Screen Cast Videos
This is a listing of all previous screen-cast videos for Bioinformatics (BGGN-213). These short (sub 10 minute) videos are available for students to watch before class and are designed to help address potential variability in student background knowledge and aid with class inclusivity.
How do we do Bioinformatics?
A description of the computational setup for “Foundations of Bioinformatics” (BGGN-213).
UNIX for bioinformatics
Most bioinformatics happens on Unix/Linux platforms but why and how do we use Unix?
Background and rational
Students are often first introduced to a topic in class with subsequent homework typically aimed at reinforcing or evaluating the material learned in class. However, homework assignments can also prepare students to learn in future classes. A major first benefit of such pre-class assignments is that students will get more out of class if they already know the basic definitions and vocabulary, as well as having already had the chance to work through simple examples and think about concepts at their own pace. A classic example in this vein is the assignment of traditional pre-class reading. Unfortunately, no appropriate textbook exists for the current bioinformatics course. A further widely acknowledged weakness of traditional pre-class reading assignment, particularly those involving the original scientific literature, is that students often do not read the assigned text on a regular basis (Gooblar 2014, Heiner, Banet et al. 2014).
Here we have developed engaging short 10 minute pre-class video screen-casts that introduce the material to be covered in the next course unit. Each of these videos will be coupled to a short assessed quiz on the video material due before class. The number of video views can be tracked along with assessment scores. My goal with these screencasts is to engage students and motivate them to be involved and invested in the upcoming topic. A major benefit is having more time together for hands-on exploring to increase their breadth and depth of knowledge. From past experience, these videos also help control for the variability in background knowledge of the students, with students regularly mentioning in surveys that pre-class screencasts helped them follow what is covered in class.
To Do: Decide on whether to order videos by
topic-tagsor class date.
