PACE as a teaching tool - Discuss PACE in "Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials" free online course by Johns Hopkins University on Coursera

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Clara

Established Member (Voting Rights)
Ron Davis said, “I would like to use it as a teaching tool, to have medical students read it and ask them, ‘How many things can you find wrong with this study?’”
(https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/21/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-pace-trial/)

This free online course on the Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials by Johns Hopkins University starts on July 16 and you can enroll now and get access to the study materials.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/clinical-trials

The syllabus includes a week on Outcomes and Analysis, focusing on a key design issue - selecting the primary outcome. One of the discussion prompts is, "Tell us about outcomes in a clinical trial you know about."

Another week is on Reporting Results. One of the discussion prompts is, "Your experience with incomplete trial reporting."

There is a discussion forum where you can discuss with other students. Looking at the reviews, you can see that students include doctors, nurses, clinical trials coordinators, and people who work in public health. This could be an opportunity to use PACE as a teaching/learning tool among these professionals, in the course of which will also raise awareness of how it has impacted ME/CFS. There might be limited interaction with the course instructors and assistants.

What do you all think? Does anyone have the energy and interest to participate?
 
It might depend on the course. I have taken several Coursera courses from Stanford and other universities and there was good student interaction. The professors and teaching assistants answered questions and it was apparent that they were reading the forum even if they couldn't respond to everyone. Possibly it was better during the earlier years when Coursera was smaller.

In any case, I will be there if energy allows. If there is low interaction, I will try to start an interesting discussion. If that doesn't work, I'll try to figure out how to do it better. My concern is that many people are much more knowledgeable about PACE methodology than I am, and leading discussions and bringing people in is the opposite of my forte.
 
Yeah, I'm guessing some of the initial excitement and novelty has worn off. The ones I have done have been in the past year. They've all been all math/programming related so people are just interested in getting the answers to work! Maybe this topic will inspire more engagement.

It's free so I don't mind signing up with you (plus it looks interesting), but I'm also not a PACE encyclopedia. (Although I have read the paper :rolleyes:)
 
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I tried something similar on a couple of free courses run by Future learn, a UK based thing similar to Coursera. One was on IBS which was based entirely on the premise that IBS is psychosomatic and using therapy. No mention of diet, infection, SIBO or any other possible physical cause. I did my best to raise low FODMAP diets and question the quality of research but was largely ignored.

I'll have a look at the Coursera course. I've done quite a few in the past but don't usually bother with the student discussion part.
 
I've had a look. I don't think I'll do it. I looked through some of the comment from past students. It was commented that the lecturers didn't interact or answer questions, and from past experience the student discussion sections tend to be just people making comments but no interaction - just people making comments that probably very few people read or asking questions that don't get answered.
 
Okay, I'll be happy if one doctor, research scientist, or public health administrator reads it. :) My own read/reply ratio in general is probably well over 100/1, so I think that few replies doesn't necessarily mean that people aren't reading, recalling and using what they read some time in the future.

Anyway, the course is interesting mainly to become better equipped to analyze and argue about clinical trials for any scenario.
 
Just to let you know that when the JHP special PACE issue was published, i sent a link to the lecturer of the " statistics for science" module in the undergraduate course i am doing part time. She thanked me, did not realise that it still informed practice and uses it as an illustration of bias, poor ethics and poor design . She has a relative with ME.

I have to admit, it is an excellent teaching tool .
 
Trish said:
Sorry, @Clara, I wasn't saying don't do it, just that I'm not going to. I hope you find the course interesting and can influence some of the participants by telling them about PACE. I don't mean to put other people off doing it.
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Oh, nothing to apologize for. That is a good point to keep in mind when reading responses.

I looked at the course discussion forum today and while there is only a little activity, it is one forum for all sessions of the course which start every month, so a thread in the General Discussion area could be seen and discussed by all future students indefinitely.
 
Amw66 said:
Just to let you know that when the JHP special PACE issue was published, i sent a link to the lecturer of the " statistics for science" module in the undergraduate course i am doing part time. She thanked me, did not realise that it still informed practice and uses it as an illustration of bias, poor ethics and poor design . She has a relative with ME.

I have to admit, it is an excellent teaching tool .
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Excellent! This is a great idea for any university students taking courses on science research methods.
 
Keela Too said:
Course videos are interesting. Okay I admit it, I’m a nerd

Also one of the organisers has a friend with ME. He was sympathetic.
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Great introduction post! I'm so glad someone who is a better writer than I am joined. :) I also want to know how bad studies can be removed from the literature. Participating in this course and putting PACE in front of some professors and instructors is just one of my ways of responding to those who claim PACE is considered excellent trial design by experts with decades of experience. (I think that's only because not many other experts besides themselves have looked at it.)

I'm noting how both courses in which PACE and ME/CFS were shared have instructors and assistants who know someone with ME/CFS.
 
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