Public Health Statistics - PH 92

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  PH 92
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a biostatistic course for undergraduate or graduate students by Qiwei Li at California State University Fresno. The open textbook provides information covering targeted learning objectives, as well as the in-class assignments, and interactive graphical practices. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to reduce the financial burden of students. Most students access the open textbook in electronic format.

Public Health Statistics, PH 92 
Brief Description of course highlights:  This is a General Education class for students from all over the campus. Students will learn: Introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics as applied to evaluation and research in allied health. Central tendency and dispersion; central limit theorem; hypothesis testing; ANOVA; correlation, nonparametric methods. Interpretations of public health statistics. The course link is attached here:  https://catalog.fresnostate.edu/preview_course_nopop.php?catoid=5&coid=36805 

Student population: This course serves all students with Mathematics Placement Category I or II; students must satisfy the prerequisite of at least Intermediate Algebra, and must use a level of mathematics beyond that of Intermediate Algebra.

Learning or student outcomes: 
1.  Introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics as applied to evaluation and research in allied health
2. Principal of Probability: Discrete, Binomial, Poisson, and Chi-squared;
3. Central tendency and dispersion;
4. Central limit theorem;
5. Sample and Population Estimates;
6. Formal hypothesis testing;
7. ANOVA;
8. Correlation, and interpretation thereof;
9. Simple linear regression models; and
10.  Interpretations of public health statistics. 

Key challenges faced and how resolved: Conventional textbook relies heavily on text description for some highly abstract concepts such as the variation of Z scores on a distribution axis. Using electronic interactive tools, students are able to play with the parameters and see the real-time variations. This not only saves the cost of textbook but also improves the learning experience of students.

Syllabus and Sample assignments:  In syllabus: This course does not require a textbook. Students are required to come to class for the lectures. Lecture slides will be uploaded to Canvas after the lecture for personal review. 

Sample Assignments: Students are expected to take the assignments in class. Assignments will be printed on sheets and will be completed in class. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Self-prepared slides and Open-source statistical packages

Brief Description:  No textbook. For statistical calculations, most of the students have a laptop and not many of them have scientific calculators. Therefore, asking students to use open-source statistical software will be more realistic than asking students to get advanced programmable calculators. The open-source software R provides both reliability and affordability. 

Other interactive graphic could be found in websites such as those listed below.

Please provide a link to the resource  
https://www.r-project.org/
https://rstudio-education.github.io/hopr/starting.html 

Normal Distribution interactive: https://www.intmath.com/counting-probability/normal-distribution-graph-interactive.php 

t distribution:   https://statulator.com/stat/t_applet.html
Poisson: https://www.geogebra.org/m/mehn8u8s 

Student access:  Students need to have internet connection to get access to the listed course material. CSUF provides strong internet connection which allows students to access the listed resources. 

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook. $84.99

License*: This is a statistic course. Students use my self-created  materials with open-source statistical software R®.

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  Statistic textbooks are quite expensive. Yet based on my experiences, not many professors actually teach the whole book. Most of the stats class provide basic concepts and practices, leaving the about 40% of a textbook untaught. My intention was just to let students to use what is really needed. Stats are associated with practices if one is not seeking theoretical understanding of stats.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?
With my experiences in teaching stats, I know the content in-and-out. Therefore, I am quite confidence in creating my own contents. In addition, I am good at making slides attractive and self-explanatory.

Sharing Best Practices: I believe the sustainability of open education is somewhat similar to a philosophy. It is not simply about whether we are able to keep it sustainable, it is more depending on the course content. Low-cost or zero cost for practice-based courses are possible and achievable, yet not very applicable if the course is highly detail-focused or theory-drive. This is based on the fact that no one can master all the theories yet we need to present all the theories to students to make them think. For my stats course, I would be able to make this free of charge because I know stats well and I am able to find a open-source software. The cost of the course would be transferred from students’ cost to faculty’s intellectual devotion.  

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned.  There are a few moment I wish I could have a book in my hand. What we could cover in a lecture or a class session is still limited. If students really want to get very in-depth knowledge, a textbook would still be a nice choice. Peer-reviewed articles might be either too fragmented or complicated for undergraduate students.

Instructor Name - Qiwei Li
I am a Public Health Professor at the California State University, Fresno. 
Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.  I teach PH 90 - Contemporary Health Issues; PH 115 - Health Issues of Aging; Ph 182 - Computers for the Health Professions; PH 154 - Health Care Administration; PH161 - Environment & Human Health; PH 280 - Seminar in Techniques of Health Research. 

Link: https://chhs.fresnostate.edu/about/directory/public-health/li-qiwei.html
Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  

My teaching philosophy in this ZCCM context is to further facilitate students’ learning experiences with a lower cost. As a non-traditional international student, I struggled with paying all the bills for school while paying for my family’s living costs. Tha made me very much aware of our students’ life challenges. I deeply believe that the goal of education is not only to help students with potentials, but also to elevate the bottom line for students who are not expected to be successful by many others. ZCCM program makes education more accessible to those students who want to work on something with minimal resources because they do not have the resources or do not want others to know what they are working on. ZCCM frees students from the resource preparation processes and helps them to focus on what needs to be done, alone.

My research interests fall in aging studies in the public health realm. I work with older adults for fall prevention, diabetes self-management, chronic condition management, and community aging-in-place.