Introductions

Here at the Wellcome Genome Campus, near Cambridge, UK, and in Overseas locations, we welcome learners from all over the world to our Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences. Today we welcome you to our online course

We start Week 1 with Introductions, followed by details about the comments area and your learning.

Hello

Hello and welcome, we, Anna, Christine, Martin, Matthew and Ulrike are here with you because we are all interested in sharing our expertise, to help you learn about comparative genomics and use ACT to make your own comparison files. Together with fellow researchers and learners, we will support your learning through a variety of Steps, that include articles, videos, hands-on demonstrations, and a mini peer-reviewed project.

We are interested in learning about your thoughts on all aspects of this course. For example: what brought you here and how do you think using ACT, the Artemis Comparison Tool, could help you in your work, studies or research? How do you think that better knowledge of bacterial genomes, their evolution and virulence could contribute to the elimination of infectious diseases?

Comments area

Almost every step has a comments area where everyone can comment and discuss the course material. Please take a look at ‘FutureLearn’s Social Learning Tips’ and for more details see ‘FutureLearn’s Learning Guide’.

Use these ideas to help you to make Comments and to join in the Discussion Steps:

• Write comments for sharing with others
• Read your comments and responses through before posting
• Make constructive comments – critique the idea, not the person
• Write what you would also say face-to-face
• Some learners do not have English as their first language, so always try to write clearly
• Remember that learners vary in culture, age and experience
• Explain any acronyms you use and avoid jargon if you can.

If you read a comment that you think might break FutureLearn’s Code of Conduct, report it to FutureLearn’s moderators for review by clicking the flag button beneath it.

Your Learning

The course will take about 5 hours a week. It may take more or less time, and this depends on a number of factors, such as your learning preferences, your prior knowledge and experience or how much time you have available. We encourage you to:

• Learn when it is best for you and at a pace that suits you
• Use the quizzes to help you: to track your learning, recall and apply key concepts and reflect
• Press the ‘Mark as complete’ tab as you complete each Step

Enjoy the course!

Please note: our earlier and pre-requisite course ‘Bacterial Genomes: Accessing and Analysing Microbial Genome Data’ is a recommended pre-requisite: it is open for joining and access during the 3 week live presentation of this course, then for a further 15 weeks.