Abstract:

A recent cohort of 42 health and business administration graduate students were exposed to a variety of technological innovations including a self-paced, distance-education preparatory course (via Blackboard technology), in-class interactive problem solving (using Elluminate Live technology with recording capability for playback), and distance interactive learning (via Elluminate Live). Students were asked and incentivized to complete an anonymous end-of-course evaluation. The evaluations were analyzed for positive and negative open-field comments regarding the technology employed. The response rate was 88% (37 of 42). Of the 37 respondents, 36 (97%) reported learning a great deal from the course and appreciated the style of presentation, while 100% indicated that the course challenged their thinking. The students' comments revealed widespread support for the preparatory course (10 positive and 1 negative comment, p<.001 based on a reasonable probability distribution model) and in-class interactive Elluminate Live sessions (9 positive and 1 negative comment, p<.001) but identified problems (albeit statistically insignificant) in the interactive distance learning instruction (2 positive and 4 negative comments). Results are being used to improve curriculum in the next iteration of this course and should be of interest to other educators.

Keywords:

innovation, technology, statistics education.