1. ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L Course opening lecture

2. Outline Course objectives Assessment Grading Quizzes Presentations
Essays
Exam
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

3. Course objectives
Encompassing annually varying topics in molecular physics, biophysics, and molecular quantum mechanics, this course gives fundamental knowledge of biological molecules and physical insight into biological systems.
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

4. Assessment Maximum total points: 80 Oh, but there’s more!
Online quizzes: 10 points
Presentation (20 min): 25 points
10 points from course staff
10 points from peer review
5 points for giving accurate feedback
Essay (3-5 pages): 25 points
Exam: 20 points
Oh, but there’s more!
Extra points for attendance: 1 point / session
Extra assignments for additional compensation points
Exercises from the course book
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

5. Grading Points Grade 73 - 5 65 - 72 4 57 - 64 3 49 - 56 2 41 - 48 1
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

6. Quizzes 2 quizzes/week x 5 weeks = 10 quizzes
The number of quizzes
may need readjustment based
on the number of students
enrolled on the course!
2 quizzes/week x 5 weeks = 10 quizzes
1 course point/quiz x 10 quizzes = 10 course points
Max. 2 attempts/quiz
Questions are easy to answer after reading the corresponding chapters from the course book
R. Cotterill, Biophysics: An Introduction, Chichester: Wiley, 2002.
E-book available (see “Course home page”)
Deadlines always before the corresponding lecture
The 1st quiz on chemical binding opens today at 14:00
The quizzes will still most likely
sum up to 10 course points.
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

7. Presentations 20 minutes (+ roughly 5 minutes of discussion!)
The number of topic areas
may need readjustment based
on the number of students
enrolled on the course!
20 minutes (+ roughly 5 minutes of discussion!)
Topics already listed on MyCourses (see “Schedule”)
Scheduler for selecting your topic opens today at 14:00
Each topic has a fixed time slot
You can also suggest a new essay and presentation topic (see “Course main page”)
Custom topics have to be approved by the course staff
Date and time will be selected by the course staff
Remember to sign up to the correct peer review group
Usage of the PowerPoint template is encouraged
Read the handout on designing a good presentation
The scheduler will be opened
as soon as possible
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

8. Presentations Peer review in MyCourses
Grade and comment all the presentations in your own topic area
Assessment criteria
Mastery of the subject (relative weight 3)
Organization
Visual aids
Presence
Overall impression (relative weight 2)
Each criterion should be assessed on a scale from 0 to 5 (with 0.25 increments)
Printed peer review handouts will be available during presentations
One must still use the online peer review tool afterwards
Same criteria used by the course staff
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

9. Presentations Points for “accurate” peer review
Grading will be two-fold:
Automatic grading by MyCourses calculated by comparing the peer grades to average peer grades
If your peer review grades (on a 0-5 scale) match closely the average grades given by all the peer reviewers, you will get higher peer review grades, and vice versa (for more info, click this link)
Manual grading by the course staff
If you have a well-justified reason why you should have gotten a better “grading grade”, contact the course staff
You must upload your presentation slides to MyCourses as a discussion forum attachment before your designated presentation time
No fiddling with USB flash drives, etc.
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

10. Essays 3–5 pages – not more, not less Essay topic = Presentation topic
Usage of the Word template is encouraged
Check the Academic Writing in English website
If you’re short on time, focus on improving cohesion
“Given-new” principle
Focus
Topical progression
“Light-heavy” principle
Signposting
Topic sentences
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

11. Essays
Peer review in MyCourses
Assessment criteria:
Grammar & spelling
Style
Setting the scope & goals
Command of the topic (relative weight 3)
Comprehensibility (relative weight 2)
Relevancy and organization
Conclusions
References
Exam questions (?)
Each criterion should be assessed on a scale from 0 to 5 (with 0.25 increments)
The students are required to come up with 5 exam questions with model answers on their given essay topic
After peer review, essays are
Graded by the course staff using Turnitin
Shared with all the other students
The essays will (most likely) be shared via a discussion forum element in MyCourses
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

12. Essays Points for “accurate” peer review Grading will be two-fold:
Automatic grading by MyCourses calculated by comparing the peer grades to average peer grades
If your peer review grades (on a 0-5 scale) match closely the average grades given by all the peer reviewers, you will get higher peer review grades, and vice versa (for more info, click this link)
Manual grading by the course staff
If you have a well-justified reason why you should have gotten a better “grading grade”, contact the course staff
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017

13. Exam Pen and paper – closed notes, closed internet
The exam is composed of 2 parts
Questions prepared by the students (1 per essay) – 10 points max.
Essay (2 pages) – 10 points max.
A list of essay topics (most likely 8-10) will be provided before the exam
Essay topics will be based on the course book
Exam questions and their model answers are shared to other students in the same document with the essays as well as on an online wiki page (see “Exams”)
ELEC-E3260 Biomolecules L
Thursday the 5th of January, 2017