The following passages are unmodified student responses (37 out of 46) to a Course Survey administered by OMET.
The standards the instructor set for me were#
Too low: 0
Appropriate: 29
Too high: 8
How many hours per week did you usually spend working on this course outside of classroom time?#
Less than one hour: 0
One to three hours: 15
Four to six hours: 18
Seven to nine hours: 2
Ten or more hours: 2
The instructor created an atmosphere that kept me engaged in course content#
Strongly disagree: 3
Disagree: 0
Neutral: 9
Agree: 15
Strongly agree: 10
The instructor was prepared for class#
Strongly disagree: 1
Disagree: 3
Neutral: 14
Agree: 16
Strongly agree: 3
The instructor treated students with respect#
Strongly disagree: 2
Disagree: 0
Neutral: 2
Agree: 15
Strongly agree: 18
The instructor was available to me (in-person, electronically, or both)#
Strongly disagree: 1
Disagree: 2
Neutral: 4
Agree: 12
Strongly agree: 15
N/A: 3
The instructor evaluated my work fairly#
Strongly disagree: 2
Disagree: 2
Neutral: 2
Agree: 17
Strongly agree: 13
N/A: 1
The instructor provided feedback that was helpful to me#
Strongly disagree: 2
Disagree: 3
Neutral: 12
Agree: 12
Strongly agree: 5
N/A: 3
I learned a lot from this course#
Strongly disagree: 3
Disagree: 3
Neutral: 5
Agree: 15
Strongly agree: 10
N/A: 1
What did you like best about how the course was taught?#
- I enjoyed how the course presented information that was easily digestible as this field is advancing very quickly. The way information was summarized and presented at a college level has at least given me confidence in what I want to pursue in the future.
- It was not like anything class I have taken which made everything new. The professor did a good job making adapting it for students the don’t have a computational back ground.
- The textbook excerpts were helpful, and I definitely liked not having to buy all those books.
- I like the tiers for questions as a way to ensure a understanding of foundational material.
- I enjoyed the organization of the slides and the assignments, It helped me a lot in knowing what to expect with material.
- I appreciated the fact Dr. Maldonado gave us review sessions before a quiz to go over stuff and I felt that helped and also was needed.
- Alex’s slideshows were very easy to understand. He explained concepts in a way that made a lot of sense to me even as a student with no computer science background.
- teacher was very engaging
- I liked how engaging the lectures were.
- ways to solve actual problems
- I think that splitting up into modules was nice and I think that a lot of the modules were built nicely, especially the early ones like dynamic programming.
- I liked how Alex was able to keep us engaged weekly and gave us assignments that felt manageable. He was also very accessible and helpful during office hours along with his TA’s.
- In class examples and analogies.
- I appreciated that supplemental resources were provided for students who wanted to go beyond the core material.
- Alex is a very nice guy.
- I liked going to office hours because I learned more and understood things better there.
- The material, though hard to understand from the text, was interesting
- I liked the slide shows, sometimes it felt they didn’t include all the information the exam would though and the packets given alongside them were not helpful.
- I really liked that, for some of our lectures, we did more hands–on activities in class, which gave me a better understanding of the topic and what is expected of me in the exam. I also liked the packets the professor started making at the beginning, but he stopped; they were pretty helpful for me because they were a denser version of the slides, so I could understand the connections between subtopics in the lectures. With slides, it’s a little bit challenging to make a connection.
- I like how we had some in class assigments which helped me engage with my peers and also with the TA’s
- I like the content of the course and the modules set up. I also appreciated when we did activities in class from time to time and the pre–packets for class.
- I like the way Alex lectures, he talks at a slower pace and speaks clearly, and explains some concepts with real life examples that makes the algorithm concepts more understandable.
- I thought the slides were well done for exams 3 and 4. Our professor is a really good at explaining things in different forms.
- I thought that the figure selection and images were well selected, and that reading the textbooks helped me understand what you were trying to teach me, and thus helped me understand the slides and lecture better. I also thought that if I were less knowledgably about calculus, linear algebra, or computer science, that the textbooks would be nigh impossible to read. Despite that knowledge, the textbooks were still occasionally difficult.
- The homework assignments felt adequate for preparation for the exams and the skills that would be necessary on them.
- It was interesting
- The open dialogue and communication between the student and the professor.
- This course integrates similar knowledge from other subjects like statistics, calculus, computer sciences, and biology, which brings the biology into a new branch where we can utilize the technology to solve biological problems in future academic developments. And I also like the Q&A sessions at some times of the lecture where we can ask the teaching team about the career/academic developments, with some suggestions or comments regarding this major.
