Abstract
Master of public health (MPH) students generally lack calculus-based mathematical training before embarking on an MPH degree. As a result, some biostatistics instructors balk at the idea of teaching conceptual knowledge to MPH students, often content with imparting procedural skills. Teaching a concept-oriented biostatistics course for online MPH students would seem doubly challenging. The author cites concrete examples from a categorical data analysis course to show how a novel teaching approach can render the online environment fertile ground for teaching conceptual knowledge of biostatistics to MPH students. Central to the new approach is a large set of carefully designed computing exercises that concretize abstract statistical concepts. Students use a small data set to compute a puzzling quantity such as the deviance according to the quantity's theoretical definition and then compare their results with that generated by a reputable statistical package. Students derive intellectual satisfaction from these concept-oriented computing exercises, as suggested by end-of-semester course survey data.
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