Difference between revisions of "Survey01"

Revision as of 17:57, 1 February 2009

My teaching methods are experimental. Quick feedback will allow me to make helpful adjustments. Answer the following questions anonymously on a blank piece of paper, fold and turn in:

• A: Judging from the first class rate the level from 1 to 10.

1 = Too Easy
5 = Just Right
10 = Too Hard.

Results: 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, (8 or 9), 9

• B: Rate the learning experience with the computer base tutorials.

1 = methods hindered learning
10 = methods facilitated learning

Results: (4 or 5), 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8,

• C: Feel free to add any comments

Results: (Paraphrasing and grouping some of the common concerns below)

First of all I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful comments. My teaching methods are experimental and your feedback will help make the class an optimal learning experience for everyone.

Not an easy class for someone without computer background. Take it slow and explain MATLAB. Copy and pasting code gives little insight to how the code works.

Good point. I should have explained before you started Lab B that MATLAB skills are neither a prerequisite for the class nor a learning objective. MATLAB is a tool we will use in class and for the final projects. But we will use MATLAB only to run numerical experiments, by executing code that I will write. To complete the assignments and the projects you need only a very minimal skill set: you need only execute the programs, change parameters, and plot results. I do not expect you to write your own MATLAB code. There was some material about how MATLAB works in the first lab, but I consider it tangential to the course objective, and should have made that clear.

Material in first lab not related to neuroscience.

Another good point. Lab B and C introduce the concept of likelihood, which is the basis for all of the projects. The relevance of likelihood to modeling in neuroscience is that it can be used to estimate parameters of a neural model and to decide between alternative model which is better based on experimental data. The concept of likelihood is a mathematical one that I feel is best introduced first with the random number generators rand and randn. The concept of likelihood is somewhat subtle and I am hoping that Lab B will allow you to deeply understand it. In Lab C we will bring the discussion of likelihood back to Neuroscience with the Hodgkin-Huxley model.

Lecture style learning requested to augment computer based learning.

Agreed. Actually, my plan for Lab B PCs better than Macs.