2019 Actuarial Teaching Conference (ATC)

Schedule

June 27, 2018 - Check-in and Networking Reception, 1:30-3:00 p.m.; Conference Meeting Sessions, 3:00-6:00 p.m.

June 28, 2018 - Conference Meeting Sessions, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Sessions and Summaries

SOA Introduction and University Initiatives

Presenters: Gena Long & Tiffany Tatsumi, Society of Actuaries; James E. Trimble, University of Connecticut; Jeffrey Beckley, Purdue University

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The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is a membership organization dedicated to education, research, and the profession. This session will provide an overview of the SOA and its various university programs and initiatives.

LON-CAPA – Online Public Domain Homework for Financial Mathematics

Presenter: Jeffrey Beckley, Purdue University

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LON-CAPA is a full-featured course management, learning content management, and assessment system. It was initially developed by Michigan State University under several National Science Foundation grants. You can run LON-CAPA for free on your own dedicated server. Purdue University has used LON-CAPA to create a robust online homework system for the Financial Mathematics material of the FM Exam. This homework system is in the public domain and may be used by any university running LON-CAPA. This session will provide additional information and include a demonstration of the system.

Use of Goal-Setting and Executive Function to Enhance Student Performance

Presenter: Russell Jay Hendel, Towson University

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Traditionally the SOA formulates pedagogic excellence in terms of the Marzano Taxonomy. For example, the "analysis level" consisting of generalization, specification, classification, contrast, matching, and error identification, is considered superior to the "retrieval level" consisting of rote memorization such as recognition, recall, and using.

In this presentation, we first show that pedagogic excellence can be equivalently, but more simply, formulated in terms of executive function and goal-setting. Here executive function refers to problems requiring multiple mental modalities - such as, formal, verbal, computational, and graphical - for their solution. Goal-setting refers to the skillful breakup of a complex problem into a sequence of subgoals each of which is clearly formulated, challenging, but achievable timely. Light examples from the literature illustrate these concepts.

Five "challenging FM problems": reinvestment, refinancing, multiple rate/deposit problems, pricing deferred bonds using a term structure, and obscure loan problems, illustrate the following fundamental techniques of goal-setting and executive function: i) a fellowship approach to teaching preliminary exam material, ii) using subgoals to give difficult homework, iii) alternating between different mental modalities to achieve elegant brevity in solutions, iv) goal-setting reflecting familiar vs. new, and v) skillful definition of unit subgoals.

 Actuarial Program in a Small College

Presenter: Chi-Ming Tang, SUNY - Geneseo

The Actuarial Science program in the Department of Mathematics at SUNY - Geneseo, was voluntarily established in a basement classroom in 1987. Initially began as non-credit help sessions, today the Actuarial Science program provides an introductory-level curriculum. It has been a tenacious journey to support a challenging career path. However, we nevertheless believe that our Actuarial program is successful and would like to share our success story in order to help benefit other small colleges.

After this brief presentation, there will be the opportunity for roundtable discussion for other university representatives interested in this topic. Suggestions and advice offered during the discussion might also benefit other universities.

Redesigning Actuarial Science Curriculum: Integrating Data Science and Practice Courses to Better Meet Professional Demands

Presenter: Vicki Zhang, University of Toronto

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The actuarial profession is marching into the age of Big Data. Increasingly, employers in various actuarial fields are requiring new hires to have sophisticated knowledge in statistics and data science. To meet the new demands from the industry and the profession, one of the key additions to the SOA’s new curriculum is an exam in Statistics for Risk Modeling (SRM) which includes modern statistical and data science techniques. There is also a new proctored project on Predictive Analytics, as a capstone requirement following the completion of the SRM Exam. At the University of Toronto, we recently underwent a major actuarial science curriculum redesign, in order to stay current with new trends and demand from the profession and in line with the new professional curriculum.

Classroom to Cubicle: Developing Young Professionals

Presenters: Heather S. Clemens and Sue Vagts, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

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Transitioning from college life to actuarial practice can be intimidating for students. Even after almost four years of studying actuarial science, many still wonder “what does an actuary do all day?” Our capstone course, Actuarial Applications in Practice, is designed to bridge the gap by exposing students to projects similar to what they might encounter in their first years in the industry, including how to present their results in both written and oral presentation formats. The course also incorporates Ethics and Professionalism topics to give them the tools they need to make sure the job is done right.

Update on SOA Education and Implications for University Programs

Presenter: Stuart Klugman, Society of Actuaries

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It has been a year since the SOA implement major changes to the ASA curriculum. This session will provide an update on the changes and in particular focus on what we have seen as schools update their VEE and UCAP/CAE submissions.

