Online (Bio)statistical Courses in the Era of Generative AI: Opportunities and Challenges

Oregon Convention Center 

Room: CC-D136 

Online instruction has been in place for over four decades. However, the COVID-19 pandemic made online learning integral to mainstream higher education. Despite its many challenges and lack of personal interactions, online courses can offer more affordable and equitable learning opportunities for broad audiences, including working professionals. However, with the advent of open-source software and generative artificial intelligence (AI), "knowledge" can also be acquired outside of a classroom, raising new dilemmas of (1) determining what key concepts and competencies must be emphasized in the classroom, and (2) how online instruction can differentiate itself from the abundant educational resources that can be freely accessed online. This panel brings together five educators with diverse experience in developing curriculum and teaching diverse non-statistical audiences using various modalities and targeting different audiences. Panel members will discuss challenges and opportunities and try to reach consensus on providing recommendations for curriculum development.
Chair: Laila Poisson (she/her) is a Research Professor at Michigan State University and vice chair of biostatistics in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Henry Ford Health. Dr. Poisson firmly believes in the integration of data and science and has focused my career on collaborative projects and on making data accessible through sharing, mentoring and education.
John McGready (he/him) is a Senior Scientist (non-tenured Professor) in the Department of Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has taught 1,000s of students using various modalities and served as a co-advisor on multiple PhD dissertations, and serves on the Master of Public Health (MPH) program executive board.
Herle McGowan (she/her) is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University and the current Chair of the NC State Faculty Senate. She has over 15 years of teaching experience, including development and redesign of both hybrid and asynchronous online courses.
Katherine Wilson (she/her) is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she teaches a host of formal and short courses and is faculty mentor for the UW MS Biostatistics Capstone Program.
Rebecca Andrige (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the Ohio State University College of Public Health. She has developed curriculum and taught extensively including formal courses, short courses, and tutorials using various modalities. She received OSUs Excellence in Teaching Award in 2011 and the Mentoring Faculty award in 2018.
Sahar Zangeneh (she/her) is a Senior researcher at RTI International and Clinical Instructor at University of Washington School of Public Health. She has over 20 years of quantitative teaching experience to demographically diverse audiences. Most recently, she co-developed an integrated biostatistics/epidemiology course for UWs online Master of Public Health program.
Brady West (he/him) is a Research Professor in the Survey Methodology Program at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR). He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and offers workshops and seminars both nationally and internationally and is the chair of the Survey Methodology Program at ISR.

Yes

Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences

Advisory Committee on Continuing Education

Section on Statistics and Data Science Education