- I like that the concepts behind the softwares and computational biology ideas were taught because it was helpful to understand the basis for many key ideas.
- I enjoyed how the course was mostly lecture based with little textbook reading required unless you wanted supplementary explanations. The homework assignments were very helpful to better understand the material and prepare for exams. Additionally, I appreciated the amount of review/student guided time we had throughout the semester. Alex was very flexible to change plans or explain topics again if we expressed that we needed more time to understand the material.
- I thought the slideshow based lectures were the most effective for learning as opposed to writing on the iPad. I found it useful to reference back to the slideshows when studying. I think it was a good call to get rid of the packets; I barely used those. Overall, Alex is very invested in the class and making it the best version possible. I really appreciated the transparency about his pedagogical decisions. So while last minute changes happened, he always gave reasoning why they were happening.
- I do like most of the slide shows as they are informative and allow me to utilize them outside of class as well. Alex does a great job of explaining concepts, no matter how difficult they are.
- Content is interesting. Receptive to feedback.
- By the end of the semester, Alex I think found his footing with the way that the course was structured, releasing homeworks and making lecture slides. I think that once there was a routine and rhythm in the course, the structure worked and I understood the content.
If you were teaching this course, what would you do differently?#
If I were teaching this course, I would provide the students with possible questions that may be in the exam (similar) and what information on the slides will be needed for the exam. Often times when I was doing an exam, I was met with questions that I was unsure about as it was approaching the concepts learned in class from a different perspective, so more practice problems on such A and S tier questions would be useful. I also believe that the multiple choice weighing so much caused me to perform worse than I should have on some exams, I believe that the multiple choice should weigh less while the A and S tier questions (open–ended/free response) should weigh more because it shows the student actually applying the knowledge rather than just memorizing the concepts on the slides.
Practice questions to be done outside of class to better prepared for exams.
I think I would space out the exams more or get rid of one, because currently there’s one week between the 4th exam and the cumulative final which doesn’t really make sense to me. Also, the concepts were kind of abstract and sometimes it would feel like we were being lectured at for an hour, so more exercises or activities (like we had the first few weeks of class) would definitely help. I would also change the grading scale. One multiple–choice/true–false question would be 10% of the exam grade, so if you get one multiple–choice wrong you’ve lost the ability to get an A in that exam which is kind of insane, honestly. In general, the grading system was a little unclear and half the things that we were supposed to be graded on were never actually assigned, which added to the feeling of not really knowing if I understood the material and how to solve problems based on it/apply it to real problems. I also couldn’t see the rubric for my exams (not sure if this was by design or just a problem with my page).
I thought the unit packets with the written summaries/explanations were very helpful in addition to textbook materials, so I would have continued doing those.
Abandon pseudocode for python. All students are required to take the CS011 python course, thus all students should have a basic understanding of python. it seems arbitrary that pseudocode would be taught over a real, hard, applicable–to–life skill like python. Especially if this course will continue to utilize programming for only the first unit.
I found a LOT of the material in this class extremely difficult, I mostly got by just from the fact that i have taken a stats class here at pitt. If I hadn’t taken that stats class, many of the concepts taught here would have been impossible. If I were teaching this course, I would make the depth of everything in the class much shallower.
CB Majors at pitt only take 3 real computational biology classes. This class, the upper level, and the capstone. This is a really short time to introduce any computational biology at all, thus, if i were teaching this course, I would foster a more project–based approach to learning.
Provide more practice homeworks. I also think a more substantial and specific resource page in Canvas would be helpful, like links to Youtube channels or websites on specific topics. Just being given 6–8 entire textbooks was rather overwhelming and unspecific.
Dr. Maldonado was starting to improve near the end of the semester but near the beginning he was bad at grading things on time or even posting homeworks consistently. I feel just having more consistency with that stuff could help the course experience a lot.
The grading and course structure needed to be clearer from the beginning. Additionally, I wish assignments were graded more punctually, as I truly didn’t have a clue how I was doing in this class until the second exam had long been over
i would change the way that multiple choice questions are too heavily weighted. they can sometimes be convoluted and missing one is already an entire letter grade off which does not seem very fair.
