Eval Sessions

"Quizzes", Self-Assessment and Feedback

 

BCB420 will have a single quiz to test the specific preparation units assigned for weeks one and two, and general knowledge of introductory bioinformatics.

 

 

1:	The topics that are relevant for this quiz include: Principles of R and R programming; How to work with Wikis, in particular how to maintain a Lab Journal; Configuring your computer for biocomputing; General preparation including how to avoid academic offences, Netiquette and how to ask technical questions; The genetic code, DNA, RNA and protein sequence and how to manipulate sequences; Basic bioinformatics databases Functional annotation of genes Principles of expression data management and analysis Local and global pairwise optimal sequence alignment, BLAST, PSI-BLAST and multiple sequence alignments Genome data (Not: phylogenetic analysis and structural bioinformatics)
2:	Prior to the quiz, we will hold a practice quiz. You are also encouraged to discuss preparatory contents on the mailing list or on Slack.
3:	We start off the Quiz session with an open ended Question and Answer period to address and discuss any remaining questions. If you are able to guess what will be on the quiz, good on you: I'll answer every question in class to the best of my ability even if it's exactly what's on the quiz.
4:	Take the actual "Quiz", it will be about 30 minutes long. I'll hand out the questions, you keep the page face down on your desk until you may start. You write the quiz with a black or blue pen. The rules are the same as for other academic evaluations. This includes: Don't write after time is up. Don't look at your neighbour's work. Don't look at the work of the guy next to your neighbour either. Don't show your work to your neighbour. Don't use unauthorized aids. Don't communicate with others while the quiz is being written. Remember though: it's not the intent that counts, but the action. Not knowing you are committing an academic offence does not mean none has been committed, so ask if you are in doubt. If you are done ahead of time, turn your sheet face-down and put your pen away. Then you can pull out a good book while you are waiting for the time to run down, catch some sleep, or pull out your phone, update your facebook, or see what Lior Pachter's up to. But don't write on your quiz paper again after you have put it away. That would be an academic offence.
5:	Immediately after writing the quiz, you will assess how you did while we discuss the answers: you will mark your answers with a red pen and you will make sure the correct answers are recorded on your sheet: if you got it wrong, point out the error and write down the right answer. This is crucial: at some point you need to have the correct answer written down, either when you originally wrote it, or as you were marking. If the answer still isn't clear to you, ask, ask again, until you understand. Let me repeat this. If you got something wrong, write down the correct answer (with a red pen). You are responsible for marking your answers honestly, for prorating partially correct answers correctly, and for recording your final proposed "mark" without error. Please refer to further clarification below. You should record your "mark" for your records and if done correctly this will be identical to the final mark that I will assign for the quiz. This will also give you some indication of where you stand, before the course drop date. I won't return the quizzes since I need them to spot-check marks, and for reference when I assign final term grades. Take a picture for your records, and note down your marks. For all practical purposes, your noted down marks will serve as your guideline of how you did up to the drop date.
6:	I will confirm your self-assessed results while reviewing your work and spot-checking some quizzes in detail. If I find errors including but not limited to: that the correct answer is missing, that a wrong answer has been marked as correct, that an inappropriately high partial mark has been recorded, that errors have been made while adding the marks, or that the marks have not been added up at all ... then I will revise the Quiz mark. This may include further deduction of partial marks, full marks for a question, or for the entire quiz. To be very clear: if you mark incorrectly, you may receive zero marks for the entire quiz. In addition, if it appears that the error indicates intent, I will consider whether an Academic Offence may have been committed. If I need to change a mark for a quiz, I will e mail you.

 

Changing marks?

In all cases in which you believe a grade or partial mark is not correct, e-mail me. I will not adjust marks based on verbal discussions after class, in the corridors, or elsewhere. E-mail me with specifics, and back up your views with evidence. I will correct errors, but please note that marks are not "negotiable" merely on the basis of opinions.

 

Missed quizzes

If you miss the quiz for documented medical reasons we will schedule a make-up quiz. Note that to preserve equitability, the difficulty of the makeup quiz will be adjusted to consider the added preparation time and knowledge of what was on the original quiz.

 

Notes