Abstract:

Stochastic mortality models play a significant role in the analytical toolkit of actuaries, especially in the field of life insurance. Moreover, some specific features of late-life mortality, which is not easy to forecast, become important hurdles for an accurate assessment of longevity risk.

However, despite its relevance, enhancing students’ understanding of these models and their implications is a challenge for instructors in postgraduate programs in Actuarial Science. Indeed, it is rather complicated to engage students in the learning process of a topic that requires a combination of skills from Statistics, Mathematics, Demography and Technology.

In order to overcome these difficulties, in the course of Survival Models of the MSc in Actuarial Science at the Universidad de Málaga, we have developed an on-line interactive graphical simulator that is used as a helpful learning resource for experimenting with late-life mortality models. This simulator is implemented in a microsite that contains a sequence of six activities, in order to facilitate a guide for novice users, although more experienced ones can use it differently. The activities include recent models and developments on the field of late-morality, as well as data and estimations from several countries to add empirical context.
Since the goal of the simulator is encouraging experimentation, students can interactively modify the parameters of the models and get the reactions in real time of the three main functions in individual graphical panels. In addition, the main screen also shows an animation of the individual simulated lives, which can be paused and reinitiated.

To assess the results of this experience and the satisfaction of the students who participated, a survey was conducted at the end of the course. The main results indicate a high level of satisfaction. Moreover, our students highly valued the ease of use, the quality of design and the usefulness for a less boring learning process. Finally, it is also worth mentioning that most students demanded more resources of this kind in this and other courses of their study program.

Keywords:

Simulation, interactive resorces, actuarial, mortality.