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The author began teaching a 200-level decision analysis course required for all undergraduate business students at a United States university. Based on observations while teaching the course, talking with other instructors, and widespread issues from the literature, the author wanted to develop an approach that would facilitate student learning, help engage students, promote academic integrity, and reduce the time spent on grading.
As with business students at other universities studying quantitative topics (Cronin & Carroll, 2015; Winch & Cahn, 2015), students in this course struggled. One reason may be that “business students in particular perceive data analysis and statistics as boring” (Cronin & Carroll, 2015, p. 121). Billsberry (2014, p. 151) observed that “educational material that is boring is likely to be ineffective” and that “…learning and entertainment are two sides of the same coin.” Kothari, Rana, and Khade (1993) found that humor increased learning and thought it possible that it “generated sufficient student attention and interest, thereby adjusting attitudes or creating minds receptive to learning” (p. 42). Voss, Gruber, and Szmigin (2007) similarly identified humor as a valuable instructor attribute. The students studied by Koskina (2013) indicated an expectation for instructor humor. She suggested that meeting such expectations as part of a psychological contract could play a positive role in retention, a concern at many universities, including the author’s.
Treleven, Penlesky, Callarman, and Watts (2014, p. 14) recommended “occasionally using ‘fancy’ [PowerPoint] animation to add flair—especially for simpler concepts that might otherwise be viewed by students as boring.” The decision criteria are not complex, but many of today’s students may have trouble learning them using a traditional approach given their quantitative nature and perception as being “dry”. The author believes this application is the first to use Excel-generated voice synthesis as a means of providing humorous feedback with flair to stimulate engagement and learning.