EESC30H3 - Environmental Microbiology
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This course aimed to:
1. Provide a variety of practical tools for the study of microbiome-related high-throughput sequencing data. 2. Ground students in the literature of a fast-moving field, while differentiating the microbiome concept from traditional microbiology. Teaching was geared at students with minimal background in computer science, but a solid background in ecology, microbiology, soil science, or a related field. The goal was to not only teach the mechanics of existing sequence analysis tools, but through hands-on projects, learn how to learn unfamiliar computer programs. |
In this course, students pursued a major writing project (e.g. thesis proposal; manuscript) from start to finish. The course focused on clarity of communication as opposed to grammatical skills. The course incorporated numerous exercises, a rigorous writing schedule, and extensive peer review, with me as a writing coach rather than a judge. Our goal was to improve the quality of student projects, with the understanding that students enter graduate school with vastly different writing abilities and experiences. |