I. This semester - the content

Bioinformatics rests on molecular biology. Some of you had an introduction to molecular biology last semester. Others may have picked it up along the way.

If you had Molecular Biology Through Discovery (BNFO 300 or BNFO 491):

1. Do you think it prepared you for the molecular needs of this course?
2. What was most helpful?
3. How could you have been better prepared?
4. Any suggestions?

Comments MolBio w/course

If you did not have the molecular biology course last semester:

1. Was your background sufficient for the molecular needs of this course?
2. Did you make use of the material posted on the course's Molecular Biology topic page?
3. If so, was it helpful? Could you suggest something better?
4. Any suggestions?

Comments MolBio w/o course

The content of the course should be interesting and useful, where "useful" may refer to "useful right now", "useful in preparing you for the upcoming course research project", and "useful in preparing you for life beyond VCU".

1. Do you feel you now have sufficient facility in BioBIKE syntax to handle the tasks you've faced thus far?
   If so, what helped? If not, what might have helped you to be better prepared?
2. Do you feel that your experience with relatively undigested forms of information (e.g. research articles) has been a good thing?
3. You can't do bioinformatics unless you're willing to play with large quantities, and every once in a while, we paused to smell the numbers. Do you think it was it worth the time in class? Or was it a waste of time dithering around with arithmetic?

Comments Content

II. This semester - the means

Very few of you have embraced the model for the course:

1. Complete the notes and study questions before class
2. Offer suggestions via a questionnaire
3. Discuss what needs to be discussed in class, which includes actually coming to class (for some reason class attendance has been far lower than any previous year)

Still, I am unwilling to return to the dark old days of pretend-teaching/pretend-learning. Lectures would be easier on all of us, but in my view, the easy-in, easy-out approach would have little value for you besides a mildly entertaining way of passing the time before gaining a degree. So, what to do? Comments welcome.

1. Have online notes and guided tours been useful to you?
2. Have class discussions guided by questionnaires been useful to you?
   Do you feel you've had sufficient opportunity to influence the course according to your needs?
3. What would make the class sufficiently useful to you that it would warrant your coming to it?
4. Have problem sets been useful to you?
5. How about the times you worked in groups?
6. Do you feel you have had sufficient opportunity to gain feedback from Keith and myself. Has the feedback been useful?
7. I've tried to help you find ways to learn from each other (a page with pictures and e-mail addresses). Comments?

Comments Means

III. This exam

1. How long did you spend on this exam? (use appropriate units and scientific notation if necessary)
2. How effective was the exam as a learning experience?
3. How would you characterize your sentiment now with respect to your recent experience?
   For example, you're cautiously satisfied with what you understand? Elated with your progress? Crushed, like so much oatmeal?
4. Do you feel that the exam deliver on its promise that it would be based on problem sets, tours, and study questions?

Comments Exam

IV. Time

Arriving at new insights takes struggle, and struggle takes time. Have you put in the time? Do you have the time to put in?

1. About how many hours do you spend on the course outside of class?
2. About how many hours do you spend on BioBIKE outside of class?
3. How do you feel about this amount of time?

Comments Time

V. Bottom line

At root, this course is only tangentially about bioinformatics, molecular biology, and computers.
To my mind, it is mostly about your relationship with your own education -- how you choose to learn.

Looking back on the first part of this semester, characterize your sense of what you've accomplished.

1. Are you satisfied with where you are?
2. Do you feel you can do things but don't know why you're doing them?
3. Do you feel at sea without a rudder?

Comments Everything

Thanks!

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