Online Course

Detailed Instructions to Ensure a Smooth Participation of Our Course

A. Lectures

The lectures are given by a combined joint faculty of top bioinformaticians and biologists from the following institutions in five continents:

University of Sydney, Australia
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Uppsala University, Sweden
University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Stanford University, USA
University of California, San Diego, USA

There are currently two sets of lectures i.e. ES-Series and SP-Series lectures. ES-Series are essential lectures topics and are examinable. SP-Series lecture are more specialized or advanced topics and hence will not be tested.

After listening to a lecture, you will need to participate in the corresponding online discussions and the corresponding assessment.

If you have any queries, please check out our FAQ page. Alternatively, you can post your enquiry to the S* Helpdesk discussion forum accessible via the IVLE login and password sent to you at https://ivle2.nus.edu.sg/

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B. Online Discussion Forum

For the Online Discussion (and MCQ Assessment), we are using the
IVLE system at the National University of Singapore.

The Online Discussions (and MCQ assessments) are open according to the schedule of the particular lecture and will be closed once the course ends.

Please note the schedule carefully as the discussion forums (and assessments) are held during a period of 2 weeks corresponding to each lecture. For each lecture, you need to participate in the associated discussion forum during the 2 weeks specifically assigned to each lecture.

During the period of Discussion Forum for a specific lecture, the teaching assistants of the corresponding lecturer or the lecturer himself/herself will be present online occasionally to point out the frequently asked questions (FAQ) or give answers to exceptional issues raised by students. The discussion is to allow students to learn from each other and to clarify with each other and participate in group self-learning. Therefore your active participation is of utmost importance to the effectiveness of the discussion and to your own comprehension and learning.

To enter the Discussion Forum, you need to access the IVLE System with your pre-assigned userid and password.

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C. Accessing the IVLE System

You will receive an email containing your login id and password to access the IVLE prior to the course starts. The course coordinator will mail you the information on the IVLE login. If after the course has started, but you haven't received the login information, please notify the course coordinator immediately at course@s-star.org immediately.

With this you can now log in and access the discussion forums and assessments of the BI5002 Introduction to Bioinformatics at the IVLE: http://ivle2.nus.edu.sg/

1. Log in to the IVLE https://ivle2.nus.edu.sg/with your assigned id and password (the password can be changed).

2. You will see the course BI5002 : Introduction to Bioinformatics. Otherwise you can search for it by using:

Course Code : BI5002
or
Course Title : Introduction to Bioinformatics

Bookmark the course, and familiarize yourself with the system.

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D. Online Assessment

For the Online Assessment (comprise mainly of MCQ type questions, we are using the IVLE system at the National University of Singapore.

Please log in to the IVLE system as described in section (C).

You can only attempt the assessment ONCE so it is advisable to understand your lectures fully and to participate actively in the discussion forum before taking the assessment.

Each assessment contains mainly of 20 Multiple Choice questions. For each question, you should read all the options carefully before selecting the best answer. You have exactly 90 minutes to complete your assessment. Please make sure you have a fully uninterrupted block of 90 minutes to access and complete the assessment.

At the end of each assessment, you will know the score automatically.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If at any time, there is a mishap, eg. power failure or modem disconnection or Operating System crash, you may be deemed to have completed the assessment.

To prevent this, please ensure that you have a stable connection and be very careful what you accidentally click on. To be sure, do not run any other unnecessary applications on your PC that might crash or slow down the machine. Preferably reboot the system, start with a fresh access to the web browser and a fresh access to the test site. Switch off all background applications and processes, eg. ICQ or other notifications.

To appeal to retake the assessment due to technical mishap, you have to write to us at course@s-star.org stating the following:
a. date and time of mishap
b. name of the assessment
c. nature of mishap
d. justification for reinstatement

If justified, you will qualify for a re-test. However the following appeals will not be entertained :

1. Extension to assessments and discussion deadlines due to
- participant missing it (Please be well aware of the course schedule)
- participant not reliasing that all dates and times refer to GMT +0800 hours (Singapore Date-Time). Please use http://www.timezoneconverter.com/ to find out the exact time on your location.
- participant realising that they do not have the technical pre-requisites to take the course at the last minute (all participants have been told the necessary technical pre-requisites at an early stage and if You have any problems, please inform us immediately so that we could help you before the course begins. Otherwise you should withdraw and offer the opportunity to many on the waiting list)

2. Retaking the assessments due to
- participant not satisfied with the score (all participants are to have listened to the lectures and are absolutely ready before taking the assessments)
- participant opening the assessment to look at the questions then trying to get back in again later and realised that they couldn't take the assessment.The participants are only allowed one attempt to access the assessment questions. Participants who wish to look at the format or an example of the questions/assessment before taking the actual assessment can do so via a sample assessment created.

As the Assessment questions are part of a databank of questions which may be reused in the future, we would appreciate if you could keep the questions confidential. We apologise that the answers to the course assessments will not be revealed even after the course is completed.

IMPORTANT :
All tests must be taken within the scheduled periods.
If you do not take the first 2 assessment, your registration will be deemed as having lapsed and your password may be disabled.
Therefore, please note the schedule of the lectures VERY CAREFULLY so as not to miss the Assessment period.
All dates and times refer to GMT +0800 hours (Singapore Date-Time).
Use http://www.timezoneconverter.com/ to find out the exact time on your location.

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E. Final Result

Shortly after the end of the duration of the course, all the scores of all the tests that you have taken will be totalled, and a final score or percentile will be computed by the Examinations Committee of the S* Alliance. If you have been successful, you will be notified and a certificate of participation will be issued to you.

The percentage weighting is given as follows

IMPORTANT NOTE:

If you have missed the first 2 of Assessment tests, your registration would be automatically lapsed, and your IVLE access withdrawn. For any feedback, problems or enquiries, please email general@s-star.org.

Thank you for your interest and participation in the course.

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