the current problems in teaching and learning statistics in Egypt based on the relevant research in the table below. Table 1. List of Identified Problems in Teaching Statistics and their consequences in Egypt Category of the problem Long accumulated attitude Design of the curricula & assessment Professional career as a statistician Author Identified Problems Consequence in Egypt Verhoeven (2006) Allen, Folkhard, Lancaster, Sherlock & Abram (2012) Garfield & Ben-Zvi (2007) Garfiled & Ahlgren (1988) Meng (2009) Garfield & Gal (1999) Zieffler et al. (2008) Smith & Staetsky Negative attitude towards statistics Focus on mathematical and mechanical aspects of knowledge Probability and distribution topics are not easy to understand Deficiencies in basic knowledge of students Courses are with no link to certain disciplines Typical assessment is not reliable No programs to train statistical educators Lack of interest to use statistics among non statisticians Students are not able to apply statistics to solve real live problems Especially to student from other disciplines leading to create negative attitude Inadequacy of skills and abstract reasoning No direct link to real life cases Does not foster outcomes such as statistical reasoning, not focusing on when and why Some engineers teach statistics for social science students! Statistics is declining Statistics graduates 5

6 (2007), IRMS (2010) as a taught subject are declining and focused in demographics mainly. Few post graduates students attracted to this discipline IRMS (2010) Shortage of staff and researchers in this discipline This would affect the strategic planning on the long run To develop deep understanding, we interviewed 10 professional instructors teaching statistics in various universities and asked them about the above mentioned categories and tried to summarize what they agreed upon in the coming sections. 2.1 Design of the statistical program The respondents agree that in the age of "information explosion" it is of great importance to use statistics to handle the huge amount of data and to facilitate supporting strategic decisions. Traditional statistical education focuses on methodological skills and computations assuming that students would be able to link it to real life cases. This approach did not work in Egypt, as statisticians isolated themselves in their bubble and students from other disciplines developed antipathy towards statistics. 2.2 Long accumulated attitude towards statistics Risk and uncertainty influence society in many ways, there are specific advantages of being statistically literate for specific groups in the society, for example: - The media can be vulnerable to manipulation with statistics for commercial or political goals (Goldacre, 2008), yet the media rarely depends on statistical analysis even descriptive statistics in its articles. - Decision makers face pressure from a commercial and ideological stance and frequently need to evaluate competing statistical evidence (Blastland and Dilnot, 2008; Hand, 2009), and rarely use it. - Designing new products, running a production process, evaluating current customers or prospecting new customers, today s business managers face greater complexities, and yet they are reluctant to use statistics. -.etc Statistics provide managers and decision makers with more confidence in dealing with uncertainty in spite of the flood of available data. It supports them in their decision making process and provide more stable leadership to their staff, but they have attitude towards statistics stopping them from benefiting from its various techniques. 6

7 2.3 Statistics as a Profession in Egypt The current problem with teaching statistics should consider the state of statistics as a profession. While this paper is mainly focused on Egypt, the relevant published articles produced in different countries point out that the field of statistics faces challenges in different countries across the world. In several countries there is an obvious shortage of statisticians in science and industry and a decline in statistics teaching in universities. For example, the national review by the Statistics at Australian Universities (2005): "warns that there are real threats to the sustainability of the core academic discipline in the country. In particular, insufficient numbers of PhD students are being trained to meet the needs of academia and research-based industries." Lindsay, Kettenring, and Siegmund (2004) highlighted that the number of people with training in statistics in USA- is not growing fast enough to meet the high demands for statistical expertise in today s science, engineering and government laboratories and agencies. In Egypt, a number of depth interviews were conducted to examine and outline the current and changing climate of university statistics teaching. The interviews reported certain concerns: - a shortage of the supply of statistical skills throughout the education system - not relating statistics with businesses driving fresh graduated statisticians to study demography for its clear career bath - current state of mathematics and statistics research in Egypt were very limited and not truly related to real life cases - the old statisticians control the business of research in Egypt and allow new generation to participate in the tedious steps of data collection and analysis but not in interpretation or setting strategy - the marginalized position of statistics in school curricula - the dependency of some post graduates on some statisticians to do them the analysis and not even trying to understand it or get trained to do it themselves - the weakening and closures of small research departments where research strength in subject-specific statistics - in high school diploma, engineers and science graduates teach statistics! They teach them how to do the computation not why and when to use the various statistical techniques. In summary, the discipline faces fundamental challenges in all areas of statistics teaching and training to reform the future of the profession. 7

