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Abstract:
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One of the biggest, but perhaps overlooked, benefits to teaching biostatistics online is the ability to increase active learning. When biostatisticians "do" biostatistics, most of the time we use the computer. The online structure is naturally suited to increasing the amount of "doing". This can be particularly effective for a large class, where hands-on help would be impractical. The first course in our 2-course sequence of introductory graduate-level biostatistics has no "forced" active learning; the only "doing" is though problem sets and (optional) practice problems. Thus, in developing the second course, our goal was to increase time spent on active learning. We reduced lecture time by 25% and added lab assignments, guiding students through execution of lecture concepts with statistical software. Question prompts in the labs reinforce lecture material. Each lecture has an associated lab (and low-stakes quiz), and students report spending the majority of their time completing the labs. Since labs are completed asynchronously, discussion boards are used to ask/answer questions. The main drawback is the increased grading burden, even using a simple 5-point rubric for the labs.
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