UC Berkeley School of Public Health
School of Public Health
Division of Epidemiology
On-Campus/Online Professional MPH Degree Program
Course Syllabus
PH W250: Epidemiologic Methods I
(SPRING 2012)
Instructors: Michael Bates, Ph.D.
Units: 3 Units – 6 hours of web instruction per week
Course Description
This introductory graduate course presents the principles and methods of epidemiology, including
descriptive and analytic approaches to assessing the distributions of health, disease, and injury in the
population and factors that influence those distributions. Through the combination of lecture, readings,
and discussion of problem sets, students without prior coursework in epidemiology will acquire the core
competencies in epidemiology expected of all MPH graduates. There will be six hours of lecture [3 x
2hrs] and one two-hour discussion section per week. The discussion section is designed to assist students
with problem sets, review weekly quizzes and to clarify concepts discussed in class. Students will be able
to post questions directly their GSI or the faculty instructor at any time.
Course goals
Upon successful completion of the course, students will have a solid understanding of the core principles of
epidemiology and be able to do the following:
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Recognize the important contribution of epidemiology to scientific, ethical, economic and political
discussion of health issues
Understand public health problems in epidemiologic terms
Use the basic terminology and definitions of epidemiology
Identify key sources of data for epidemiologic purposes
Calculate basic epidemiology measures
Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiologic research publications
Draw appropriate inferences from epidemiologic data
Communicate epidemiologic information to lay and professional audiences
Understand basic ethical principles pertaining to epidemiologic studies
Students
This course is appropriate for all students enrolled in the MPH or MS degree programs.
Prerequisites
Students should have taken or be concurrently taking an introductory course in biostatistics (e.g. W142)
Grading
The course may be taken for a letter grade only. Grades in the course are based on performance on the weekly
quizzes (40%) participation (20%) and final examination (40%).
Textbook
Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health, Aschengrau and Seage, 2nd Edition, 2007, Jones & Bartlett
Office Hours
The Faculty instructor will be available for one on one real-time office hours 2 hours per week.
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Access to the Faculty Instructor
Questions may be posted directly to the Faculty instructor 24/7. Our expectation is that responses will be returned
within 48 hours, except on week-ends.
Discussion section
Discussion sections will be synchronous (in real time) 2 hours per week, and led by the GSI for each section. All
synchronous sessions will be archived and available to students 24/7. In addition, GSIs will be available for
asynchronous discussion. Our expectation is that all questions posted for the GSI will have a response within 24
hours, except on week-ends. Asynchronous discussion threads will be moderated by the GSI for each section and
archived for easy retrieval..
In addition, a list of frequently asked questions and their answers will be posted on the course website each week.
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PH W250: Epidemiologic Methods I, Online.
Day
Lecture Topics
Week 1
Monday
Course Overview and History of
Epidemiology
Tuesday
Measures of Disease Frequency
Wednesday
Measures of Effect
Thursday
Lab Topics
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Measures of Disease
Frequency
Measures of Effect
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Direct Standardization
Questionnaire Critique
Week 2
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Health Data and their Sources
Exposure Measures in Epidemiology
Descriptive Epidemiology
Thursday
Week 3
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Cross-sectional & Ecological
Studies
Experimental Studies
Cohort Studies
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Case study—experimental studies
Case study— cohort studies
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Case study—case-control studies
Exercise—recognizing bias and
confounding
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Statistical inference problem set
Confounding and effect
modification
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Screening Exercise
Case study—causal inference
Week 4
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Case-control Studies I
Introduction to Bias
Confounding
Week 5
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Random error
Case-control Studies II
Effect Modification
Week 6
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Screening
Critical Review of Epidemiologic
Studies
Inferring Causality
Week 7
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Outbreak and Cluster Investigation
Ethics in Research
Practice Final
Putting it all together: course review
 Final Exam
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Program Policies:
Proctoring:
The final exam will be administered by a proctor who will be reviewed and approved through UC
Extension‘s process to verify that SPH‘s academic integrity standards are upheld during the exam. National
Collegiate Testing Association (NCTA) guidelines will be followed for proctoring. [To WASC: Please see
attached appendix on the procedures for Proctored Final Exams; this appendix will be a link on the course website
that students will have to acknowledge reading and accepting, at the beginning of the course]
To provide additional mitigation against academic dishonesty, students who do not pass the final exam will not be
able to pass the course.
EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS’ CONDUCT
As members of the academic community, students are responsible for upholding the standards of
academic integrity. The basic rules of academic study and inquiry call for honesty in the preparation of
papers and assignments, acknowledging sources of ideas, and taking examinations on the foundation of
one’s own knowledge.
The Berkeley Campus Regulations Implementing University Policies, which address standards of
student conduct, were amended in 1992 and are now published separately as “The Code of Student
Conduct.” The complete document is available in 417 University Hall. An excerpt from the
introductory statement of principles is presented below:
The University of California at Berkeley is committed to providing its students the very best education that is
possible within our resources. Thus, we try to attract the finest faculty members, we endeavor to maintain
excellent classroom and laboratory facilities, and we support literally hundreds of co-curricular activities that
enhance the quality of the Berkeley student’s experience. Yet, for the campus to function as a university
community, it is not enough for the faculty and administration to carry out their respective obligations. It is
equally important that every student assume his or her individual responsibilities.
Foremost among these, of course, is the student’s responsibility to perform academically to the full extent of his
or her ability. In so doing, it is assumed that each student will observe the basic tenets of academic honesty.
Therefore, any act of cheating or misrepresenting one’s own or someone else’s academic work will be considered
a very serious offense. Intellectual products – including papers, exams, laboratory reports, articles, and books –
are the heart and soul of any university’s academic life. We cannot permit them to be willfully compromised or
expropriated.
Beyond our expectations of academic honesty – and of equal importance – is the assumption that the Berkeley
student will accept his or her civil and civic responsibilities. What are these responsibilities? Simply put, they are
the courtesies, considerations, and gestures of respect towards other members of the campus community that
allow us all to express our personal freedoms without trampling on those of others.
The University is a fragile organism, requiring for its vitality consensus among its members concerning
acceptable standards of conduct. These standards must both underlie and promote a degree of tolerance far
greater than that which is exhibited in society at large. For it is not coercive law which restrains our actions, but a
common purpose.
That purpose is understood as guaranteeing the right of every Berkeley student to pursue his or her personal path
to an education, to ask his or her very own questions, and to express his or her private reflections – in short, to
evolve as an individual without undue interference. Any infringement of this right, whether in the classroom or
elsewhere on campus, will be regarded as an offense against the entire campus community.
UCB Code of Student Conduct, 1992, pp. 1 and 2
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Supplemental Questions for Online Course Approval Requests
Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate
Committee on Courses of Instruction
The following 14 questions are to be answered by the instructor proposing the course, to be submitted along with
the course approval form and syllabus. In this context, COCI considers an “online course” to be one in which a
significant portion of contact hours (e.g., lectures, discussion sections) will be delivered by web-based instruction
rather than face-to-face instruction; please refer to Section 2.5 of the COCI Handbook and/or contact COCI
Senate Analysts for more detailed information on the threshold of online content that requires submission of
answers to these additional questions.
Instructor Names: Michael Bates, PhD
Department and Course Number: Public Health W250
Proposed Term to be Offered: Spring 2012
Overview questions:
1. What modes of instruction will be used, particularly those specific to technologically-mediated
instruction (e.g., webcast lectures, moderated discussion lists, synchronous or asynchronous web-based
discussion sections, email, chat rooms)?
Epidemiological Methods I in its online format will consist of six hours of web instructions per week.
The model we will use is not ‘taped lectures from the classroom’. Instead, the lectures will be built in advance of
the delivery covering the same material in the lectures. . These ‘lectures’ will be narrated by the instructor. Care
will be taken in the preparation phase to develop clear graphics to enhance the materials being discussed in the
lecture. Each lecture will be organized in sections with a short exercise to reinforce acquisition at the end of each
section There will be weekly quizzes associated with each week’s lectures The lectures will be available for
download from the web based platform. Lectures that were previously released will remain available for students
to review at any time. Content of the lectures can be randomly accessed so the student will not have to listen to
the whole lecture or even fast forward to review sections they choose.
