How to Design a Statistical Genetics Course

Interview with Dr Segun Fatumo (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute): Rationale and programme overview.

Planning the design of your course requires reasoning through various items, primarily justifying why your plan of approach represents the best solution for your training requirements. In this video, Dr Segun Fatumo explains his rationale and strategy in the development of the Statistical genetics for GWAS course which he runs in UK, Uganda, Nigeria and Mali. He covers the following themes:

• Goals and objectives for the course
• Assembling a teaching team
• Pre-training activities including participant preparation and resource planning
• Structure for delivering these modules – lesson plan example
• Delivering this course in different environments and audiences
• Pandemic training

Course Overview for the Statistical Genetics for GWAS Course

The course overview can follow outline components from the course design elements. At this point you will have already thought about your course format, whether it would be face-to-face, digitally delivered or hybrid / blended.

At the start of design and when course details have been confirmed, a course or programme overview can be shared electronically to advertise the course. The overview can contain the following fields:

• Title of course
• Course dates and duration
• Venue details (or indicate if virtual)
• Summary and justification for running the course
• Information about target audience level of background expertise or knowledge required,
• Pre-requisites or pre-course exercises
• A programme overview with a list of learning outcomes, content to be covered
• Resources required by learners
• List of instructors (if known)
• Any other specific instructions such as application requirements, or accreditation details

An example of a course overview can be found here: Human Genomic Epidemiology in African Populations

Marketing Your Course

It is also often important to market your training or course, and make sure that the prospective learners have access to the course information. Learners may need to apply for the training course and selection criteria will need to be developed. When training is targeted for experienced learners, applicants may have a chance to justify their need for training, which in most cases is of immediate relevance and related to their work or career development.

Task

Reflect on the course which you are planning and explain your rationale to the training or facilitator team.