Abstract:

Since 2001, the School of Public Health of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) organizes a Certified presential formation in multivariate analysis applied to epidemiology (http://www.epistat.site.ulb.ac.be/). This intensive course, taught over 15 days, is intended for health professionals, researchers in the biomedical field and for public health managers. If this course provides practical applications, many participants leave with the feeling of not being able to fully appropriate the subjects covered in this short period (no integration in the professional practices). This observation led us to establish, since 2004, online education and distance learning spread over four months. The main objective is to complete classroom courses by situational practices best suited to the realities of professional learners and help promote cooperation and exchanges between tutors and learners.

Our presentation aims to describe first, the learning course put in place in attendance and in distance learning for our training in multivariate analysis applied to epidemiology, and secondly to analyze the device and the specific functions of the biostatistics tutor who accompanies distance learning.

With regard to distance learning, the overall objectives are to develop the skills of learners through situational practice in the field of epidemiology, to develop learner autonomy in the process of epidemiological data analysis, to consolidate the achievements in statistics and epidemiology in an ongoing exchange between the learner and the tutor and encourage exchanges between students. We have elaborated the profile of the tutor who accompanies students in the training of multivariate analysis. With regard to the tutor, the knowledge of its role, the e-learning platform potentialities and the resolution procedures of the exercises are a guarantee for the effectiveness of learning objectives in this type of device.

Although the evaluation of the device by learners is very positive, improvements can still be made. Therefore the teaching team meets regularly to discuss the "weakest" issues of the device and thereby improve its practices for the following sessions.