Teaching to industry: A BHP Experience
by
Kim Colyvas
University of Newcastle

Poor awareness and skill levels in the use of statistical methods among technical and business specialists in industry is common.. The presentation will describe elements of an in-house course to address this problem in a large steel manufacturing business of over 10,000 people.

The focus will be on the intent of the in-house course and how the results of cognitive load theory (a recent theory that challenges current thinking in teaching) radically affected the design of materials for the course. A suite of custom Excel spreadsheets were created as a foundation for the course. Several examples of these tools will be given and how design features in the materials were influenced by the results of cognitive load theory.

The methods used and intent of the course will reveal there is a considerable contrast in how people working in industry view the teaching of statistics compared to approaches used in academic institutions.

Date received: October 23, 2001

Copyright © 2001 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caib-06.