Frequently Asked Questions
Since e-learning is new for many of our users, we have collected some of the common questions related to our services. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to ask them via the contact form of the site!
Q: How Bioinformatics Academy works?
A: You should register at the webpages to attend the courses. The registration process is supervised to avoid massive automatic registration. It is for the protection of our real users. After registration, you have to log in to our system, select the course you wish, and select the starting date suitable for your purposes. You will be able to enter the course pages after you have paid for the course attendance. You will get an email with the instructions before the course starts.
Q: How can I pay for a course?
A: Bioinformatics Academy accepts payments via PayPal. You can pay via your PayPal account, or you can use your VISA or Mastercard credit card.
Q: Can I have a discount?
A: Yes, certainly! We have a sophisticated discount system for regarding our users. You will get valuable vouchers if you finish your course with exceptional results, or if you recommend our courses for your friends. Start with liking our Facebook page, and you will get your 30 EUR voucher as a starter! Do not forget to redeem your voucher by dropping us a message via Facebook!
Q: I have multiple vouchers. Can I use all?
A: You can use only one voucher per checkout event. Do not hesitate to use the voucher with the highest value to get larger discount! Please, save your other voucher for your next purchase.
Q: How the courses are structured?
A: The courses are generally six weeks long, and are usually broken down to six chapters, on a one chapter per week basis. During the time of the course, you will be able to access the course material, quizes, and the course forums. A tutor will follow your progress, who is ready to guide and help you to learn, understand, and practice the concepts of the course. You will get personal answers to your questions, and you can have pointers to supporting material on the web if needed. After the course, you will have access to the course pages for three months.
Q: What kind of background knowledge do I need for the courses?
A: Our courses are targeted for an audience with general knowledge about molecular biology and computers. The demand level at these areas is different for the individual courses, so please, consult the description of the courses. If you feel during a course to lack the necessary background knowledge, your tutor will help you to find suitable material to support your learning process.
Q: How my performace is monitored?
A: The weekly quizes for every chapter in the courses measure how deeply you got familiar with the material of the week. This will help you to see what areas should be developed further, and where you are already an expert! The scores on the weekly quizes will provide your final score in the course.
Q: What certificate will I get?
A: If you finish all the weekly quizes in your course, you will get a Certificate of Accomplishment. It will explain the course content, and provide information about you results in the quizes.
Q: Are the material of the courses accredited?
A: Our courses at Bioinformatics Academy have the same content as our courses at the the international Masters Degree Program in Bioinformatics at the University of Tampere and the University of Turku, Finland, and they are developed and tutored by the same teachers. It means that our customers have an opportunity to access and learn the same material as our Masters students in the Bioinformatics Program.
Q: How many credits should I get?
A: The 6 weeks courses cover 108 study hours work (18 hours per weekly module) including learning and practicing the material. It is equivalent with 4 ECTS-credits for a course.
Q: What are the technical requirements for attending the courses?
A: The course material is delivered via our Virtual Learning Environment: Moodle 3.1. You will be able to access it via your web browser. Mozilla Firefox is known to work best with Moodle, but you can use it with any recent major web browser such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Safari. Your browser should also have both cookies and javascript enabled. These are typically enabled by default, but if you think these settings might need enabling, check the documentation for your particular browser for how to do these. You should also enable pop-ups for Bioiformatics Academy pages.
Some courses, including the programming and R related courses might have further computer requirements related to the in course practices. These are specified at the individual courses.