8 3. Strategies for Reform-Based Teaching of Statistics In a nut shell, the goals of statistics educational reforms are to change attitudes towards statistics, and to improve the experience of teaching and learning of statistics. To achieve these goals, a large number of research studies have been conducted from various perspectives. We used some of their recommendations regarding: - teaching and learning methods; - using technology in statistics education; and - the evaluation of the teaching and learning methods suggested by researchers. The aim of the next section is to provide an overview of the strategies for teaching that have been suggested. The emphasis is on summarizing the examples of good practice which have already been approved by the statistics educational community in Egypt. 3.1 Review of Teaching and Learning Strategies and Recommendations Studies that have focused on amending traditional methods of teaching statistics, to enable students to receive up-to-date and relevant to society's needs education and training. All these imply that traditional lecture-based teaching methods should be replaced or complemented by new approaches which reframe the roles and identities of teachers and learners. The researcher developed curriculum for teaching business statistics for post graduate students that happen to be research assistants at universities in Egypt or middle management member at companies working in Egypt. The curriculum depended on the active learning environment techniques using: collaborative and cooperative learning, problem-based learning and problem solving, case studies, course projects, and the use of technology. The program demonstrated positive results and effectiveness on a range of outcomes which include: improved attitudes, positive growth in student achievement, and improved relations among different disciplines or functions. The full range of educational theories underlines the importance of utilizing correct educational strategies, encouraging deep learning approaches, such as active learning and problem-based learning, and emphasizing statistical thinking. 3.2 Technological Innovations Technology is and will be a major part of our everyday life and it is increasingly being used as a teaching resource in many different forms. Within the context of this study the researcher approached blended learning in terms of identifying what impact of integrating technology-based resources on student 8

9 learning outcomes such as their understanding and confidence in learning statistics. In particular, this study was investigating the addition of a new resource, video clips and on-line sources to the blended system to see if they could be effectively used to support the student learning of statistics. The data revealed that students preferred classroom-based learning rather than online lectures. In terms of how students worked with the software manual, the E-learning site was found reasonably practical for the student learning. The findings do show that there was equal importance placed on the technology-based and classroom-based resources. The newly introduced video clips were highly regarded. The goal of blended learning approach is not to substitute face-to-face interaction naturally occurs in traditional classroom but to use the technology in numerous ways to enhance and expand the classroom that support student learning. Therefore, the choice and types of technologies implement in a blended learning environment should be well understood by examining the context in which it can be appropriately applied. In summary, this study revealed that blended learning approach is positively received by students, with students drawing upon both traditional and online components of the subject. In this study we could see that their perceived understanding, learning and confidence in learning statistics could be attributed to different component resources. However, making available different resources does not ensure that they are adequate or integrated appropriately into the blended program. Teachers need to understand how to integrate the technology effectively within classroom-based learning as to maximize its impact on student learning outcomes and support their learning. The role of technology in statistics education was emphasized: Students were once expected to solve problems by performing tedious hand calculations or to derive particular statistical formulas, now course goals refer to students' ability to reason statistically about real-world problems and the development of active learning skills. Technology has also expanded the range of graphical and visualization techniques to provide powerful new ways to assist students in exploring and analyzing data and thinking about statistical ideas, allowing them to focus on the interpretation of results and understanding concepts rather than on computational mechanics. The use of the Internet in education is increasing and becoming more refined. In this context we would like to emphasize the need to better understand the process of finding, evaluating, and organizing electronic statistical resources, and for giving referenced credit to those who developed them. This aspect is still very limited in Egypt as Egyptian students prefer having an instructor in the room to interact with. Based on our literature review and validated through depth interviews with professionals and students, Table 2 provides a brief description of some reform-based techniques and examples of how they should be used in practice. We do not suggest 9

10 that this list is comprehensive but it demonstrates a variety of techniques that are being selected by the Egyptian respondents. Table 2. Overview of Reform-Based Learning Strategies and Techniques Suggested Strategy Shifting the focus of statistics curricula from mathematical calculations to practical cases. (Chance, 1997; Allen et al., 2012) Developing problem solving skills. (Garfield, 1993; Garfield, 1995; Marriott, Davies & Gibson, 2009) Developing strategies to motivate students. (Garfield, 1993; Snell, 1996a; Watson,1997) Developing statistical literacy and critical thinking skills. (Wallman, 1993; Gal, 2002; Gal, 2003; Schield, 2004) Integrating new assessment techniques that address students' ability to evaluate and utilize statistical knowledge. (Chance, 1997; Garfield & Gal, 1999; Garfield & Chance, 2000, Gal, 2002; Schield, 2004; Watson, 1997) Suggested Technique Collaborative and cooperative learning. (Garfield, 1993; Garfield, 1995; Roseth, Garfield & Ben-Zvi, 2008) Active learning and introducing activities where students are able to construct knowledge. (Garfield, 1993; Garfield & Ben-Zvi, 2008) Develop the skill of communicating statistics. (des Nicholls, 2001; Rumsey, 2002; Schield, 2004) Modified Program Students were given problems within different contexts to exercise what they have learned Students were given real-life examples and applications Students were given open-ended problems and the instructor assumed the role of facilitator Student used their own data as an example to their colleagues Instructor used examples that have recently appeared in the media, government reports, news for example discussed the demand estimation of fuel when it was at surge in Egypt Instructor focus on everyday usage of statistics Instructor gave examples of incorrect analyses and examples of statistical illiteracy from the media and reports Instructor uses non-traditional assessment techniques including: - a computer laboratory component, - a term project with oral presentations, - critiques of statistical ideas or issues in the news. Examples of Use Students work together to solve problems sharing ideas and understanding. Collaborative group work with computers and data sets Students are engaged in data collection, reflection on and exploration of statistical concepts, and solving problems on their own. Ask students to explain terminology and to interpret the statistical results in everyday words. 10