Make the C ranked questions open ended and the A and S ranked questions multiple choice. Making the questions that are worth less, open–ended often takes time answering those away from the questions worth more. Also, getting partial credit for the C questions makes more sense than getting partial credit for questions worth a lot less.
teach python
I think that the last two modules could be more cohesive… It’s been kind of hard to figure out what I need to know and what questions I should expect to be asked. Also, I think that it makes more sense for C–tier questions to be essay–based and for S–tier questions to be MCQs. I think there have been a lot of times I have understood a general concept but haven’t had my tests reflect this because I’ve gotten confused with wording
I would try to incorporate more research methods used in the real world as well as a more computing based class. The class felt very unorganized and a lot of the time students were confused. A lot of homework assignments and exams took a very long time to grade. When are assignments are graded in an efficient manner and given feedback (which we didn’t get) it helps advance our learning using mistakes and/or encourages students. The power points we helpful but incredibly vague and does not illustrate key take away points. As students, we can understand that computational biology is a fairly new course that’s under researched and Alex is a new professor but, so much information was dumped on students only to be told its not required to know for exams. In future courses, I think it would benefit the students if the course is broken down into separate classes especially for computational biology majors or the curriculum was scaled down to better accommodate professors and actually teach students.
Spread out office hours a bit more if possible, make myself more available.
I would incorporate more coding activities and in–class examples since the activities section makes up a large portion of the grade.
Teach it with more examples, rather than abstract concepts
I think adding coding would help, also I think that some of the resources/ textbooks that are used in the course should we talked about in class, specifically the parts that information is being pulled from.
I would make the lecture slides more applicable outside of class. Much of the math–based stuff was jutted into the lectures that made it hard to study alone.
I would make less of the grade exam based, it made everything else feel unimportant and I didn’t really learn anything long term. I was also very disappointed that there was no real programming in this class. It sord of made it feel like it was wasting my time because it was catering too much for people with minimal programming experience.
I would not make the exam count for 70% of the whole grade. I would do 50% exams, and the other 50 would be based on the HW, top hats, or activities in class. Also add more in–class activities and make it more into worksheets. Also, I would provide a study guide before each exam. Maybe add some extra credit assignments.
I would like to say that way you teach is good and difficult to understand. I wish there was more resource for us to study from, I did not like the fact that we had to rely on packets that were more than 50 pages long and office hours. Office hours is a good way to learn from but they were late during the day on Friday. I would teach this class with providing more resources for my students and also being more available with my students.
This class has a lot of content to cover, and I think more moments of review/reflection on previous content would be extremely useful for moving forward through future content and exams. I also think that while I like the tier breakdown for points on exams, sometimes I find that they are too extreme. For example, in exam 3 there were no B–tier problems, so the C–tier problems ended up being more than 5 points each (which is hard for MC questions that are all or nothing), while the A and S–tier questions were worth half that or less than 1 point, even if they weren’t significantly harder than the C–tier questions. It’s not so much an issue that the C–tier is worth more than the A and S, but more that they’re worth so much sometimes that missing one can make a large difference in your exam grade, and there isn’t really a chance to make up for it by doing well on A and S tier problems. Other than that, I think more homework problems/ practice problems would be useful. I also think that it would be nice to have video tutorials on how to parse through certain problems so we can come back to a solid example (i.e. a burrows–wheeler transform tutorial).
A lot of concepts in this course is new and we have never encountered before in other classes, I think its a good idea to provide more practice on application of the material; homework was good practice, perhaps I would utilize tophats more in the future if possible.
I think this class is on the more difficult side because of the heavy weighting on exams, to get a A you would need to get nearly perfects on every exam which is where the pressure comes from. In my opinion the lecture slides prepares us well for the C tiered basic understanding questions but the S tier questions are more application based, and the slides lack the application of concepts. Homework is great practice but there isnt enough practice to get comfortable enough with the S tier questions, which ideally you would want to get credit on if you wanted a good score on the exams.
I did miss the packets, but I think having all the information on the slides for exams 3 and 4, made the content easier to study. I did not love pseudocode, and I come from a not computational background.
Also idea for another class, I came into this one wanting to learn how to actually use different tools for research. Even if it was more imaging based like actually making the protein structures, would be really cool. And give students another skill for their research belt.
This class is struggling to connect theory and application. I find that I learn best when put in an environment where I can freely make mistakes but have the resources to self–correct (textbook, relevant slides, perhaps worked solutions to sample problems) on my own time. Quick feedback or sandbox activities (specifically code, here) are essential for me to truly learn the material.
Stick to a system rather than changing throughout the semester. For example, he had two classes where he didn’t use slides and worked on the board, one of which I was unable to attend and had anticipated slides for only to discover there weren’t any which made that weeks homework quite difficult.
Be a little more organized
Make sure that more problem sets are available for students to practice with, making sure the lecture connects more seamlessly.
I would lower the difficulty level of the exam, providing more practice problems after each class, and study guides/practice books before each exam, also lowering the weight that the exam is being calculated in the entire course grade (like 70% into 60% or 50%). I would also add more extra credit opportunities, like allowing students to make corrections on the exam to earn some partial points back, so that the knowledge would actually become more strengthened in their memories.
