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Course Programme and Planning

Organizing the Course Plan for the Next Year

Each year, before summer, the #Admin compiles all Short-Term Feedback received from courses over the past 12 months and summarizes the results. Additional metrics from the previous year are also gathered from #courseadmin by the #Admin:

  1. Number of times each course was offered 
  2. Number of course #Participants 
  3. Number of #Participants on the waiting list 

With this summary, the group members (#Managers and #Trainers) meet to evaluate whether the previous year’s courses met the community’s training needs and to determine if any changes in topics or frequency are necessary.

For courses offered in the previous year, the frequency may be adjusted based on:

  1. Reducing frequency to once every 2-3 years if the course did not reach maximum #Participants. 
  2. Keeping frequency unchanged if the course had near maximum #Participants and a small waiting list. 
  3. Increasing frequency if the course had a long waiting list. 

For new topics not covered in the previous year, several factors are considered:

  1. Prioritizing top topics from feedback surveys over comments. 
  2. Ensuring the topic is relevant to current bioinformatics research. 
  3. Avoiding duplication of courses available elsewhere. 
  4. Ensuring the topic is suitable for practical exercises, as SIB emphasizes learning by doing. 
  5. Identifying trainers within SIB or the SIB Training community who can teach the course, or developing new trainers for high-demand topics.

Multiple discussions among group members and trainers are necessary to finalize the courses, their frequency, and the #Trainers for the upcoming year. This draft plan is organized into a Gantt chart. Once stable, #Managers proceed to organize the course plan.

Throughout the year, additional courses may be added based on requests from other SIB groups or emerging high-demand topics. It is also taken into account the Call for new courses, and which topics were accepted.

Annual Program

Creating the annual program involves several steps, starting before summer and concluding in October when the program is published online. Not all courses may be displayed at once, depending on trainers’ schedules, but the goal is to have a comprehensive plan that can be adjusted as needed.

Having the program ready in advance allows stakeholders (#Trainers, #Managers, #Participants) to plan accordingly and enhances SIB Training’s visibility and recognition.

The main steps include:

  • Identifying the most needed and requested courses (see [Identify and assess training needs](https://sib-training.gitlab.io/sib-training-curses 
  • Creating a Gantt chart to visualize course prerequisites and ensure even distribution throughout the year 
  • Defining course dates with #Trainers, ensuring balanced workloads and well-spread courses 

The Gantt chart is refined through iterations with #Trainers and #Managers. Once finalized, #Admin transfers the details to the Working spreadsheet of the Year. The Training Group Leader assigns a #Manager per course to start the organization.

Each #Manager enters the course description in #courseadmin, making the upcoming year’s courses visible on the Upcoming training courses page.

The planned courses are added into the Outlook shared group Calendar.