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Abstract:
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Background: Teaching statistics to graduate students in the health sciences presents many challenges, including unfamiliarity with requisite math and probability; difficulty in absorbing the material from live in-person lectures; and reliance on 'toy' examples in the absence of statistical software. Methods: A 'flipped classroom' approach was developed to teach applied statistics to graduate students in the health sciences using Blackboard Learn (TM) and the R statistical computing software. Each week students view video lectures and complete self-assessments with automatic grading and feedback, followed by one hour of discussion/examples and two hours of R instruction/exercises/reinforcement. Results: This 'flipped classroom' approach provides many advantages, including: 1) Video lectures can be viewed by students on demand; 2) The self-assessments guide which portions of the material need review and emphasis during discussion; and 3) Learning basic R facility provides coding skills while allowing for the use of 'messy' real-world data sets. Conclusion: Instructors may find that this approach provides better learning experiences and outcomes than face-to-face lectures alone.
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