Employer Panel

Moderator: James E. Trimble, University of Connecticut

Representatives from Columbus-area employers Aon, Nationwide, and Willis Towers Watson will participate in a guided discussion about the skills that companies are looking for in entry-level candidates for actuarial positions. The panel discussion will be moderated by James E. Trimble, the Director of the Actuarial Science program at the University of Connecticut.

Diversity and Inclusion in STEM: Are we doing our part?

Presenter: Jelena Milovanovic, Arizona State University

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How diverse and inclusive (D&I) are we as pedagogical practitioners in the ever-changing student and actuarial science industry landscape? Given that our in-class experience impacts many populations, how successful are we dealing with conflicting belief structures and creating a welcoming and productive environment for members of the underrepresented (LGBTQIA+) and minority groups in our actuarial science classes? This interactive session will aim to provide a working knowledge of issues that arise and how to successfully address them.

 Flipped Classrooms in a Life Contingencies Course

Presenter: Diana Skrzydlo, University of Waterloo (for Emily Kozlowski)

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A flipped classroom moves the traditional lecture component of teaching outside of normal classroom time, so that lectures can be replaced with active learning activities during class time. In this talk, I first present a brief overview of flipped classrooms, with strategies for implementation and resources provided. Second, I will discuss the details of its application replacing two lectures in my third-year Life Contingencies course. Students’ responses to the technique are also provided in the form of data from anonymous post-activity surveys.

The Certified Actuarial Analyst (CAA) Credential

Presenter: Ken Guthrie, Society of Actuaries

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Industry experts say the need for actuarial skills is growing as emerging markets across the world become more sophisticated. CAA Global aims to meet that need and offers a route to an internationally recognized qualification for those who don’t want to follow the traditional actuarial qualification pathway. The Certified Actuarial Analyst (CAA) qualification is a standalone qualification supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the Society of Actuaries (SOA), two of the largest actuarial education bodies in the world.

Teaching Creativity through Actuarial Projects

Stefanos Orfanos, DePaul University

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The discussion will center around creativity in the context of actuarial science, and how to cultivate it in our students. We will first attempt to define creative thinking and contrast it with the concepts of procedural thinking and memory recall. We will then explain why the focus of many traditional actuarial courses is on procedural rather than creative thinking, and how to sharpen students’ creative skills through concrete examples of actuarial projects. We will close with a subjective assessment of why creativity is needed, and how to make sure our students are able to communicate their creative ideas effectively.

Challenges and Successes of Launching a New Actuarial Science Program

Presenters: Haseeb A. Kazi, Trine University; Vajira Manathunga and Jennifer Yantz, Austin Peay State University

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The purpose of this presentation is to share details regarding our experiences in launching an Actuarial Science program in a university with fewer than 15,000 students. We will discuss issues related to the administration of the Actuarial Science program which include curriculum, recruitment, and working with an advisory board. A successful program must also consider the needs of its students; thus we will discuss challenges related to preparing students for actuarial science careers, specifically regarding exams and providing real-world connections. We welcome new and experienced programs to attend the presentation and exchange ideas related to best practices for a successful program.

Creative Teaching in Actuarial Science

Presenter: Diana Skrzydlo, University of Waterloo

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In this presentation I will present two techniques that I use in my actuarial science and statistics classes: clickers and YouTube assignments.

I have been using clickers in an introductory Probability course since 2015 to engage students, keep track of their skills, and collect data to use in in-class examples. I will discuss the advantages and drawbacks, and best practices for their successful use. I will also present some survey data about how students perceive clickers, as well as quantitative data, collected over several years, about how clickers affect student performance on final exams.

When I teach Life Contingencies and Stochastic Processes, I often have a bonus assignment where students can create a YouTube video explaining a course concept in a fun, interesting way. Many of the videos students produce are really creative and fun, covering diverse topics from a zombie apocalypse Multiple Decrement Table to a Markov chain for paying attention in class. I will share some example videos as well as talk about how I grade them and use them as resources for later terms.

Introductory Seminar on Actuarial Science Aimed at Freshmen and Sophomores

Presenter: Joanna Mitro, University of Cincinnati

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This presentation will describe what I have learned over the last two years from developing materials and projects for a seminar designed to introduce freshman (and sophomore) math majors to actuarial science. Because we can’t assume these students know calculus or statistics, instruction is focused on employing Excel to explore topics such as pricing (using simulated frequency and severity of claims), loss development, and the time value of money, and to compute expected present value for life insurance and annuities using mortality tables. The seminar also included presentations by actuaries, discussion of actuarial exams and requirements, and an internship panel. This summer I plan to work on creating new projects dealing with reinsurance and interest rate risk for bonds. Session participants are invited to suggest ideas for additional projects and to collaborate in implementing this project at their own institutions.