Help, I'm Supposed to Teach! How to Teach Biostatistics to Nonstatisticians in Biomedical Environments

• Activity Number: 158
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Monday, August 5, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences
• Author(s): Scott Evans*+ and Vincent Lo Re*+ and Megan Mocko*+ and Lisa Sulllivan*+ and Roger Vaughan*+
• Companies: Haravard University School of Public Health and University of Pennsylvania and University of Florida and Boston University School of Public Health and Columbia University
• Keywords: Biostatistics ; Education ; Teaching

Abstract

Guidance regarding teaching of statistics to non-statistical audiences is currently mostly anecdotal and fragmentary. This session aims to identify basic elements that are crucial to successfully teaching biostatistics to non-statisticians in biomedical environments. Elements of prior successful biostatistics teaching efforts will be distilled and put in the context of basic principles of educational theory and findings from prior statistics education research in relevant settings. The discussion will provide practical and concrete guidance on: (i) student competencies and matching course objectives; (ii) development of lectures and labs (objectives, focus, content, content, structure); (iii) resources and technology (books, software, clickers, learning management systems, social media); (iv) student evaluations (assignments, exams, group projects); and (v) informal educational activities (journal clubs, student research, mentoring). The discussion may also address additional issues, such as heuristics and interpretation versus computation, group work versus traditional homework assignments, and the assessment of the quality of teaching.