The web based format provides students access to the lectures at anytime they wish, 24/7. However, there will be
a specified time when the course is ‘scheduled for delivery’ during which the Instructor will be available online to
answer questions in real-time from the students who choose to participate synchronously. In these time blocks, the
classroom environment is simulated by using a chat room like environment where all participants can see the
questions being asked and respond to the answers from the faculty instructor. These sessions will be separate from
office hours where students can engage in one on one Skype discussions with the faculty instructor.
Similarly there will be Lab sessions (really web based problem set discussion sections) that are led by the course
GSIs where students will ask questions related to the lectures or weekly homework assignments in real-time.
These sessions will be synchronous and offered 2 hours per week and will be archived for others to review
asynchronously if they wish. The GSIs will work closely with the Instructor to identify problem areas for students
so they can be addressed by the instructor to the whole class as addenda to the prepared lectures. Similarly,
anticipated questions (FAQs) from students will have prepared answers and graphic support designed during the
course development phase and made available to GSIs to add quality assurance and consistency to answers on
these kinds of questions. These FAQs and their answers will also be posted for students to access when they need
to.
In addition to these structured real-time sessions the online format allows any student to ask any question at any
time on the ‘email’ function of the platform and expect an answer in 24 hours from the GSI, and 48 hours form
the Faculty instructor (excluding week-ends).
The faculty instructor will provide contact hours equivalent to the on-campus experience. The faculty instructor
will be available online in real time 6 hours per week and separately available for 2 hours per week to respond to
questions and comments on email. GSIs will commit to a 50% time commitment (the equivalent of 25% time per
14 week semester) which translates to 20 hours per week for 7 weeks.
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2. What specific pedagogical advantages and disadvantages will the technologically-mediated format offer?
The online format offers several advantages. First, online technology allows students, primarily public health
professionals, to bridge the normal geographic barriers presented by on-site teaching. Lectures can be reviewed
repeatedly with ease. The students will be able to participate with multimedia-assisted lectures that will be
archived online and made accessible to students to view and re-view at their convenience. Students will also be
able to participate in online classroom discussion with the faculty instructor and each other during lectures for
those who do synchronous viewing. They will be able to interact with the GSI's during lab sections (web based
problem set discussion sections) synchronously and these discussions will be archived and available to those who
wish to view them asynchronously.
Access to homework solutions and weekly tests will easily available with explanations online after they are
handed in. Other class discussion facilitated through GSI moderated discussion boards and email will be
conducted asynchronously and available for viewing. Students may also have one on one sessions with the
Faculty instructor synchronously or asynchronously (mentioned above) and with their GSI and their classmates
asynchronously, to meet their needs.
These options make content review easier and improve access to discussion topics. Because participation is not
influenced by social dynamic of a physical classroom, participation of the ‘quieter students’ will be less inhibited
than in the traditional setting. The online course will offer students more written feedback than they would
normally receive because GSIs will provide comments to students’ questions in writing rather than orally. In
general, the opportunity for structured participation is improved, and the structure encourages broader based
participation than would normally occur in a large class.
3. How will this way of delivering the course change modes of learning (e.g., auditory or tactile) and affect
learning experiences? If this course has a corresponding face-to-face version, please compare the two and
explain the differences.
There will be no difference in the mode of learning as it would still be auditory via webcast lecture rather than in
class. Students will be able to pace their own learning by being able review archived lectures online at their
convenience. Students will be able to interact with the material in visual, auditory, and digital ways. The younger
generation(s) manage digital information regularly in their daily activities with a high level of comfort and ease.
The course content will be structured to help the pace the student through the weekly materials. Since the course
duration is only 7 weeks (similar to summer session) it is important that the structure encourages students to keep
up as it would be very easy to fall behind. Easy access to archived content will make it easier to catch up than in a
traditional on campus setting. Also, the students will be taking only one class at a time, so there will be no other
academic distractions during the course.
4. Is specific technical or pedagogical expertise (on the part of the student or instructor) necessary for this
course? If so, what? If using GSIs, are there needs or plans for specialized training to enable them to work
successfully in an online environment to elicit/follow/stimulate discussion?
The course instructor and GSIs will receive specialized technical training in the course portal software used by
our UC Extension partners to deliver the course. . University Extension will also provide consultation in
instructional design and ancillary graphic support. Students will receive an orientation to the online learning
environment session at their initial enrollment on how to maximize the potential of the online learning platform
and to minimize the impact of not having a traditional classroom environment.
