BIO/CSC295 2011F, Class 28: Wrapup Overview: * Debriefing [1:20-1:45] * Preparing for the Final [1:45-2:15] * Final Comments [2:15-2:25] * Break * Assessment * Pre-Post Survey * Course Evaluation Form * Lopatto's RISC Survey. Admin: * Chocolate is not a bribe. * Volunteer needed! Abraham * Happy/Sad last day of class! * Sam is sick, and even further behind on work to do. * Prospective final questions are now available. * Fill out the RISC post-course survey at http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/psychology/faculty/dl/risc * Remember: Bring your portfolios to the final. * EC: Collegium Sunday Vespers/Compline Service 7:30 Little white church Episcopal at 1026 Park St. * EC: Bio Poster Session * EC: Aztec Bowl, unless you are selected to play * EC: Bio Seminar Tomorrow DEBRIEFING Overview * Only ten people replied, so it's hard to know if the responses are sufficiently comprehensive. * We'll go through selected issues they raised (and a few we raised ourselves), and ask you to respond. * Last time, students indicated that this course was significantly less work than comparable courses; do you feel the same way? * Reasonable * Not having a lab makes it less work, but that's okay. * About equal to a normal 200-level CS class Components (same, more, less, comments) * Lectures on Biology * Lectures on Algorithms * Lectures on programming * Didn't really happen * Needed more of that * Primary literature * The most useful thing for some people * Web explorations * Programming work in class * When we learned the most computer science as biologists * More smaller/bite-sized programming assignments that bio people can do that would not be insulting to CS people * Group projects ended up being more delegation of work * One recommendation we received: Spend four weeks doing lightning tours of programming and bio. (Bio students program, CS students learn biology.) * Lots of nods. * But we hoped that students would encourage each other more. * It did happen in lab times. * We could also split the week or the day. * Maybe just having more coding experiences at the start of the semester. * Programming assignments * Sometimes the CS people felt like "laborers" * Wet lab * More - Do a second wet lab project or have a whole lab section associated with the class. Maybe Bio-150-style projects. * Integrating data we collect into the algorithms we write would be nice. * Some folks feel that it's cool, but not necessary. Would the Bio 150 approach work? * There are so many interesting lecture topics that it may be worth cutting this. * Project * Guest speakers * Fun, but not necessarily helpful/formative. * Could be helpful for particular advice. * Having someone work with them would be useful. * Distraction from the projects was not great. Maybe earlier. * Cool to see different ways of using these ideas. Nice to see people excited about what they are doing. * Exams * Misc. * Needs a bit more background on "What does it mean to be a biologist?" and "What does it mean to be a computer scientist?" * Add more incentives to ensure that there is collaboration. * Students want to do this. * But there are other stressors. * A Python textbook would have been nice. (E.g., Python for Dummies or a Web site.) * Should this be workshop time (e.g., three days per week, two hours per day)? Or 3 hours lecture/3 hours lab, including time for independent work. * But that's off-putting. Four hours per week is much more reasonable. * This class doesn't have to do everything. * Get a new textbook. Positives * It's good to have to think outside your box. * Team teaching. + Why? + Practically: How can we defend the "cost" to our departments and the Dean? + If you're going to teach the course, and you don't have a real bioinformatician, that's just how it's going to have to be. + Makes it fun and varied. Useful dynamic. + Made eboards possible. + Sam and Vida were both good examplars of "you can be an expert in you discipline and experienced about the other discpline and still confused about the other discipline". + Apparently, we don't do a good enough job of teaching you to say "Wait, I don't understand!" + Nice to talk to someone in your discipline * Group work + Ability to combine expertise + Experience of explaining material to others * Project + Ability to combine expertise Things to change * Need more time spent having students learn Python + What would you drop to give that time? * Awkward that the book uses Perl and we use Python + Replace the book or replace the language or ...? * Make paper reviews group projects, too. + Will that be too much group work? * Sam needs to grade more promptly * Consider spending the first N weeks of the class in a split format - biologists get a crash course in programming, computer scientists get a crash course in biology. Then join together. * Maybe drop Web explorations * Drop the final; the project tests enough Miscellaneous * A few students clearly had very negative experiences. "Students hardly learn anything in this course." The Final * Cumulative - Everything from the semester. * You may still bring one 8.5x11 inch double-sided page of notes. * Seven questions + Three required + Choose three of four * Scheduled for Wednesday at 2pm. * If you want to take it Thursday at 9am, you take it with Sam (in this room) * If you want to take it Thursday at 2pm, you take it with Vida (in the Physics lecture room) * College policy says that "If you want to arrange to take an exam at a time other than the scheduled time, you and your professor must sign this form." It should be at the Registrar's office. * The form is due Monday at noon. * See the sample questions * What have we covered since the midterm? * Big topics * Chapter 6: Gene prediction * Microarrays * Protein structure and Chou-Fasman * Phylogeny * Three "papers" * Baggerly * Neandertal * Kellis (maybe on midterm) * Web lab project * You may have to discuss the theory of this project * Your projects * You should know what your colleagues did * Two guest lectures * You should be able to summarize key points After class break, you should do the following 1. Fill out the pre-post survey (at the back of the room) 2. Fill out the normal end-of-course survey 3. Fill out the RISC survey online (either now or at your convenience) 4. Leave 5. Study 6. Rest/sleep, exercise, eat properly 7. etc.