Praise for the 2015 class from official student evaluations

Until now I’ve only fantasized about courses like this. Lectures extremely well organized, designed with true empathy for students who lack the decades of experience of the instructor. Homework induces us to review important points without sucking up time. The practice and creativity and problem solving of bioinformatics are up to us to cultivate, this course was excellent to give us the groundwork to apply the available resources to what we need. I actually learned IN class, instead of just making notes saying “look up XYZ”. Time in lectures was NOT wasted—none of the “We’ll go through this fast because it’s not really important” that can be heard in other courses…. Many thanks, a great experience, very useful intro to the field.

I think the lab portions that were guided to understand the different online software was extremely helpful. Not only for other science classes but also for lab work and searching in general. I think these are great skills to learn.

Relevant! Clarified so much that is discussed offhandedly in other courses.

The amount of material in lecture and lab was just about right for a survey course like this! A lot of good background information, and resources to look further into things that may be useful.

Really helpful course. Helped me understand databases used in research very well. I definitely feel more confident about using those databases and getting the output that I want. The causal atmosphere of the class was great and really festered a learning environment. GREAT CLASS!!!

I think the learning about the software was about right. We got a little exposure to the math behind the model and how to operate this model on the computer. Both good and valuable to learn.

Course format EXCELLENT. Step-by-step lab guides are super useful when you don’t have a background/natural intuition in genetics and bioinformatics. Very much appreciated!

Overall fantastic course, I think the lecturers did a good job of introducing and getting across the concepts and ideas.

The surveys were helpful and good for reviewing the topics presented in lecture. The readings weren’t necessary to understand the lecture material but were helpful, nonetheless.

I liked the homework format as it encouraged me to review the information.

Readings and Homework were easy and helpful.

Very good instructor, answered questions well, was always available and encouraged a casual environment in the class that helped in learning the material and discussing problems with the faculty as well as with other students.