Reflections/ Local logistics and organization

The IBT used a blended MOOC (bMOOC) \cite{Ghadiri2013}, or multi-delivery model \cite{Gurwitz2017}, for learners to access, discuss and submit their assessments and take tests. The online resources used: mconf for example, were open source and were not network intensive; which made them appropriate to the local set up. Also, the fact that the instructors of the various modules come from different countries within Africa provided a context for the learners  to relate to. These aspects, technological infrastructure and relevant context, are effective in making a MOOC accessible to local participants, and hence improving performance  \cite{castillo2015moocs}. We did not compare with students' performance on the offerings from edX and Coursera ( table \ref{599235}), so it is interesting to pursue this in the future.
A good article reflecting on challenges of bMOOCs is availabe here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12528-017-9133-5. They are the only authors who call them H-MOOCs, but they focus on the institutional challenges with setting up the MOOC (as opposed to students' performance and perceptions).
By large, one should see that the design and running of the IBT followed the Ten simple rules for developing a short bioinformatics training course of  \cite{Via_2011}. In particular, we comment on the following rules (as they pertain to the local classroom organization):