Welcome to HSTA 552, Principles of Statistical Inference. This is a three credit course in Biostatistics that introduces you to: concepts of descriptive statistics; probability theory; probability distributions; estimation; hypothesis testing; simple linear regression; non-parametric statistics; vital statistics measures and demography. It is one of the core courses required to complete the course of study leading to a Master of Public Health (MPH). In this context, the principal text, lectures and assignments are usually presented within the framework of a health related problem, issue, or idea. This course uses a text "Fundamentals of Biostatistics" which differentiates itself from a more generic statistics text because of its reliance on health related examples and problems.
I am your instructor for the course, Mike Zdeb (any time you see BLUE or DARK BLUE text, the text is most likely linked to either another web page or a document ... try clicking on my name), an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics. Prior to moving over to the school full time, I spent 30+ years at the New York State Department of Health, applying many of the concepts you will learn in the course to real life public health problems. I look forward to working with each one of you throughout the semester.
The course will begin officially on August 31 and end on December 7. Access to the course will be available beginning approximately one week earlier than the official starting date, sometime around August 24.
Spend that extra week familiarizing yourself with the course: if this is your first course using Blackboard, get familiar with the Blackboard interface; get the preliminaries out of the way, for example complete your entry in Meet Your Classmates; maybe get a head start on the Ice Breaker Activity; look at the course schedule so you have an idea how to arrange your time this fall if there are occasions when you might be away and unable to work on the course.
On line courses require consistent participation. If you fall behind, it is difficult to catch up. Read all of the Course Information documents so you understand how the course operates and how you will be evaluated. Your final grade is determined by two factors. Fifty percent of your grade is based upon your exams (25% for the mid term and 25% for the final). The other 50% of your grade is based upon your level of participation in the discussions that are part of every module. If you do not actively participate in discussion it will be difficult to get a good grade in this course. The Course Information documents "How You Will Be Evaluated" and "Our Expectations" detail how discussions will be graded.
Those of you who have never taken an on-line course before may be a bit apprehensive at this moment. Just the thought of a statistics course makes some people apprehensive. Having taught HSTA 552 on-line a number of times (and also in the classroom), I can tell you that most of the students enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. Welcome to the course, work hard and learn something new, exciting and useful. If you participate fully, do the assignments and help one another, I am sure that you will enjoy the experience.
One more additional item ... most of the previous versions of this course were taught within the SUNY Learning Network (SLN). The course layout and student interaction with course material was totally different than what you find here in a course that uses Blackboard software to present the course. Some of you may have taken SLN courses before and will have to get used to a new way of interacting with the course material. For those of you taking an on-line course for the first time, at least you will not have to "unlearn" the SLN way of doing things.
This is ONLY the SECOND Blackboard version of this course. It is possible that the course has not been purged of all the old SLN material. If you find any references in the course material to the SLN, please let me know via the course MAIL (to Mike Zdeb). I had a LOT of documents to edit and there is a chance that I might have missed a reference or two (most likely more) to the old way of conducting the course. Also, I have spent quite a bit of time trying to make the various portions of the course material have a consistent look (organization, wording, fonts, etc.) but I'm not sure I have done this to all course material. Again, send me a note if anything you encounter seems as if does not fit with other course material.
You might also run into a few references to "We" when referring to the instructor of the course rather than "I" ... that is also a leftover from the SLN version that had two instructors. This is my (not "our") second time teaching solo. Again, let me (not "we") know if you find any wording in course documents that make it seem as if you have two instructors.
Finally, you are also expected to observe the rules of Nettiquete ... courteous and appropriate forms of communication and interaction over the Internet. This means no personal attacks, obscene language, or intolerant expression. All viewpoints should be respected. The instructor of this course reserves the right to remove any questionable or offensive material from public areas of this course.
For more information about Netiquette, click here.