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):
- Rule1: Set Practical and Realistic Expectations- achieved by specifying target audience:The target audience for the IBT are molecular biologist who are familiar with the central dogma of molecular biology. We note that it was those participants were able to satisfy the requirements of the course (they did not fail nor withdraw early on). We note that graduates from certain faculties () withdrew the course early on. It did help in yielding a high success rate that we had a long waiting list in place.
- Class diversity: in terms of academic backgrounds, graduating universities... etc. Proper advertising, and conscious selection of participants (in lights of the drop out factors we highlighted) should help in a better outcome.
- Rule 3: Ensure Computational Equipment Preparedness and Hands-On Support Availability: Before and throughout the IBT, the local IBT team would meet weekly and update on resources needed and tasks assigned, report on issues faced, or make suggestions for improvement. A myriad of platforms were used for this: Trello boards for planning and follow up (https://trello.com/), a Google mailing list for emails, and authorea (https://www.authorea.com) for collaboratively working on this manuscript. For some of the members, a chatting app like Whatsapp (https://www.whatsapp.com/) was needed, but overall, experiencing other media was deeply appreciated and highly regarded.
- Rule 9: Allow for Inter activity and Provide Time for Reflection, Individual Analysis, and Exploration:
- This was achieved via the in-person class sessions. Those sessions assured that IBT participants had someone locally to turn to for help, and thereby reducing anxiety from participating- which is a major cause of withdrawal from online only delivery MOOCs \cite{Hew_2014} . It helped in assuring this aspect that the Teaching assistants, are alumni from the 2016 IBT iteration- (In fact, in a typical MOOC, lack of local help is among the key reasons for course withdrawal \cite{Hew_2014}, and for learners from less developed countries, success stories from previous course alumni have been shown to improve performance \cite{Kizilcec2017}
- Career progress and capacity building: The IBT in all its iterations aims to equip African researchers with the skills and knowledge to launch their careers, and establish their science. While only 30 participants from the 2017 iteration responded to the follow up survey sent after 1 year, we see that many participants have moved from being students (53.3% at the time of the IBT) to being junior and middle staff (collectively 56.3% after 1 year)(Supplementary 20). For some of them, we even observe that the IBT helped them secure new job offerings (Supplementary 21).