Teaching Methods

Organization

In an introductory course such as this, the lecture method of teacher-centered expository discourse relegates students to the role of listeners who are not actively engaged in the learning process. Higher level learning requires the student to become actively involved in applying concepts and methods to problems, and to exercise critical judgment by attempting to reach a solution or draw conclusions when faced with a complex set of findings. These higher level thinking skills will be continuously called upon in the classroom method, Cooperative Learning, used throughout this course. 

Cooperative learning is an instructional technique that brings students together in small, fixed groups to work on structured learning tasks. It enables all students to become more involved with the course material and to articulate their understanding of this material through problem-solving exercises with other members of their group. Students "who become involved in active discussion of their ideas with other students are more likely to have less irrelevant or distracting thoughts and spend more time synthesizing and integrating concepts than students who listen to lectures" (Bligh DA. What's the Use of Lectures. Penguin Press, 1992). Student-to-student interaction is positively related to critical thinking outcomes and to study habits characterized by more active thinking and less rote memorization (Smith DG. College classroom interactions and critical thinking. J Educ Psych 1977;69:180-190.) 

Based on these pedagogical principles, this course has been organized such that: 
 

  • There are no lectures in this course.
  • All course materials are found on the internet, except for the textbook. 
  • Students will be assigned to small learning groups, typically 8-10 students per group. These learning groups will met weekly in our "virtual" classroom on the Internet.
  • Evaluation of student performance is based on: 
    • Completing the case study modules. The majority of these modules have homework problems due each week. (Please check your Schedule for dates.) 
    • Weekly internet discussion forum questions. In these internet discussion forums students discuss questions related to that week's case study. (Please check your Schedule for the date and times of these forums.) 
    • There are two exams and one written paper critique but there is no final exam in this course. (Please check your Schedule for dates). 
    • There are two peer evaluations, two Teaching Assistant evaluations and one self evaluation. (Please check your Schedule for dates). 
  • A graduate student teaching assistant (TA) will serve as consultant for two groups. 

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REMEMBER: In most real life problems, however, there is no one "right" answer but several different ways to address problems; some of these ways are more efficient, more constructive, and more long lasting than others. An important lesson to learn from the experience of cooperative learning is that most solutions to community problems are more effective when the solution is reached by a team effort that actively engages all members of the team in addressing the problem and encourages creative thinking of the team in proposing a solution. This process converts learning from an individual to a social activity and draws upon the collective wisdom of those attempting to reach a solution. 

Because of the independent nature of this class, teams must learn to function largely independently, using the textbook and the experience and knowledge of team members as their major resource to engage in each exercise. The best professional teams know how to use the resources of consultants, the literature, and the wisdom of the team to arrive at their own solutions. The point is, the faculty and TAs are not going to give you answers, but are there to steer you, as a consultant would, on a path toward reaching your own team answers 

Learning Groups

Students are assigned to small groups of 8-10 students. Students are assigned to these groups at the beginning of the semester. A Teaching Assistant is assigned to work closely with two of these groups for the entire semester. Students work together in their groups each week on the module's discussion forum question. (Forums are discussed later.) Students evaluate the performance of their group members twice during the semester using a set of criteria developed by the faculty. (Peer evaluations are discussed later.)

Exams

You will be given two open book exams based on the material covered in the course. Check your Schedule for date that the exams are handed out and dates that they are due.(THE UNC HONOR CODE APPLIES HERE).

Papers

Twenty-five percent of your final grade will be based on a written paper. Each student will receive the same two journal articles based on current epidemiologic research.  Each student will be expected to critique the epidemiology studies presented in the articles. The students will use a written set of criteria to critique the studies. Each student must work on their paper alone. (THE UNC HONOR CODE APPLIES HERE).

Please Note: the articles and other materials for the written paper can be found linked under "Written Paper" under the "Modules" part  of this course.

A note of caution: The written paper is meant to act as a culmination of all the concepts that you have studied this semester.  Even though you are given the journal articles and all the guidelines at the beginning of the semester, you will not have the tools to do this assignment until 3/4ths of the way through the semester.

Guidelines for paper.
Evaluation criteria for student papers
Use this outline to get organized.
Sample paper and outline
Title page for paper  (found linked on the module path)
 

 

  • GUIDELINES FOR PAPER
  • 1. Articles to critique:  

    The two journal articles for this semester will be found linked under "Written Paper" under the "Modules" part  of this course.  They will be announced during the semester.

    2. Length:

    The paper can be up to 10 typewritten, double-spaced pages (excluding bibliography) with 1" margins on all sides. The paper can be shorter, as long as you can cover all the required points in less than ten pages.  Please no papers more than 10 pages long!

    3. Title Page:

    Include a title page (not included in the 10 page requirement) with the title of your paper, your name, your team number, and your PID. Show your PID on each page of your paper (you can use the header or footer utilities in your word-processor).

    4. Deadline:

    Check the Schedule for the due date for your paper. Strict adherence to this deadline is necessary!

