Teaching Pack: Teaching Prototypes for Decision Analysis

These videos, developed by Professor Myriam Hunink during an immersion residency at the Center for Health Decision Science (CHDS) Media Hub, reflect experiments to augment brick and mortar teaching with multimedia materials that emphasize visualization of basic concepts.

The first video introduces decision making under uncertainty, and illustrates the use of probability and odds to quantitatively express uncertainty. The second and third videos introduce probability revision visually and analytically, showing how an initial probability is influenced by new diagnostic information through the use of Bayes' theorem in two formats. In the fourth, fifth and sixth videos, Professor Hunink introduces the concepts of “thresholds” at which one would decide to treat, not treat, or obtain information, using graphical and analytical approaches. In the final video, she introduces ROC curves.

Learning Design Note

Hunink’s residency was motivated by three factors: First, teaching techniques she used in the brick-and-mortar classroom did not always translate well to an online medium, such as video. Second, learners in her online classes were more heterogeneous in their quantitative backgrounds, with very different comfort levels using the formal language of mathematics (e.g., nomenclature and equations).  Third, she was inspired by the video style created by the CHDS Media Hub that created more “connection” to learners and provided opportunities for active learner engagement in activities such as sketching, drawing, and using manipulatables. Hunink worked with Media Hub leader Jake Waxman to experiment with new ways of visualizing mathematical concepts with the goal of providing novel articulations of content as alternative learning pathways for students. The media prototypes include (1) simulation of mathematical functions with a manipulatable graph using yarn tacked to a whiteboard with color-coded cue cards, (2) signposting with colors, shapes, and outlines, with attention to spatial and temporal contiguity, to manage cognitive load, and (3) arranging color coded beans to express odds and probabilities.

More about Professor Hunink

Myriam Hunink, MD, PhD is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & Radiology, and Director of the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, at Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Adjunct Professor of Health Decision Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her vision is to optimize medical decisions by combining the best-available quantitative evidence on risks and benefits and integrating patient values, preferences, quality of life, and costs.

Filming and editing credits: Jake Waxman