Principles of Protein Structure : 1 week to go

son of pps (pps2@iona.cryst.bbk.ac.uk)
Sun, 7 Jan 1996 23:53:21 +0000 (GMT)

Dear PPS students,

This is to serve as a reminder that the Principles of Protein Structure
Course begins in one week's time (15th January), and as an explanation as to
what will happen when the course starts.

If you have not yet done so, please could you send us your fee as quickly
as possible; if you have any problems with regard to payment then please
contact Jody McGill j.mcgill@mail.cryst.bbk.ac.uk

The following issues should be noted:

Course "Hypertree"
----------------------

The URL for the main index to the course Web pages is:

http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/PPS2/top.html

A mirror in the U.S. (Brookhaven National Laboratories) and another U.K.
site (Daresbury Laboratories) will very soon be in operation- we will send
you the URLs of these mirrors.

Updates and latest information will be added to the "Noticeboard".

E-mail Discussion Lists
-----------------------

Initially, there are four discussion lists, which are already operational:

pps96-general
pps96-technical
pps96-proteins
pps96-bioinformatics

For more information see URL:

http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/PPS2/mail/lists.html

You have already subscribed to pps96-general, unless you are currently
reading the hypertext archive of this message.

It is essential that you subscribe to these lists, and that you know how
to use them; in fact we will automatically subscribe you to them if you
have not already done so by the time the course begins. However, feel free
to join them before that if you wish, and to post mail to them (although only
the pps96-general list will be appropriate at this stage). Note that these
lists are all archived on our WWW pages.

The BioMOO
----------

DO NOT WORRY IF THE FOLLOWING MAKES LITTLE OR NO SENSE TO YOU!
We will be introducing the use of MOOs (effectively a form of "virtual
conferencing") once the course has started.

During the course, tutorials and other meetings will be held in the BioMOO-
we are grateful for the support of the BioMOO administrators (Weizmann
Institute). If you are already registered with BioMOO, please could you mail
us to tell us your ID, if you have not already included this information on
your Technical Registration Form.

Of those of you who have not yet registered with BioMOO, the more technically
experienced may wish to register before the course begins, to gain some basic
familiarity with it. Ideally we would like to meet as many of you in the MOO
as possible at an early stage in the course, but it isnt essential that you
register now; wait until after the course has started if you wish.

We will be strongly encouraging all the students to make use of the BioMOO
during the course.

Student Groups
--------------

During the first run of the VSNS-PPS course in 1995, the division of students
into groups proved to be very successful. We will aim to have groups whose
students cover a range of academic background and Information Technology
experience; naturally we must also try and produce groups whose members live in
fairly close time-zones/regions. As well as the official tutor (Birkbeck staff)
of each group, a number of our volunteer consultants have agreed to act as an
advisor/coordinator of each group; several of these have themselves taken part
in a similar type of course on the Internet.

You will be told which group you are in when the course begins.

What Happens Each Week
----------------------

Each week, the latest course material will be revealed on our Web pages, with
details of what you should have covered, and what technical issues you should
be familiar with, by the end of the period. Details of assignments, some of
which will be accredited, will appear every 2-3 weeks.

The actual pace of the course has some flexibility, bearing in mind that some
students may not initially be very familiar with some of the technological
aspects, and that in any case the amount of time an individual student can
devote to the course may vary from week to week. As a guide, an average of
approximately 6 or 7 hours study per week is ESTIMATED.

SELF-PACING is an advantage of the use of the Internet to conduct a course;
remember that previous weeks' course material and e-mail discussions will all
be archived on the Web if you need to catch up. We also intend to archive
tutorials (held in BioMOO).

During the first week, students will be settling in, establishing contact with
their tutors and other members of the group, by e-mail and perhaps in the
BioMOO if they feel they want to. The course material summarises the
relevant aspects of the Internet, with some basic revision of proteins and
relevant URLs.

We will also be giving you some advice on what to do if you need help, and how
to deal with any breakdowns in communication, such as bouncing e-mails,
problems with accessing Web-servers, etc.

If you have any queries or comments, please reply to us at
pps2@mail.cryst.bbk.ac.uk
- or perhaps use the pps96-general e-mail list.

Best Wishes and looking forward to "meeting" you all,

The Course Organizers.