research-article

Improving the Teaching of Biostatistics in an Online Master Degree Program in Epidemiology

Author:

Qi ZhengAuthors Info & Claims

ICDEL '20: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Distance Education and Learning

Pages 89 - 93

https://doi.org/10.1145/3402569.3402582

Published: 28 August 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Master of public health (MPH) students generally lack calculus-based mathematical training before embarking on an MPH degree. As a result, some biostatistics instructors balk at the idea of teaching conceptual knowledge to MPH students, often content with imparting procedural skills. Teaching a concept-oriented biostatistics course for online MPH students would seem doubly challenging. The author cites concrete examples from a categorical data analysis course to show how a novel teaching approach can render the online environment fertile ground for teaching conceptual knowledge of biostatistics to MPH students. Central to the new approach is a large set of carefully designed computing exercises that concretize abstract statistical concepts. Students use a small data set to compute a puzzling quantity such as the deviance according to the quantity's theoretical definition and then compare their results with that generated by a reputable statistical package. Students derive intellectual satisfaction from these concept-oriented computing exercises, as suggested by end-of-semester course survey data.

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Cited By

Zheng Q(2024)Bringing Conceptual Knowledge of Biostatistics into the Zone of Proximal Development via Integrated Computing ExercisesCreative Approaches to Technology-Enhanced Learning for the Workplace and Higher Education10.1007/978-3-031-73427-4_29(283-293)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-73427-4_29
Zheng Q(2022)Integrating computational thinking into a longitudinal data analysis course for public health studentsDiscover Education10.1007/s44217-022-00015-w1:1Online publication date: 27-Oct-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-022-00015-w

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ICDEL '20: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Distance Education and Learning

May 2020

187 pages

ISBN:9781450377546

DOI:10.1145/3402569

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 28 August 2020

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ICDEL 2020: 2020 the 5th International Conference on Distance Education and Learning

May 22 - 25, 2020

Beijing, China

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Cited By

Zheng Q(2024)Bringing Conceptual Knowledge of Biostatistics into the Zone of Proximal Development via Integrated Computing ExercisesCreative Approaches to Technology-Enhanced Learning for the Workplace and Higher Education10.1007/978-3-031-73427-4_29(283-293)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-73427-4_29
Zheng Q(2022)Integrating computational thinking into a longitudinal data analysis course for public health studentsDiscover Education10.1007/s44217-022-00015-w1:1Online publication date: 27-Oct-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-022-00015-w

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