This page gives links to slides and video and audio recordings offered as part of a full-semester University of Saskatchewan course on health modeling using System Dynamics, held January-April 2010. This course focused on System Dynamics modeling, but included a bit of instruction related to integration of System Dynamics and decision analysis, and some comments on distinctions between aggregate and individual-level modeling. This class was designed to be suitable for those from health science background, and includes a number of additional tutorials.
Please note that this site also features a single-lecture introduction giving motivations for and demonstrating Vensim software use for System Dynamics Modeling, a 4 hour introduction to System Dynamics, as well as a full-semester MIT course on Agent-Based Modeling for health policy using AnyLogic (also providing a lecture on discrete event modelin & tutorials on important elements of Java).
The tables below give links to the slides from the class.
| Lecture Title & Link to Slides | Notes |
|---|---|
| Introduction | This introductory screencast may also be of potential interest |
| An Example Model and its Underlying Process | |
| Causal Loop Diagrams | Qualitative modeling |
| Stock and Flows | |
| Stock and Flows 2 | |
| Delays | |
| Delays part 2, Aging Chains | |
| Infectious Disease Models | Screencasts of much of this material can be found in lecture 10 and lecture 11 of another version of the course that discusses both SD and ABM methods. |
| Infectious Disease Models 2 | Screencasts of much of this material can be found in lecture 10 and lecture 11 of another version of the course that discusses both SD and ABM methods. |
| Infectious Disease Models 3 | Screencasts of much of this material can be found in lecture 10 and lecture 11 of another version of the course that discusses both SD and ABM methods. |
| Infectious Disease Models 4 | Screencasts of much of this material can be found in lecture 10 and lecture 11 of another version of the course that discusses both SD and ABM methods. |
| Infectious Disease Models 5, Vaccination | |
| Infectious Disease Models 5, intervention impact on an open population | |
| Parameter Estimation | |
| Sensitivity Analysis | A related screencast is also available. From another version of the course that discusses both SD and ABM methods. |
| Calibration | Also of particular interest are the the lectures Calibration 1 (Slides, Screencast) and Calibration 2 (Slides, Screencast) from another version of the course that discusses both SD and ABM methods. |
| Modeling for Dynamic Decision Problems | A brief primer on combining decision analysis (including decision trees) with simulation models. An associated videocast is also available. |
| Introduction, Individual Based Modeling, Tools & Tradeoffs | ABM & SD |
| Tutorial Title & Link to Slides | Notes |
|---|---|
| Screencast: Hands on introduction to using Vensim to build up a small model | Note that this is a screencast; no slides are available. |
| Subscripting in Vensim | Part 1/2 |
| Subscripting in Vensim 2 -- Introducing, Progressing between, Mapping and Creating Subranges of Subscripts | Part 2/2 |
| Dimensional Reasoning and Dimensional Homogeneity Testing | |
| Screencast: Representing elementary health economics structures in Vensim | Note that this is a screencast; no slides are available. |
| Screencast: Basics of capturing stochastic transitions in Vensim. | Note that this is a screencast; no slides are available. |
Material from other lectures and tutorials outside of the scope of this course can be accessed here.
I have placed this information online in hopes that it will be of useful to a broader set of people. Users are welcome to distribute links to this page without restriction. I grant rights of non-commercial reuse (including reposting) of the material I have created for educational purposes, as long as it doesn't conflict with the rights of any other individuals.
If you are seeking to reuse this material, just drop me a brief email notification (osgood 'at' cs.usask.ca) to let me know of your planned use, and I request the courtesy of a citation with the repost indicating the original source of materials. I am especially interested in staying in touch with other educators who adopt components of the class material above for use in their own courses. Among other benefits, sending along your address will allow me to notify you of significant updates, of supplemental artifacts (e.g. models) that may be of interest, and could allow for exchange of ideas and suggestions on improving the material.
Please be encouraged to write me if there are any topics on which you feel additional tutorials would be useful.