Instructions for students

For the course Introduction to Bioinformatics

This may be the first time you are taking a course over the Internet. So please take a look at the information we provide here to get you oriented.

Extent

The course equals three credit points in the Finnish university system (3 ECTS credits), or approximately two weeks of full-time work.

Starting the course

The course material is available only to registered participants, who obtain a personal user ID and a password for entering. The ID will remain valid for eight weeks starting from the date you specify. Make sure your schedule allows you to complete the course within this time frame.

Please look at System requirements to make sure you have the equipment and software to complete the course before you start the course.

To get your user ID and become a course participant you will need to register to the course. You will receive your user information by e-mail (you must have a personal e-mail address) and after that, you can start studying at your own pace.

What is required during the course?

You should read through all the material that is written specifically for the course, and sufficient parts of the descriptions and instructions for various tools and databases as provided by their authors and linked to the course. To let you monitor your progress you are required to complete small assignments on your way, scattered throughout the course. Some of the questions/problems are required to be answered by e-mail, so the Net Tutor has an idea where you are going, and can help you if it seems you have misunderstood something, by discussion, by providing an additional web link or asking another question.

Once you have covered most of the material, you will receive a larger practical analysis project, which may be tailored to suit your interests. The course is complete after you have submitted an acceptable report of your project and submitted all the minor assignments.

Contents of the course

The course is divided into chapters (”lectures”) of essential bioinformatics issues, which can be taken in any order, in principle. In practice, because important concepts are described in the first sections, we recommend taking the chapters in order indicated.

The topics include:

How to get help

Students can contact the Net Tutor by e-mail to discuss their problems. The Net Tutor will be available throughout the course and process the questions in the order received. On-line chat using MSN Messenger can be arranged for individual or small group discussions.