The lectures will be more a narrative that is shared with the student as the instructor walks thorough the material
for the day. Faculty will lose the ability to use tone and body language which many instructors rely on to do realtime adjustments in a traditional classroom setting. To help instructors and GSIs overcome these changes to the
‘classroom’ environment, UC Extension will provide technical and pedagogical training for instructors and GSIs
to minimize the impact of the change, and will build their competency in maximizing the positive attributes of the
new instructional platform.
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The structured time allotments to allow faculty and GSI interactions with students both synchronously and
asynchronously expand the opportunities for effective learning.
The students, instructor of record, and GSIs will only need access to a web browser in order to participate fully in
this online course experience.
5. What specific technical support does the department have available for instructors and students? What
plans are there for malfunction, disruption, or unavailability of technical support?
In addition to the orientation and training mentioned in the answers to the earlier questions, Technical
support is always available via phone, e-mail, and chat. University Extension provides 24-hour, 7-days-a
week technical support ( an 800 number) for students, instructor of record, and GSIs who may
experience technical problems with their local computers or with the online content.
If not resolved at first contact or if the system for technical support is disrupted, problems are escalated
to the MPH program coordinator at UC Extension. The MPH program coordinator has intimate
knowledge of the MPH program and the systems that support the program. Her contact information is
listed in the course syllabus.
6. How many students are expected to take this course? If there is a face-to-face equivalent on campus,
please indicate the semester(s) taught and typical enrollment(s) and whether the face-to-face version will
continue to be taught after development of an online version.
In the first 2 years the class sizes will be modest (<75). When enrollment peaks in year 4 the class size will be
about 100. The same course in the residential program has 150 students in the class. Public Health students take
this course on campus annually during the Fall semester. The online course will not replace the face-to-face
course.
7. Is there a specific problem or set of problems that online delivery is intended to address (e.g., increasing
access, relieving impacted courses, reducing costs)? If so, please explain.
The online version of this course has been designed specifically to meet the needs of the online MPH program.
These students are not available to attend a full time on-campus degree program. The current residential program
is adequately serviced by on-campus epidemiology courses to meet their needs.
The online delivery of this course (and the online MPH degree) is part of the School of Public Health’s plan to
increase the number of professionally trained health workers in California. Studies completed over the past six
years by the UC Office of the President as well as our SPH sponsored studies completed in 2009 indicate that
there is both a severe shortage of professionally trained public health workers, and a substantial demand among
those currently working in related jobs for an online degree program. Underserved populations, especially in rural
locations, along with full-time employed individuals who are unable to attend a full-time daytime program, will
be the primary beneficiaries of this online program.
8. Will this course satisfy major/degree requirements? If so, are there face-to-face courses that meet the
same requirements? Will both the face-to-face and online options be treated the same when determining if
students have met these requirements? For instance, does your department intend to limit the number of
online courses that students may take to meet requirements? Please explain.
Yes, this course will satisfy a major/degree (MPH) requirement. There is a face-to-face course that meets the
same requirement for students in the on-campus MPH program. Both face to face and online options will be
treated the same when determining whether students have met the degree requirements.
The SPH does not have a rule in place limiting the number of online courses any student may take to meet the
MPH degree requirements, because the SPH does not yet offer any online courses. If the online degree program is
approved, a rule may have to be developed.
9. Have you considered how this course will relate to other courses, both online and face-to-face, that your
department may offer, or that may be offered by other departments? For example, will this course serve as
a prerequisite for other courses? Please explain.
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Public Health 250A is a Public Health breadth requirement for MPH students. Students must take this course to
build the foundation of Epidemiology knowledge needed for other Public Health courses that the School offers.
This is true for both the online and on-campus programs.
Course Mechanics and Logistics Questions:
10. What is the nature of instructor involvement in the proposed alternative mode of instruction? What are
the means by which the instructor will foster learning, and how will the instructor be available for
consultation?
The instructor, assisted by technical professionals in the UC Extension office, will design all aspects of the
course, including creating all lecture content, learning assessments and grading rubrics. The instructor will also
choose all required readings and exercises. The GSIs will be supervised by the instructor to ensure they
understand and apply course content, grading criteria, and standards determining quality of feedback to students.
