Two Rough Draft Syllabi

I’ve created syllabi, in very rough form, for the two courses I will be teaching. Each class is to run 10 weeks, completely online. One is for a bioinformatics and genomics course. I’ve not used bioinformatics tools (Databases and Software) much over the years, though I have been peripherally aware of those such as GenBank, BLAST, ExPASy, Ensembl and so forth. Now is my chance to learn them AND get it to the point that I can teach future science teachers about it so they can take this information to their students.

Also in preparation, but also for my enjoyment, I am reading books on Genomics, including:

The $1,000 Genome by Kevin Davies

Genome by Matt Ridley

It Takes a Genome by Greg Gibson

The 10,000 Year Explosion by Cochran and Harpending

and sadly, I broke down and got one of those “for Dummies” books: Bioinformatics for Dummies by Claverie and Notredame

The other course is for Evolution and Human Health, also known as Darwinian Medicine. Many medical schools seem to have courses in this topic, which wonders WHY we have some of the poor design that causes illness and pain as well as some ingenious designs that manage to keep us alive and functioning in some ways better than other creatures on the planet.

The landmark book for this topic is Why We Get Sick By Nesse and Williams

There is a video link on my Evolution and Human Health page

Nesse is speaking with Richard Dawkins. It is a group of 5 videos meant to be watched in sequence, each about 8 minutes each. Very interesting.

Tomorrow is a day where we will be meeting about how to get these courses advertised to the public and especially to those interested in obtaining a Masters in Science Teaching from the University of Illinois (School of Integrative Biology). and another training session in how to use Elluminate for synchronous conversations between several people…I’ve heard it is like Skype on steroids. We’ll see.

Welcome to My New Journey

Online learning and teaching seems to be a bit mysterious to me, and possibly counterintuitive. After years of using my hands and all of my other senses to teach advanced lab courses, I am now creating online courses. It looks like I will be trying to teach new areas of science without all the tools I have used for years: pipettors, electophoresis equipment, saline solution, cell media, tubes, bottles and cells…even microscopes and slides. Too bad, really, because I’ve been very, very good at it! But times change and so will I.

With my recent foray into sharing my passion for science online at Joanne Loves Science, I think I have a chance to make it work. I’m a quick and astute learner and have many years of face to face (F2F) teaching behind me! Let’s see how I make this happen.

This blog will allow you to follow me (and even help me) as I sort through materials in how to teach online and the science I need to teach courses in “Bioinformatics and Genomics” and also “Evolution and Human Health”.

So welcome. I hope we have a grand time together. Unlike my other site, I will leave the blog posts open. I want, and possibly even need, your assistance and feedback!