Teaching with data

DR. SYED AHMED, Business Division, Xavier University of Louisiana

Teaching Through Data

Math is the language of all my courses that I teach. I use several techniques to make the math foundations strong of my students. First week of the semester is all about syllabus and refreshing math skills for my students.

I focus on solving word problems. Students list what is given in the question and solve for unknown using the equation sheets. I make students create word problems using the given equation sheet and then solve them.

For my statistics and Operations Management classes, I use MYSTATLAB and MYOMLAB for my students to master the concepts. In math we learn through practice. MYSTALAB and MYOMLAB provides enough of practice, videos, quizzes, power point presentation notes and pre Test and post test for students.

I work on challenging problems in class. I let my students learn in groups on case studies from each chapter. This has allowed my students to see the real life applications of the course. Teaching through case studies has helped my students to perform well on several competitions.

I also teach statistics using Microsoft Excel to speed up the calculations as I assign several practice problems to make the concepts strong.Students use the raw data and convert them into useful information. In some cases, students create their own excel templates to solve problems.

Downloadable version of this essay

Dr. Syed Ahmed's Teaching Techniques. (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 106kB May2 19)