During a 3 month period predating delivery of the course, the Instructor will work with professional digital course
builders and pedagogical consultants to prepare the course materials for taping. The structure will enhance
modular learning interspersed with weekly integrative test sequences that students must complete. Frequently
asked questions will be anticipated from years of experience teaching this course. When the course is being
delivered, the instructor will be available real-time during specified class time hours to answer any questions
students have about the material. If students wish to view the online class during these hours, they will be able to
have real time discussion about the lecture as they view it. In these time blocks, the classroom environment is
simulated by using a chat room like environment where all participants can see the questions being asked and
respond to the answers from the faculty instructor. These sessions will be separate from office hours
Weekly GSI sessions will go over the answers to quizzes and problem sets designed to reinforce learning specific
to epidemiological research design, data gathering and data analysis to make sure that no student is left behind.
In addition to these structured real-time sessions the online format allows any student to ask any question at any
time on the ‘email’ function of the platform and expect an answer in 24 hours from the GSI, and 48 hours form
the Faculty instructor (excluding week-ends).
The faculty instructor will be available online in real time 6 hours per week and separately available for 2 hours
per week to respond to questions and comments on email. These arrangements provide contact hours equivalent to
the on-campus experience.
The anticipated frequently asked questions (FAQs) from students will have, graphically support prepared answers
that are designed during the course development phase and made available to GSIs to for quality assurance and
consistency to answers on these questions. These FAQs and their answers will be posted for students to access
when they need.
Faculty instructors will also engage with students during office hours when one on one consultation can occur
with the instructor. A video link providing a Skype type experience will be available for synchronous office
hours. Students will sign up online for office hour appointments simulating the current on-campus experience
with office hours.
11. In the case of distance learning courses offered collaboratively between campuses, what are the specific
responsibilities of instructors on this campus? How will coordination be maintained between campuses,
and who will be responsible on this campus for consultation with students?
Not applicable. This course will not be offered collaboratively between campuses.
12. How will student progress be monitored? Describe graded activities mediated through technology and
how materials will be handled to ensure that students only receive credit for their own work. (If an
undergraduate course does not include an in-person final examination, please indicate that on the course
approval form and explain the method of final assessment in the syllabus.)
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Student progress will be monitored in 3 ways. First, our systems will be able to tell if a student is falling behind in
reviewing lectures on time. Secondly, student progress on completing weekly quizzes will be an early signal of a
student falling behind. Thirdly, participation in discussion sections will indicate student comfort with the learning
material.
Grading: The course may be taken for a letter grade only. Grades in the course are based on performance on the
weekly quizzes (40%) participation (20%) and final examination (40%).
The final exam will be administered by a proctor who will be reviewed and approved through UC Extension‘s
process to verify that SPH‘s academic integrity standards are upheld during the exam. National Collegiate Testing
Association (NCTA) guidelines will be followed for proctoring. See attached appendix on the procedures for
Proctored Final Exams.
To provide additional mitigation against academic dishonesty, students who do not pass the final exam will not be
able to pass the course.
13. What are the plans for evaluating student learning outcomes, both at the end of the term and as
students move through subsequent courses in a sequence of courses or curricula?
The course requirements will include problem sets, weekly tests that will be graded an reported by GSIs.
Student learning outcomes will be evaluated at the end of the term by a proctored final examination. Students
will be evaluated in subsequent courses by their ability to use their epidemiologic skills in the tasks of their
subsequent courses. The final evaluation of student learning outcomes from this course will be tested by the
student’s ability to use their epidemiologic knowledge to tackle complex (multidisciplinary) public health
problems in the comprehensive examination required of all MPH candidates before conferral of degree.
14. How will course material that is archival in nature (e.g., recorded webcasts, voiceover slides) be
updated for future offerings? Can it be easily moved to other platforms or adopted by other instructors?
Content will be refreshed and technological updates added each time the course is offered. Slides and voice-
over segments can be updated by section because the course delivery design provides an easy way to
add or delete sections that would not disrupt the flow of the lecture.
The course will receive an extensive content and reference/readings revision at least every 3 years and at that time
media formats and advances in internet technologies that are appropriate for the platform will be incorporated.
All content in the course is SCORM-compliant, so it will be easily moved to another learning
management system.
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