    5. Penalty for late papers:

    Late papers will be penalized. For every day that a paper is late its final grade will be lowered by one grade. (For example a student that hands in a H paper two days late will receive a P+ on that paper. ( An H, drops to an H-, an H- drops to a P+)
     
    6. Spelling and grammar:

    10% of your grade for the paper will be based on spelling and grammar.  Please make use of the spell-check utilities in your word processing programs. Proof-read your paper for spelling, grammar, etc.

    If you would like some guidelines on writing papers check out this site - Online writing guide

    7. Content:
    90% of your grade for the paper will be based on content.  (Also check out Evaluation Criteria for Student Papers , Outline and Sample Paper sections.)

    A.  First every paper should contain the following elements:

    Introduction to the topic
    Brief descriptions of the studies discussed in the articles.
    Extensive critiques of these studies.
    Overall conclusion.

    B. Remember: We expect that each student will show critical thinking in the evaluation of the literature.

    C. When you use information from the literature in your paper, please reference the paper.
    Please remember that plagiarism is an UNC Honor Code Violation that can easily be avoided. If you would like more information on how to reference a paper visit this site.

    D. When preparing your paper, follow the guidelines,  and evaluation criteria for student papers that will be used to grade your paper.

    These guidelines tell you exactly what we are looking for. For example, a good paper requires an introduction (more substantial than saying that you will cover points 3-7) and a conclusion. Also, it is more important to demonstrate critical thinking than to describe studies.

    E.Consider the following points when reviewing epidemiologic studies:

    What question is the study attempting to address? What is the hypothesis?
    What is the study design (case-control, etc.)?
    What are the advantages of this study design for addressing the research question?

    How many subjects were in the target population?
    How many were selected for study?
    How many were actually included in the analysis?
    Are there any potential selection biases in this process of going from target to study population?

    What is being measured in the study?
    What is the outcome of interest?
    What is the exposure of interest?
    What is the timing of measurements (i.e., retrospective or prospective)?
    How did the authors deal with potential measurement bias?
    How was a "case" or an "exposure" defined?
    How did the authors ensure that the data/information collected was relevant, accurate, valid?

    How did the authors deal with potential confounding bias?
    Were controls matched with cases?
    Were potential confounders identified and measured?
    Were potential confounders included in the analysis?
    What measures of effect (e.g. odds ratio, relative risk) did the authors calculate?
    Were these measures of effect appropriately considered?
    What were the results of the study?

    Were the authors' conclusions appropriate?
    Can the results of the study be generalized to a wider population?
    If yes, why? If no, why not?
    What were the strengths of the study?
    What were some of the limitations of the study?
     

    Evaluation Criteria for Student Papers
     
    Choose a point along the rating scale that best describes the degree of correctness of each of the following aspects of the written paper. The rating scale is as follows:

    1. Very Poor: L or D
    2. Poor: P- or C
    3. Fair: P- or C+
    4. Good and Average Quality: P or B
    5. Very Good: P+ or B+
    6. Excellent: H- or A-
    7. Outstanding: H or A

    Organization of the paper (10% of the grade)

    1. The paper is relatively free from distracting errors in spelling, grammar, etc. Students: Please use the spell-check utilities in your word processing programs.  All articles that are referred to in the paper are properly referenced.  Students please refer to this online writing guide
     
    Content of the paper (90% of the grade)

    1. The paper reflects the student’s basic grasp of epidemiologic terminology.

    2. The articles critiqued in the paper are summarized briefly and accurately, following the guidelines provided.

    3. Did the student provide a clear statement of the purpose of their review?

    4. Did the student provide a summary of the main points he/she was trying to make?

    5. Did the student state a clear conclusion?

    6. Did the student evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the studies reviewed?

    7. In reviewing the literature, did the student discuss how the authors evaluated the role of chance, that is, how statistical analysis was used to test their results for significance?

    8. In their critique of articles, did the student evaluate the authors’ consideration of potential sources of selection or information bias?

    9. In their critique of articles, did the student evaluate whether the authors controlled for confounding factors in an appropriate way?

    10. If appropriate, did the student discuss and apply the criteria for causality to the findings of the literature?

    11. Overall, did the presentation reflect critical thinking about the subject, i.e., the importance, background, and/or approach of articles critiqued, rather than merely a report on the findings in the literature? NOTE: This item integrates all the prior questions related to the written paper, and represents your grade on this paper.
     

  •     OUTLINE

Use the outline found linked on the module path to help you organize your thoughts.  Remember this is just an outline!  You must still write a 10 page maximum paper!

 

  • SAMPLE PAPER AND OUTLINE

 
A sample paper critique on "breast cancer and dietary fat" from a previous semester will be available for you to use as a guide.

  • The journal articles for this sample paper can be found linked on-line on the module path under "Written Paper".

They are:

Breast cancer and dietary fat by Van't Veer et al

Breast cancer and dietary fat by Willett et al

 

  • A sample outline for each of the journal articles listed above can be found linked on-line on the module path.
  • A sample student paper critique on breast cancer and dietary fat can be found linked on-line on the module path.

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