Nanocourses
What is a nanocourse?
The basic nanocourse format was introduced by Bentley and Stanford at Harvard Medical School as a format that is “…well suited for: rapid course development; educating those with limited time to devote to formal classroom experiences; and enhancing the existing curriculum with integrative, supplemental, or novel course topics".
We have adapted their model to the bioinformatics and UTSW contexts. Every semester, we curate a list of topic-based short courses that fill curriculum niche gaps and supplement existing courses at UT Southwestern.
A nanocourse delivers topical content via didactic lectures and hands-on problem-solving or application sessions in real-time, face-to-face with skilled instructors. The one tenet that sets a nanocourse apart from the usual short courses available online or through other institutes, is the real-time feedback and tailored brainstorming for applying newly acquired niche knowledge to YOUR specific problem/ issue/ enhancing skills.
The details
Format
We can design a nanocourse with you to fit one of the three formats:
- Workshop/ no cr (typically 4-6 hours, no academic credit, only completion certificate)
- 0.5 cr (8 contact hours, credit only for graduate students as postdoctoral affairs does not offer 0.5cr courses, optional additional completion certificate)
- 1 cr (16 contact hours, optional additional completion certificate)
- 1.5 cr (24 contact hours, optional additional completion certificate)
- 2 cr (32 contact hours, optional additional completion certificate)
We work with the UTSW Graduate Programs, the Postdoctoral Affairs Office, and UTSW registrar to award academic credit for most of our courses.
Registration
Acceptance into a nanocourse is competitive to maintain a good instructor-participant ratio for personalized training. Therefore, each nanocourse has it’s own registration form which is used by instructors to determine the alignment of course objectives with registrant goals. Registration dates are announced at least 2 months in advance of course dates and registrants are selectively admitted based on instructor-determined match between course content, participant level of experience, and their learning/ research needs.
Supervisor endorsement
Prior to the course, accepted participants will be asked to submit a signed supervisor endorsement form, acknowledging PI/ direct supervisor support for the individual to be away from their lab/ work / usual duties for the entire duration of the course.
Faculty (titles of Assistant Professor and above) are exempt from the supervisor endorsement requirement.
Attendance
Once accepted, attendance in-person is mandatory so we recommend blocking your calendar for the nanocourse dates and promptly notifying us if you need to drop or withdraw from a course for any reason. Dropping the course in the UTSW registrar portal is NOT sufficient.
Participants must be prepared to bring their own laptop and may be required to download some materials in advance, especially for computational courses.
We usually use rooms G9.102 or G9.250A on south campus or ND11.218 on north campus for our nanocourses. Lunch is not provided but is available at nearby campus locations.
Receiving credit on transcript
We send a list of graduate students/ postdocs who succesfully complete each nanocourse to the Graduate School / the PostDoc Office respectively. They retroactively register them and award credit.