“Camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente”

Shrimp that fall asleep will be carried away by the current, according to one of the expressions put forward by Prof. Osval Antonio Montesinos Lόpez regarding the importance of changing the statistical paradigm in the era of society 5.0. Prof. Osval was one of the keynote speakers at The 4th International Seminar on Innovations in Mathematics and Mathematics Education (ISIMMED) held by the Department of Mathematics Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Yogyakarta State University on Thursday, October 8 2020.

Starting his presentation, this professor from the University of Colima, México showed the process of forming society 5.0, one of which is characterized by the use of big data. On the other hand, statistics education curricula in many countries are still traditional, with an emphasis on the principles of mathematical theory rather than a sense of data and developments in computing technology. Nowadays, computing, especially machine learning, has developed very rapidly, including in the field of data prediction.

Facing this situation, reviewing the statistics curriculum is an absolute necessity. According to Prof. Osval, “The new societal structure will be based on data captured by real-world sensors and sent to the virtual cloud world for statistical and AI analysis…. We need to prepare our students to take advantage of these trends. … But, without programming, computing, and tools for dealing with big data, we will be unable to be competitive.” (The structure of modern society will be based on data obtained from real sensors and sent to the virtual cloud to be analyzed by statistical methods and artificial intelligence… We need to prepare students to take advantage of this trend… However, without the programming, computing, and equipment to manage big data , we will not be able to compete).

This professor, who works in the field of genomic data analysis, also emphasized the need for statistics study programs that are visionary and ready to apply machine learning technology, so that they do not become an outdated field of science. Universities are expected to provide modern computing technology needed by educators in preparing prospective professionals in the field of statistics.