Material Detail

Epiville  is a learning tool developed specifically for Principles of Epidemiology, the core course in this discipline at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.   Epiville is a set of interactive web-based exercises created by faculty in the Department of Epidemiology and produced by the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University. The primary goal of Epiville is to provide an enhanced web-based learning environment so that students can most efficiently master the main principles of the course. Separate modules serve as weekly homework assignments. In these exercises, students assume the role of an intern at the Department of Health in the fictional city of Epiville where they investigate a series of emerging public health problems. 

The tools employed in Epiville-- instantaneous answers to multiple-choice questions, use of interactive maps and visuals, and open-ended questions for discussion in face-to-face seminar meetings-- are intended to improve learner's capacity to collect and analyze epidemiologic data and, ultimately,  to carry out independent work in the field.

The project currently consists of ten modules. The first module introduces learners to epidemiological thinking and evaluation of cause and effect. The following two modules on infectious disease epidemiology focus on an investigation of an epidemic of SARS. The next four exercises demonstrate how various other study designs can be used to search for the cause of an outbreak of a mysterious new disease, Susser Syndrome. Exercises on bias and confounding show how these threats to the validity of epidemologic research were tackled in a real-life study carried out by a member our faculty. The final module introduces the concepts of screening and prevention.

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