ENGAGING STUDENTS TO LEARN FORECASTING METHODS Cristina Torres 1 , Lurdes Babo 1 , Jorge Mendonça 2 1 Polytechnic of Porto (P.Porto) / ISCAP and CEOS.PP (PORTUGAL) 2 Polytechnic of Porto (P.Porto) / ISEP (PORTUGAL) Abstract Presently, higher education institutions are faced with the challenge of developing student’s abilities and skills needed in their future workplace. In what concerns technological skills, the use of spreadsheets for calculations, analysis of data and forecasting is a common and important practice in companies. Particularly, the MS Excel software is widely used by professionals from all fields. In this sense, Economic, Business and Marketing graduates need competencies in forecasting methods, extremely useful for decision-making processes. It thus becomes imperative to implement pedagogical practices to encourage students to use these technological tools. The later will promote the development of competencies in forecasting methods to solve future real problems. In this paper, we attempt to address these issues by analysing the MS Excel software capabilities as a teaching tool in a forecasting methods course. It was proposed to the students to carry out a learning project involving statistical concepts, namely linear regression, performed in MS Excel. We examine the performance and engagement of two samples of students with different backgrounds and from distinct realities. One group is composed of ERASMUS’ students from several nationalities and fields of study and other group consists of Portuguese students of the Marketing Bachelor degree, both enrolled in an optional course of the bachelor degree in Marketing taught at Porto Accounting and Business School from Polytechnic of Porto. The effectiveness of this approach is shown through the analysis of results of students’ projects. We verify that students in both groups achieved the task proposed goals and applied appropriately the required concepts in an engaged way. Keywords: Higher education, Excel, forecasting, linear regression. 1 INTRODUCTION The need for change and innovation in the European higher education through new modes of teaching and learning is being raised in the literature [1], [2] and in European and national policy [3], [4], [5]. These transformations in education are required to address the new skills and competences that will be crucial in a competitive and constantly changing world. Studies revising methods of teaching statistics, “suggest changes which should be implemented to enable students to receive training which is both up-to-date and relevant to society's needs” [6, p.11]. Into an age of information people need to be statistically literate in their everyday life and also in the workplace. It has been recognized that integrate technology and computer-based methods into teaching statistics promotes engagement and deeper learning experiences. In this study we analyse the MS Excel software capabilities as a teaching tool in a forecasting methods course at Porto Accounting and Business School from Polytechnic of Porto (ISCAP). It was proposed to students to carry out a learning project involving statistical concepts, namely linear regression, performed in MS Excel. We examine the performance and engagement of two groups of students: one group is composed of ERASMUS’ students from several nationalities and fields of study and other group consists of Portuguese students, both enrolled in an optional course of the second year of the bachelor degree in Marketing taught at ISCAP. This paper is structured in the following way: section 2 presents a literature review to provide a deep insight into the addressed subject, section 3 describes the methodology and section 4 exhibits the data analysis and results. We conclude with some considerations in Section 5. Proceedings of EDULEARN18 Conference 2nd-4th July 2018, Palma, Mallorca, Spain ISBN: 978-84-09-02709-5 10337