THIS PAGE IS IN DEVELOPMENT CURRENTLY AND INFORMATION FOUND HERE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE

Courses

Who to contact?

If your are interested in running a course as part of the PhD or PostDoc program, please contact the PhD Office.  It may also be useful to contact PhD or PostDoc representatives to discuss your ideas for such a course and the demand in the institute.

Events involving external participants or involving support staff and additional resources from the institute need to be approved by the board of directors beforehand.  If in doubt contact Katrin Boes for advice regarding the organization of such events and contact Debbie Newby if external companies are involved in the delivery of training.

Guidelines for course preparation

Consider the topic and level of your course, and ask yourself:

• What is the most important information students should learn and remember from this course (facts and other kinds of core knowledge)?
• What are the most important ideas that students should understand after taking this course (theories, approaches, perspectives, and other broad themes in your field)?
• What are the most important skills that students should develop in this course (laboratory skills, problem-solving skills, creative skills, writing skills, etc.)?
• What is the most suitable format for your course and what are the setup, equipment, staffing and room requirements.
• For events to be held at the institute outside of the PhD program, Katrin Boes should also be notified and give advice as to how to proceed.
• Events involving external participants or involving support staff and additional resources from the institute need to be approved by the board of directors beforehand.

Useful Links:

Here are a list of links from other organizations regarding course preparation that may be insightful or useful for inspiration:

• https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/hosts_instructors/hosts_instructors_checklist.html#instructor-checklist

Getting Feedback

A user feedback template is available (ask the Scientific Computing Facility or PhD course for further information) for standardized online user feedback, via this indico site, following the completion of a course. 

The Scientific Computing Facility and many other groups also use coloured sticky notes to gain user feedback at regular intervals during a course.  After each session when participants leave the room they are asked to leave a short piece of positive feedback on a green sticky note and something they didn't like or understand during the session on a red sticky note.  Courses instructors can then review the feedback during the break between sessions and address any concerns at the beginning of the next session.

Small Courses / Tutorials

These would usually cover a single topic and have a duration of 1-4 hours. and examples in indico include:

• https://indico.mpi-cbg.de/event/197/

User Support Clinics

For example the image analysis & bioinforamtics clinics organized by the Scientific Computing Facility.

Recommendations for running a clinic

1. Locate a clinic in an area that is easily accessible for those needing support (e.g. CBG atrium)

2. Advertise your clinic through posters or emails to clearly state

  i) What is the purpose of the clinic and who is the target audience

  ii) When will the clinic be held (preferably a regular time and day)

  iii) Who will be present to help those needing support

3.  It is also useful to ask those who plan to come, if possible, to let you know beforehand and even give a brief outline of their question

4. Run your clinic and get feedback from your user community

User Support Forums / Meetings

(e.g. EM user forum)

Such forums are a useful way for individual facilities to get feedback from users.

THIS PAGE IS IN DEVELOPMENT CURRENTLY AND INFORMATION FOUND HERE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE