Flipping the Biostatistics Classroom, With a Twist

A Flipped Classroom Model for a Biostatistics Short Course

“…Although the study design limits our ability to determine the relative efficacy of the flipped format compared to other pedagogical approaches, this report suggests that students (a) perceived the core elements of the flipped class favorably (e.g., pre-class material, in-class activities, assessments), (b) were highly engaged with preclass and classroom activities, and (c) achieved higher scores at the conclusion of the course. These results support emerging literature that describes the perceived benefits of the flipped classroom, including improved performance and favorable perceptions (e.g., Butt, 2014;McGraw & Chandler, 2015;Wilson, 2013). In our biostatistics short course, course developers used emerging guidelines for best practice in flipped classroom design, namely: aligning pre-class material, in-class activities, and assessments; clearly communicating purpose and expectations; and engaging students with the content, instructor, and one another during class (Khanova et al, 2015).…”

“…Although descriptions of active learning strategies in statistics education are wellestablished (e.g., Keeler & Steinhorst, 1995;Vaughn, 2009), a small but growing body of literature examines the use of the flipped model for teaching statistics. McGraw and Chandler (2015), for example, reported improved student perceptions and in-class quiz performance in a semester-long flipped biostatistics classroom that used pre-recorded videos for preclass learning and problem sets during class. Similarly, improved student views toward the flipped classroom were reported for a semester-long actuarial course in business (Butt, 2014) and an undergraduate statistics course in psychology (Wilson, 2013).…”

The TSHS Resources Portal: A Source of Real and Relevant Data for Teaching Statistics in the Health Sciences

“…Furthermore, analyzing real data will take more time than analyzing simplified or "toy" data due to the potential need for data cleaning and to false starts in the analysis process. One approach to obtaining more time is to fully or partially invert (or "flip") the classroom (Winquist & Carlson 2014, McGraw & Chandler 2015, Schwartz et al 2016. This involves requiring students to do specified work before coming to class; e.g., reading the textbook, listening to recorded lectures, and/or completing a "pre-class" quiz.…”

Let Master of Public Health Students Experience Statistical Reasoning

“…This reflects an increasing awareness among statistics education researchers that students in different disciplines require different statistical curricula and accordingly different statistical pedagogical methods. Among recent examples are statistical educations studies aiming at students in medicine (Bland 2004), in pharmacy (McLaughlin and Kang 2017), in nursing (Schwartz 2014, Shillam et al 2014, in social work (Marson 2007, Mirick andDavis 2017), and in ecology (McGraw and Chandler 2015).…”

“…The following real-world example further underscores the need to fill the foregoing critical gap. The flipped classroom approach is increasingly popular among biostatistics educators (Loux et al 2016, McGraw and Chandler, 2015, McLaughlin and Kang 2017, Styers et al 2018). However, a study by Jensen et al (2015) suggests that the known benefits of the flipped classroom may not be attributable to the flipped classroom per se.…”