Pilot Course 2024
We’re doing an experiment!
We’re running a slightly modified version of our Computational Neuroscience course from January 22 - February 9, 2024 to answer the following:
Would moving the Teaching Assistants to part-time allow for more people to apply to be a TA?
Can we make the course more affordable for students?
Would students still achieve the same learning outcomes if they rely more on peer-to-peer learning and spend less time with a TA?
Can we easily run our course more than once a year and work within Southern Hemisphere summer?
Pilot Course Details
Topic & Project
We will only be offering one topic for this pilot.
Project: Neurons
We will only be offering one project dataset for this pilot. If you are interested in another dataset, please apply for our July course.
Dates
Student & Teaching Assistant Applications Open: December 4, 2023
TA Applications Close: Sunday, December 10, 2023, midnight in the last time zone on Earth
Student Applications Close: Friday, December 15, 2023, midnight in the last time zone on Earth
Course Dates: Jan 22 - Feb 9, 2024
Time
Our course normally is open to global times, but we will only be offering one time slot for this pilot:
SLOT 4 (daytime in Eastern Americas) - You can see how this time slot works for you with our widget.
projects are 13:00 (1:00PM) - 16:00 (4:00PM) UTC;
coursework is 17:00 (5:00PM) - 21:30 (9:30PM)UTC;
Structure
Students will be placed in pods of 10-15 students, those pods will be divided into two project groups of about 5-8 students each. During coursework time, you will work with students in your pod to collaboratively work on coding problems and participate in group discussion. The goal is to faciliate peer to peer learning and collaboration. During your projects time, you will work with a smaller group to perform a novel research project on an open-science data set with some mentorship and guidance.
Each pod will have a part-time teaching assistant (TA) who meets with the group for about 40 minutes a day during tutorials to help answer questions and clarify concepts your group encountered. They will also meet for ~40 minutes a day with each project group to help you think through your research project. TAs are also available via chat to answer questions.
Pods will guide themselves through the course material and utilize peer-to-peer learning with some input and assistance from the TA. For this pilot, discussions will be more student lead than other versions of our course.
Students will be able to participate in community-building activities like our Art Contest and closing ceremony, in a student orientation to get you started on the right path, and in professional development events.
Join Us!
Apply to be a Teaching Assistant
You must have:
Previously served as a Comp Neuro TA.
Fundamental background in computational neuroscience
Proficient in python
Interest in and some experience with the Neurons dataset preferred
Teaching assistants are compensated according to our compensation policy and is calculated based on your role (teaching assistant or lead teaching assistant) and location after you apply. Pay will be for 3 hours per day for 15 days, plus an additional few hours for training.
Apply to be a student
You must have:
Basic coding proficiency in Python. This means you should be able to write a small Python script/notebook.
Foundational neuroscience knowledge.
Some foundational mathematical concepts such as linear algebra, calculus, and basic probability theory.
This is a full-time course. As a student, you’ll be expected to devote 8 hours a day (Monday-Friday) for 3 weeks.
Registration fees for the course are adjusted based on cost of living in your country. The fee for this course is lower than usual due to the experimental nature of it. You can calculate your suggested fee using this widget. The fee for this course is 50% of what is shown in the widget. Fee waivers and reductions are available if needed.
FAQs
Q: What is the Pilot course?
A: This Pilot course is an experiment! We have adjusted how long students interact with Teaching Assistants to see if it impacts learning outcomes. It’s tough to try new things when we only run our courses once a year, this Pilot allows us to do a small trial before changing anything at a larger scale in the future.
Q: How will my role at a TA differ from past experiences as a TA for Neuromatch Academy?
A: Your role as a TA will be part-time (3 hours/day) instead of the full 8 hour days of previous years. You will answer questions for your pod and work with the project groups just as you would have in previous years.
Q: How will payment process differ compare to past experiences as a TA for Neuromatch Academy?
A: We will be using a new payment provider that is local to each country to make the payment process easier. They are used to working with local banks and can simplify the financial transfer process. We hope this expedites pay significantly. This means that you will not need to use Bill.com nor send us invoices directly.
Q: Who can apply to be a TA for the pilot course?
A: To apply for the Pilot course, you must have previously been a TA for the Computational Neuroscience course. You should also have general availability in Time Slot 4,
SLOT 4 (daytime in Eastern Americas)
projects are 13:00 (1:00PM) - 16:00 (4:00PM) UTC;
coursework is 17:00 (5:00PM) - 21:30 (9:30PM) UTC;
Q: Is there a required time that TAs are available?
A: TAs are able to create their own schedule based on their availability. TAs are required to be available for 1 hour and 20 minutes between the hours of 13:00 - 16:00 UTC, and for 40 minutes between the hours of 17:00 - 21:30 UTC. You will submit your schedule to the organizers before the course, and this will be shared with the students. You are expected to keep the schedule you provide before the course starts. Any changes will need to be coordinated with Neuromatch staff and communicated to your students.
Q: Why are you only running the pilot in one Time Slot?
A: We wanted to keep this experiment fairly small scale to make sure it is within our current staff capacity. With the smaller size, we also wanted to preserve the experience of the discord community and felt keeping all the participants in one time slot would help with this.
Q: Will students still receive a certificate of completion?
A: Yes, all students who complete the full course will receive a certificate of completion for both the tutorials and projects portion of the course that is available in the Documents section of their portal account after the course is complete. Students are allowed 2 absences and can still qualify for the certificate of completion. During the course, there will be an opportunity for a student who misses more than 2 days to complete an Attendance Waiver and a certificate of completion will be awarded at the discretion of their TA.