I. This semester - the content

About 25% of this bioinformatics course has been devoted to molecular biology. You have to know molecular biology to do bioinformatics, and I judged that many needed help... but maybe I was wrong.

1. In retrospect, do you think the time devoted to molecular biology was useful to you?
2. In what prior class did you learn the most molecular biology? If you remember the name of the text book, please list it so I can get an idea of what you learned and at what depth.
3. Any suggestions?

Comments MolBio

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: (a) complete the notes and study questions before class, (b) offer suggestions via a questionnaire, (c) discuss what needs to be discussed in class. 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. Have problem sets been useful to you?
4. How about the lab?
5. Do you feel you have had sufficient opportunity to gain feedback from Tara, Ross, and myself. Has the feedback been useful?
6. I've tried to help you find ways to learn from each other (group sessions, Blackboard forums,...). 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?

• About how many hours do you spend on the course outside of class and lab?
• About how many hours do you spend on BioBIKE outside of class and lab?
• How do you feel about this amount of time?

Comments Time

V. Bottom line

Looking back on the first part of this semester, characterize your sense of what you've accomplished.
Are you satisfied with where you are?
Do you feel you can do things but don't know why you're doing them?
Do you feel at sea without a rudder?

Comments Everything

Thanks!

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