Quantitative Analysis Prematriculation Online Course
Quantitative analysis topics such as sampling and estimation, probability and statistics, decision analysis and regression are challenging concepts to learn and apply in business situations. The HBS Quantitative Analysis Prematriculation Course was developed to provide incoming students with the knowledge and skills needed to process, use, and manipulate numerical data or information that might be encountered in a business environment. Because HBS students are often confronted with quantitative or quantifiable data that they need to analyze in class, it is important that students master the details of this material before they arrive at HBS to begin the first year of the MBA Program.
The course's interactive nature provides frequent opportunities to assess students' understanding of the concepts and how to apply them in the context of actual management problems. Students act as junior consultants on a variety of projects to help Leo, a Hawaiian resort manager, make more rigorous, fact- and analysis-based decisions. Each topic starts with a problem Leo is facing, providing motivation for students to learn the necessary concepts. Explanatory clips then teach the basic concepts in a variety of business contexts. After learning the concepts, students conduct analyses to help Leo solve the problem. The course helps students develop intuition about concepts and managerial insights based on analysis.
Delivering this material online enables the teaching of complex concepts using animations and simulations. Students get hands-on practice using Microsoft Excel to build formulas and then practice what they've learned. Also, students can assess their knowledge of the materials with online exercises and exams. In addition, features such as discussion boards give students the opportunity to ask for help from content authors or other students.
The course was developed using Flash technology and is supported by a back-end database that tracks a student's progress throughout the course. The course contains more than 2,300 pages covering fifteen to twenty hours of content.
Professor Jan Hammond, creator and content author of the course, has found that the online format helps students learn complex materials with difficult concepts, such as the Central Limit Theorem. Using multimedia, several animations show the concepts of a normal distribution and help students conceptualize the principles involved. Students can view the concepts repeatedly until they understand them. Professor Hammond believes that online delivery via animation is more powerful for learning these topics than a chalkboard. And, instead of using class time to teach basic concepts, she instead focuses on applying these concepts to various business situations.
For more information and to purchase the Quantitative Analysis course, go to HBS Publishing.
