BIO Feedback 2007

Feedback - Fall 2007

These comments were collected as anonymous, voluntary feedback, as a response to the following question:

"Please write a comment to be published on the course Wiki, for students who are considering to take the course in the future."

These are all the comments that were submitted and they are complete and unedited.

A course that offers new perspective to look at biology and information science.

BCH441 requires a good deal of time investment and with it, stress, in order to complete its requirements. Problem solving abilities are essential to do well in this course. Lecture notes do sometimes look unclear and vague. Delayed posting of lecture notes and assignments, as well as huge backlogs in marking can also add to the stress. Wikipedia will be a great help in understanding key concepts used in this course.

For students who are going to do biotechnological or medical research as their career, they should take this course in order to gain the bioinformatic know-how that is useful for research.

Get ready to dive in deep. Look up everything you hear about, then cross-reference it to everything else possible and discover the interconnections. There is much more value to this course below the surface, if you're willing to search for it.

Good course, but watch out for 2nd and 3rd assignments. Don't get bogged down with the details. Emphasis is on what Dr.Steipe teaches and the assignments not so much the what the guest lecturers teach.

Great course. Professor Steipe assigns very reasonable assignments that are great learning experiences. The lectures are also meant to teach rather than serve as notetaking/memorizing exercises.

if you want to be a scientist... then you'll probably want to know this.

It must be admitted that this is a heavy duty and challenging course with a lot of tedious work involved. The assignments take a considerable amount of time and energy to complete and the lectures are a bit hard to follow especially for students with little background in biochemistry and bioinformatics. HOWEVER, having said that, this is by far the best course I have taken at UofT! With hard work comes reward; this is the only course where you will actually trully learn and understand biology (or at least begin to given its immense complexity). Under the guide of Dr. Steipe, who is an incredibly knowledgeable mentor, you will venture into the fascinating world of biology in a way you likely never had the chance to before in strictly mechanical and memorization-based courses (like BIO250) that don't even allow you to stop and appreciate the beauty and complexity of life! There is almost no memorization involved in this course - both the exam and the assignments are strictly analytical. The theory from lectures, although daunting, is not required for either the assignments or the exam, it is just nice to know to complete your understanding. So if you are hard-working and ready for a challenge and desire to really begin to understand the beauty and complexity of life, this course will bring you fulfillment. The only small minus is poor organization that we unfortunately had in our term. A few lecture notes were not posted for students before the exam, but neither were they required for the exam and the assignments were not marked on time, but they were returned eventually. Still, I would hope that for the next generation, organization will much improve because it is also important. Also, there are both undergraduate and graduate students in the class, so for undergraduate students like me, the background gap may seem unbridgeable, however a lot can also be learned from the older students. Graduate students, I don't think you will be too bored either because you get extra projects to work on but I suggest seeing graduate students opinions for more personal feedback.

posting the notes ASAP would be preferable

Take this course!

The course, as a whole, sheds light on some interesting aspects of bioinformatics. Be sure to brush up on your basic biochemistry (amino acids, especially) and keep on top with all of the lectures. Assignments sometimes don't correlate well with lecture content, so be sure to give yourself time to work on them. On that note, definitely make use of the course listserv/mailing list - this was an invaluable resource for assignment completion and studying.