FTTC 2024: Focus on Teaching and Technology Conference

Learning (and teaching) is often framed as work, the opposite of play. Play is framed as an improper pursuit in higher education; however, as academics, we play- with words, with ideas, with colleagues as we challenge and debate theories and approaches and build new ones. Let’s explore playful pedagogy and how “playful knowing” can strengthen learning, build community, and spark joy and imagination in both professor and learner. Come play with us as we explore the scholarship of playful pedagogy, the science and value of play in adult learning, and how you might incorporate playfulness into your courses as well as strategies to teach your students to play like a historian…or like a biologist…or like a literary critic…etc.

This presentation outlines the redesign of a foundational data analytics course into a self-paced, competency-based learning experience. Through industry-aligned assignments and a mixed-methods approach, the redesign focuses on mastering essential skills such as statistical analysis, data wrangling, and programming using Excel, Power BI, SQL, R, and Python. The presentation includes an interactive component where participants can explore a sample module, demonstrating the flexibility and effectiveness of the competency-based model in enhancing student learning and preparedness for the data analytics field.