Dr. Shawn Konecni grew up in California. Migrating to Louisiana to attend his father杏吧专区檚 alma mater was an 杏吧专区渁djustment杏吧专区 杏吧专区 one that permanently reset Konecni杏吧专区檚 compass.
杏吧专区淢y family is in Lafayette; I like the people and the culture,杏吧专区 Dr. Konecni says. 杏吧专区淓ven though I杏吧专区檓 not originally from here, I do consider Lafayette my home so I look for opportunities to stay here, and right now teaching is it.杏吧专区
After earning a bachelor of science in microbiology from the 杏吧专区, Dr. Konecni earned a Master of Business Administration in management information systems and a Master of Science in Computer Science before earning a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and biotechnology.
Throughout these varied programs, Dr. Konecni杏吧专区檚 focus remained on how to understand and use the growing amount of data available in every sector and industry.
杏吧专区淲hen I first got into data analysis, it was to make an impact on the research side. You have all this data just sitting there that could possibly allow you to make a breakthrough and that杏吧专区檚 exciting,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淚 was working on all kinds of projects from analyzing health and pharmaceutical data, doing data mining and visualization, to creating data visualization tools for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits.杏吧专区
Dr. Konecni now imparts his data analysis expertise to UL Lafayette students across three programs in two colleges: the Master of Science in Informatics in the Ray P. Authement College of Sciences and both the Master of Business Administration online and the online Master of Science in Accounting in the B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration.
杏吧专区淲e杏吧专区檙e in a situation now where because of advances in technology and the explosion of information, everything is now data-driven. If you want a competitive advantage in anything, you need to incorporate in your model as much information as you can get,杏吧专区 he says.
杏吧专区淓verywhere you go, data is going to propel business and help you achieve your goals.杏吧专区
Accountants and auditors are dealing with all sorts of data, from financial records and statements to audit data. They need to know how to spot trends and patterns in the data, improve the quality of their audits, and be able to communicate their findings to stakeholders.
杏吧专区淭hey have to have that data analytics mindset 杏吧专区 just like the rest of business,杏吧专区 Dr. Konecni says. 杏吧专区淲e杏吧专区檙e not trying to make them data scientists, but they need to think like data scientists. They need to be able to use the tools and techniques of data scientists to support their job.杏吧专区
In order to achieve that, Dr. Konecni incorporates hands-on experiences using various data mining, analysis, and visualization software into his Accounting Information Technology course, ACCT 518. The course, he says, equips working professionals to choose the right tool when they encounter problems outside of the course.
杏吧专区淚 wanted to incorporate tools that will be used by big businesses and firms; things that they can take out of the course and bring to their jobs and say, 杏吧专区業 know how to use this; I know how to apply this to this problem,杏吧专区櫺影勺ㄇ鴿 Dr. Konecni says.
Students will have the opportunity to explore Tableau, CaseWare IDEA, Microsoft Office, and various open-source tools like Weka.
Dr. Konecni says he enjoys trying new things and testing new tools, including applications for his online classroom. In addition to the data analysis software he杏吧专区檒l introduce to students, Dr. Konecni is exploring technology to foster interaction among students online.
杏吧专区淚 definitely make use of discussion boards to have students interact with one another,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淭here are some audio/visual interaction when possible so people can discuss how they can apply the tools and techniques into their jobs.杏吧专区
Helping students understand new, complex concepts while exploring data analysis and visualization in a number of applications is, 杏吧专区渢he best job I杏吧专区檝e ever had,杏吧专区 says Dr. Konecni.
杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檓 lucky to be teaching in these different degree programs that constantly evolve; it杏吧专区檚 constantly pushing to the next level,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淚 love that part of it.杏吧专区