11 Statistical Thinking Suggested Strategies Tools Case studies Real life examples Software Videos Web sources Team projects Learning Techniques Cooperative and collaborative Active learning Developing communication skills Shift to practical cases Developing problem solving skills Motivate students Develop statistical literacy New assessment technique Understand statistical concepts to learn: - why - when 11

12 4. Teaching Recommendations Changing concepts and focusing on training statistical thinking. Instructors should pay more attention to making students understand the basic ideas of statistics. Statistics teaching should provide a realistic problem situation; and appreciate the background and statistics applications both in daily life and in the scientific area. It is also necessary to let students experience the whole process of program design, data collection, data processing, decision making, etc. Stimulating students learning motivation and interest with concrete cases. Specific cases can help students understand the real issues and methods more easily. For the statistical cases, instructors should collect a broad range of knowledge and launch students in identifying more problems on their own, and then organize students to discuss how to resolve these problems. The aim is to stimulate students interest in learning, and help students understand the essence of knowledge and methods better. Providing practical opportunities for students to undergo the entire process of statistical work. The aim is to let students learn to view issues from a statistical point, realize the essence of statistical thinking, and then improve their ability regarding anglicizing problems and solving problems. Using technology to teach statistics. The involvement of technology has injected a new force for the reform of mathematics teaching, and technology also played a decisive role in the development of statistics. Therefore, in statistical teaching, students should be encouraged to use calculators, computers, software, the internet and other mathematics education technology platform to increase their teaching capacity and learning efficiency. The aim is to understand statistical thinking better, and enhance students learning interest and thinking mode, and to help to improve students understanding of mathematical modeling and improve the effectiveness of their mathematics learning. 5. Conclusion Statistics has been and will continue to be one of the most widely taught topics at university level. In this article we conducted a review of the research literature on teaching and learning of applied statistics at the university level. We have attempted to outline the identified problems and possible solutions in teaching statistics and to review the usefulness of the technology resources in teaching statistics. It is clear that statistics teaching has benefited from the development of the technological resources that are available. We overviewed the role of technology in teaching and learning of statistics, in particular Internet based resources, and examined and typified web-based materials about statistics and teaching statistics. While the statistical topics vary for each lab, students will be following a thoughtful Process starting with data collection, performing descriptive analysis, integrating technology, performing statistical analysis, making inferences, drafting discussion and conclusion, and composing the report. 12

13 In this lab based lecture class the emphasis is on the collection and analysis of real data and provide students with the initial exposure to the discipline of statistics. Further students gain statistical knowledge, versed in using statistical software, active learning, and finally develop statistical thinking. In conclusion, this review shows that statistics education is a unique rapidly evolving discipline and computer-based and Web technologies are an important and integral part of statistics today. We hope that this paper will contribute to the understanding of the current state of statistics education providing a bridge between research findings in statistics education and teaching practice which will help teachers understand and implement Internet technology in a variety of innovative ways. References Allen, R.A., Folkhard, A., Lancaster, G.A., Sherlock, C., and Abram, B. (2012). Statistics for the Biological and Environmental Sciences: Improving Service Teaching for Postgraduates, Statistics Education Research Journal, submitted. Blastland, M. and Dilnot, A. (2008). The Tiger That Isn't: Seeing Through a World of Numbers, Profile Books, London. Chance, B. (1997). Experiences with Authentic Assessment Techniques in an Introductory Statistics Course, Journal of Statistics Education, 5(3). des Nicholls, F. (2001). Future Directions for the Teaching and Learning of Statistics at the Tertiary Level, International Statistical Review, 69(1), Gal, I. (2002). Adults' Statistical Literacy: Meanings, Components, Responsibilities. With Discussion, International Statistical Review, 70(1), Gal, I. (2003). Teaching for Statistical Literacy and Services of Statistics Agencies, The American Statistician, 57(2), Garfield, J. (1993). Teaching Statistics Using Small-Group Cooperative Learning, Journal of Statistics Education, 1(1). Garfield, J. (1995). How Students Learn Statistics, International Statistical Review, 63(1), Garfield, J. and Ahlgren, A. (1988). Difficulties in Learning Basic Concepts in Probability and Statistics: Implications for Research, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 19(1), Garfield, J. and Ben-Zvi, D. (2007). How Students Learn Statistics Revisited: A Current Review of Research on Teaching and Learning Statistics, International Statistical Review 75(3), , doi:

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15 Wallman, K. K. (1993). Enhancing Statistical Literacy: Enriching our Society, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 88(421), 1-8. Watson, J. M. (1997). Assessing Statistical Thinking Using the Media, In The Assessment Challenge in Statistics Education, Gal, I. and Garfield, J. B. (Eds.). Amsterdam: IOS Press and The International Statistical Institute, Zieffler, A., Garfield J., Alt S., Dupuis D., Holleque K., and Chang B. (2008). What Does Research Suggest about the Teaching and Learning of Introductory Statistics at the College Level? A Review of the Literature, Journal of Statistics Education, 16(2). 15