Keynote at International Symposium on University Teaching Innovation, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, Taiwan (May 2019)

1. Reinventing the
Data Analytics Classroom
International Symposium on University Teaching Innovation, Yunlin U of Sci & Tech, Taiwan, May 2019

3. My Research
- Statistical & data mining methodology
- Interdisciplinary
● To Explain or To Predict?
● Prediction & Causal Models
● Information Quality
● Behavioral Big Data

4. Teaching (1993-2019)
I never had formal
teachers’ training
Online (Statistics.com, FL MOOC)
● Predictive Analytics
● Forecasting Analytics
● Interactive Data Visualization
Engineers (Technion, CMU)
● Industrial Statistics
● Engineering Statistics & Quality Control
● Sampling, Surveys, & Society
B-school PhD (UMD, NTHU)
● Scientific Data-Collection
● Research Methods
B-school MBA & Executive (UMD, ISB, NTHU)
● Business Analytics using Data Mining
● Forecasting Analytics
● Data, Models, and Decisions
● Statistical Linear Models in Business
● Leveraging Business Through Analytics
Started out in 1993 as a TA in Statistics & Probability
- Weekly recitation sessions
- Before the days of PPT, LMS, ...

6. Today I’ll focus on the
evolution of my Business
Analytics course

7. Business Analytics course
● Masters-level business school elective course
● Diverse audience (business, technical & non-tech,
with/out work experience)
Course Objectives:
1. Learn how business and
data mining integrate
2. Hands-on experience with
data mining algorithms
3. Become familiar with
industry applications
4. Know what you don’t know
I developed two BA courses:
○ Data Mining
○ Forecasting
I’ve taught with two formats:
○ Traditional (lecture)
○ Flipped

8. Through my journey with
this course, I will share:
What I learned over the years
● Cultural adaptations (silence/activity; active/passive)
● The effect of classroom space
● The effect of course length
● Technology choices
How I tried to achieve course and learning
objectives by adding interactivity
● Online, on-ground activities and resources
● How to blend them meaningfully
● Blending classroom with industry
● Needed preparation
● How to increase active/interactive
learning into any (analytics) course
● Benefits and Challenges

9. In 2014, I joined NTHU and taught two courses in Fall…
Forecasting - traditional
Data mining - flipped

10. Forecasting
flipped
Data mining

11. To understand
what happened,
let’s roll back in
time...

12. Data Mining for Business
Designed & taught 2004-2010
MBA elective course
14 weeks (lectures)
Main resources:
Textbook
Handouts (slides)
Individual assignments
clickers!
To increase active/
interactive learning:
Team project

13. What are clickers?
● Each student has a clicker
● Use clicker to answer
instructor’s questions
● See answers immediately
● Confidentiality maintained
wireless transmitters (like TV remote)

14. Sample clicker slide

15. Business Analytics Using Data Mining
Indian School of Business
Taught 2010-2013
MBA elective course
5 weeks (10 lectures)
Main resources:
Textbook
Handouts (slides)
Individual assignments
Team project
Clickers
60 students per section
1-2 sections

16. In 2011, I added an
online forum
In 2012, I flipped it!

17. How to flip?
- record videos
- create online materials (discussion, reading, quiz,...)
What do you do face-to-face in class?
How to combine the online + offline resources/efforts
in a meaningful way?

18. In class
1. Discussion
2. Clicker Qs
3. Hands-on Assignment
4. Team presentations
5. Guest lecture
Before class
1. Watch videos
2. Read
3. Discuss online
After class
1. Individual assignment
2. Team project + contest
(meetings, analysis, ...)

20. Student feedback
“Supercharged student-faculty interaction: Instead of the
typical case / theory oriented case pre-reads, Prof. Galit
posted videos in first person format taking us through
the basic concepts and asking us to run through
some sample problems. This ensured that during
class, everyone had moved beyond the basics and
the depth of questions discussed was far more
probing than an average course.”

21. What I learned from flipping
Class time more effective & fun
● Higher-level discussions, closer to industry
● More interaction with students
● Students excited
Online adds flexibility, support
● Students don’t “miss out” on new material
if sick/absent
● Strengthen peer-to-peer learning using
online forum
I can build & run my own flipped classroom
But:
- Heavy set-up efforts
- Online time from
instructor & students
- Students lose a lot by
missing on-ground
session, or by coming to
class unprepared

22. Forecasting
(lectures)
flipped
Data mining
Traditional-but-active vs. Flipped:
Gap bigger in India or Taiwan?

23. How to adapt flipped format for Taiwan?
Online
Examples (videos, discussion cases)
Video captions
Face-to-face (in class)
How to break passive habits?
(Why are students passive?)
Combine online + offline
resources/efforts in meaningful way
What are student habits?
What makes them learn and perform best?

24. Before I show you my current
Taiwan course format,
try this experience

25. Let’s learn some data mining:
How can a company use prediction?
Suppose we have a measurement of interest on many people:
● blood pressure
● diet (veg/non-veg)
● teaching performance score
● daily hours spent on mobile phone
Data Mining is used to predict this measurement for new people
What should a company predict?
- What data do they have?
- What challenges & opportunities do they face?

26. Exercise (in pairs):
Predicting with EasyCard Data
1) EasyCard has data on ________
(who? what measurements?)
2) We can use EasyCard data to
predict _____________
(what? for who?)
3) These predictions can be used
by ________________ (who?)
to _________________ (do what?)

27. 1. EasyCard has data on
_____________
2. We can use EasyCard
data to predict _______
_____________
3. These predictions can
be used by ____ to _____

28. EasyCard website

30. Recording videos: MOOC to the rescue!

32. Example video (4 minutes)

33. In Class:
Active Learning

34. Keywords
Help me
Team
assignments

35. Team work
(using whiteboards)

36. Team project
proposals + final
presentations
Feedback

37. Student workshops
(teach new software)

38. Guest Session -- prepare your guest!

39. “Field trip” to company
ideation/contest/etc.

40. Teams collaborate
with company through
course project

41. Many trees make a forest

42. Sharing with
industry
● Industry visits to
classroom
Team presentations
Meet project team
● Visit to company
Meet project team
Ideation session
Contest
● Online
Slack, Skype
Sharing online
● Discussion board
Canvas
● Team Project
Slides
Google Slides
● Contests
Kaggle
Google Sheets
Sharing on ground
● Whiteboards
with team; with class
● Discussions
in teams
with everyone
● Team presentations
+ feedback
● Workshops by
students
Blending online + offline resources

43. What if you can not get a suitable
- Space
- Class size
- Resources
Or you are required to lecture?
Solution #1:
Use online content to support your
lectures / assignments

44. What if you can not get a suitable
- Space
- Class size
- Resources
Or you are required to lecture?
Solution #2:
Create voluntary out-of-class activity

45. So… What changed and what did not in the
evolution of my course?
Changed:
Technology
Audience, culture
Classroom space
Delivery mode
Me
Did not change:
Course objectives
Course topics
Teaching principles &
goals
Me

46. Final Words:
Reinvent the classroom
by adding meaningful interactivity
- Experiment
- Get feedback
- Learn from mistakes
It takes time, effort & courage
But can be worth it!