I would create detailed packets for each lesson which made it easier to catch up after missing a class and understand content more thoroughly.
Although it would make the course significantly more difficult, I think the incorporation of python or R would be beneficial. Personally, I thought that the pseudocode format was so close to python that you might as well just use python for the course.
I think switching to a coding based class is a good call. I found the subjects interesting to learn, but it felt as though we were learning really high–level math and coding in the abstract, without much actual fundamental knowledge of the math and coding. So overall it felt like the class was not all that useful without those fundamentals. This might be an impossible task when teaching an intro level class (with minimal prereqs) of a field that is fundamentally interdisciplinary and relies on other subjects (it’s like taking biochemistry without learning biology or chemistry), but at least by actually doing some of the coding, students will learn a little more of the basic skills.
Honestly, if the draw back is Bio majors without much of a coding background struggling, that’s fine. I say this as a Bio major who took the elective hoping to code because I enjoy the unique problem–solving aspect and was kinda disappointed the assignments and tests were formatted like every other Bio class I’m taking.
I like the way the current course is taught somewhat. However, I would like to see a bit more rigor (emphasis on implementation, practical applications) in the form of say programming exercises or assignemnts. Exams should use pseudocode as we did this semester, but there should be some form of practical programming in the form of say labs, assignments, or something of that sort.
Exams should also have a fair share of rigorous questions, not just spamming conceptuals. I found that exam 3 for instance, was just conceptual spam, nothing practical, hands on, or calculatory. So instead of 90% conceptual, maybe a 70–30 mix of conceptual and calculatory.
I would try to do more practice problems during class. In the beginning of the semester, we had more top hat questions during class, but they did not appear for the rest of the semester. I think having these top hat questions pop up in class will allow us to engage more with the content when we are in class, and also make it more interactive.
- Course Structure & Organization
Lecture Organization: The lecture schedule should consistently follow the course syllabus so students clearly know what topics are being covered and where they are in the semester. Staying aligned with the syllabus also ensures students can prepare effectively and track their progress.
Course Content Clarity: Ensure that all concepts, especially complex ones, are well understood before teaching them. Break down difficult ideas into intuitive explanations, anticipate where students may struggle, and use multiple clear examples. For in–class activities, avoid changing numbers solely to prevent “copying.” If a concept is difficult to explain in real time, provide the correct solution so students can learn from it independently.
Avoiding Unnecessary Outside Concepts: Referencing material from courses such as organic chemistry, biochemistry, or statistics can be confusing for students who haven’t taken them, especially since they aren’t prerequisites. If these concepts are not fully explained, it may be better to avoid mentioning them.
Staying Focused on Current Course Content: Limit discussions of personal research interests or future–semester plans during lectures. While these topics may be interesting, introducing them abruptly can distract from the material, create unnecessary cognitive load, and not directly support students’ understanding of the concepts being taught this semester.
Clarifying Mathematical and Statistical Elements: When equations or formulas appear on lecture slides—even if they are not tested—providing clear explanations would help students understand how they relate to the course concepts.
- Teaching Methods & Delivery
Use of Humor in Class: While humor can make lectures engaging, limiting jokes during complex explanations may prevent confusion. Light jokes between topics might work better.
Use of Pseudocode: Teaching solely with pseudocode can be challenging, especially for beginners, since it is not standardized or executable. If pseudocode remains the primary teaching tool, it may help to reduce frequent references to other programming languages and instead maintain consistency within the chosen instructional approach.
- Practice, Engagement, and Student Support
Practice vs. Points: Students need consistent engagement and meaningful practice throughout the course. Relying on points awarded at the end may save grades but does not support real understanding. Instead, providing regular, structured opportunities to practice helps build understanding and reduces reliance on last–minute grade adjustments.
Timely Posting of Resources: Posting lecture materials and resources promptly would give students enough time to review and study.
Course Efficiency: Review sessions should be used effectively by focusing directly on students’ questions and providing thorough, serious explanations. Being fully familiar with the teaching materials ensures that review time reinforces understanding rather than causing confusion.
- Assessments & Grading
Assessment Fairness: Ensuring that exam experiences are fair to all students would improve the learning efficacy.
Exam Structure: Shifting exams toward more application–based questions rather than primarily conceptual “explain the algorithm/concept” prompts could reduce subjectivity and better reflect comprehension learned in class.
Assignment Grading: Providing grades and feedback in a timely manner would help students understand their progress throughout the semester.
Taught the course with coding, not pseudocode. I know he will be teaching it with Python next time, which I think would’ve allowed me to get a lot more out of the course than I did this semester when it was taught based essentially solely on concepts, since pseudocode implementation only lasted for one unit.