Tutorial:Syllabus To Learn Bioinformatics From Online Video Resources

Question

[Medhat]

I do not know if that is the right question in the right place or not I found that coursera is a good place for distance learning, and here in Biostars where a keen people in bioinformatics exists.

So can they help to put some kind of syllabus that one can apply for gradually courses to take him from being novice to be a little advanced in bioinformatics filed for example: "you first should take algebra course then statistics, and give link to that courses in coursera" , and also there is a good paper that I found here PLOS in another post that could help in putting that Bioinformatics syllabus from online video resources.

My apologies if that is not adequate question.

There is a course now offered in coursera that can be found here

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An old question, but I think this is a follow up to it. Below maybe a good answer:

Note: Whatever you will learn, you need to practice it on real data (The devil is in the details :) ).

This is a solid path for those of you who want to complete a Bioinformatics course on your own time, for free, with courses from the best universities in the World.

In our curriculum, we give preference to MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) style courses because these courses were created with our style of learning in mind.

To become a bioinformatician, you have to learn quiet a lot of science, so be ready for subjects like; Biology, Chemistry, etc....

https://github.com/open-source-society/bioinformatics

[aidan-budd]

Hi Medhat,

Just want to check - with your post, do you mean "Hi BioStar people, if you don't know the coursera resource, then you might find it useful"?

Or are you asking a more specific question?

Or making a proposal that we (people who read/use BioStar get in touch with or use coursera to do something specific?

[Medhat]

I hope that I could clarify my question more. I would like the people here with a great experience in bioinformatics to give us a gradually courses for bioinformatics using the resources in coursera for example. is it possible or reasonable to do so?

[aidan-budd]

Ah, so you're asking/encouraging BioStar people to put up online training courses in bioinformatics, for example on coursera, putting them together into a coherent syllabus, for distance learning in bioinformatics?

Hm. Already the issue of what such a course might/could include as a syllabus is a difficult question that, for example, the ISCB people have been exploring for several years now.

Bioinformaticians have put up various online teaching resources through the years, I suggest you look around for them on the web e.g. the EBI Train Online stuff http://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/online/

We are, I think, as a community, aware that this stuff is/can be useful; however, to put together a coherent syllabus along the lines I think you're requesting/encouraging would take lots of time and resources (including funding), so it's unlikely to appear anytime soon.

[Medhat]

you did hit the point. A lot of materials is already exist on the web, but need to be well organized so novice users take advantage of it. Otherwise they may lose important points while they following a scattered courses over the web.

[PoGibas]

These two previous questions were helpful for me:
Which Are The Best Programming Languages For A Bioinformatician? & Tools & Techniques Bioinformatician Have To Master?

Answer 1

[Neilfws]

Hopefully the tutorials, videos and tools at this website go some way to providing educational material. However, I think a more formal approach, similar to Coursera, is unlikely. Remember we are all volunteers here, contributing in our spare time. If someone wanted to fund the activity for a year or so, why that would be different :)

As others said in the comments, it is worth hunting around the Web for online course material. I'm sure some universities running bioinformatics programs post their resources online.

[Medhat]

the difficult is as @aidan-budd said and i quote "putting them together into a coherent syllabus" as if a person from biological background or computational or etc ... i do not what to begin with to search to a level to be a keen bioinformatician and here i expect if possible of course that some of our people in Biostar if they have time for that to put some kind of hierarchical course material from other resource like YouTube, MIT, coursera, Stanford etc....

[aidan-budd]

As Neilfws says, the issue is time/resources, if there were funding it would happen, but for now it won't, I guess.

I thus recommend that you simply choose a resource from somewhere that has a decent reputation for teaching and science in general, and follow the content there.

Answer 2

[Malachi Griffith]

As mentioned above, you can get a good idea of what a bioinformatics course syllabus looks like by examining the syllabus of formal bioinformatics programs already in existence at various universities.

For example, the CIHR Strategic Training Program in Bioinformatics began in 2002 and produced its first graduate in 2004. They have continued to refine the program. The required and optional course list can be found here: courses.

It may also be of interest to look at the activities of past graduates and current students of the program.

The program involves a combination of course work and research rotations that can be with an academic mentor or industrial partner though most rotations take place at one of five research institutions.

Figuring out how to replicate the kind of experience you get through such a program using online courses only will require some creativity (and will not be as good IMHO) but at least you can get some idea of the kinds of topics and activities that would be covered.

Answer 3

[Heather Vincent]

The paper on An Online Bioinformatics Curriculum is a good start, but you also need a mentor. (You would expect personal mentoring when you pay for a course.) Biostars can help as an online study group, but I am not sure where you can find a mentor to help you to make the most of the free courses that are available

[Medhat]

I agree with you that why I put this paper in my question, also in another question I asked for open project where you can be guided Are there open bioinformatics projects that a beginner could learn from?

[Heather Vincent]

I think that you are more likely to find a project through personal contacts. The ICSB (http://symposium.iscbsc.org/) has a Student Council, where those new to computational biology can begin to build a network. There are travel fellowships.

Answer 4

[lavya3]

Here is a good tutorial. But this one teaches Computational biology.

http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/course/view.php?id=37

[Medhat]

sorry but i was not able to open the pdf does it need log in?

[scchess]

No you don't need to login for the pdfs.