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Rating

Total average

75.3/100
Learning Materials ( 82.5 )
Learning Activities ( 88.5 )
Blackboard Management ( 75.8 )
Course Content ( 95 )
Course Structure ( 63.8 )
Contact Availability ( 68.8 )
Course Difficulty ( 52.5 )

Reviews (4)

Anonymous
   
BIOM2208 – Differentiation & Development 53.1

This course is not difficult, but the course is so poorly structured it doesn't make any sense and it makes the content hard to learn. There is a lot of jumping between model organisms while explaining mechanisms and it is at times extremely hard to differentiate what is going on. I regret taking this course, it caused a lot of additional stress - David Simmons wouldn't help with the assignment (ignored my emails completely), study for the exam required putting everything into order from fertilisation through to morphogenesis + additional content that didnt fit into this timeline, which made a lot more work.

Taken in semester 2 2018
Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2017

Your program/major

BSc/BBiomSc

Is lecture attendance necessary?

yes - you won\'t watch the 2 hour lecture at home trust me

Is the textbook necessary?

no

Positives
  • content isn't hard
  • easy to do well on the individual assignments if you figure out what they are asking
Negatives
  • if you have a bad group for the assignment you're just going to have to do their work and they will get the marks
  • no real guidance for the other individual assignments
  • content is ridiculously ordered in lectures
Posted on November 21, 2018 11:19 am
Jenna
   
BIOM2208 – Differentiation & Development 72.9

A fun course, with few contact hours and a rotating cast of lecturers. Definitely one of the easier 2nd year courses I've taken.

The lectures felt fast-paced and interesting, but overall you only need to learn the key concepts presented in them for the exam. A lot of details were interesting but extraneous.

HOT TIP: The names of all the genes and proteins AREN'T extraneous details. If you're gonna take this course, I recommend noting down the names of all the genes/proteins introduced in one place, and memorising them over the semester.

A lot of the content is covered twice, but with a different focus in different modules, by different lecturers -this can make piecing together the content easier. Overall, linking together the content was still really hard though. The course structure really suffers from the lecturers only having a vague idea of what the other lecturers taught and being unable to draw clear links between modules.

The group assignment is AWFUL. It's worth 25% and if you get an argumentative or non-participating group member (I got both!) you're basically screwed. Have fun with that :D
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2016

Your program/major

BSc (Genetics & Biochemistry)

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Useful, but not necessary

Is the textbook necessary?

No

Positives
  • Few contact hours
  • Interesting pracs
Negatives
  • 25% group assignment that will make you want to stab people
Posted on December 26, 2016 3:10 pm
Anonymous
   
BIOM2208 – Differentiation & Development 92.9

Fantastic course that is seriously underrated! Unlike other 2nd year biomedical courses, you get to learn some new and interesting content that you probably won't have seen before. Lecturers are really engaging and clearly very passionate. There's a bit of a "story arc" through the course as most of the lectures are presented in the order of developmental processes. I think that this really helped to understand the material conceptually. Assessment is really well thought out. There are three 5% quizzes on Blackboard instead of a mid-sem (one every four weeks) which help you to keep on top of the material with minimal pressure. The Wiki assignment allows you to explore a developmental topic that interests you and encourages some creativity - quite different from bread and butter practical reports in other subjects. There's also a practical report (on growing extra limbs on chick embryos!) and a figure assignment (basically making confocal microscopy images of fly embryos informative and appealing). Don't freak out about the 11 SAQs in the final exam - the questions reflect the content really well. Also, David Simmons puts up summary slides during swotvac which are a VERY good indicator of his exam questions :D. Would highly recommend.
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2015

Your program/major

BSc (Biomedical Science)

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Small classes so lectures can be more interactive

Is the textbook necessary?

No

Positives
  • Fascinating content
  • Amazing lecturers
  • Assessment that actually designed to help you learn!
Negatives No negative points
Posted on November 23, 2015 9:26 pm
Anonymous
   
BIOM2208 – Differentiation & Development 82.1

By far one of the most interesting courses I have done so far. This is an area of biology that I don't believe many people will have been exposed to prior to this course and it is refreshing to learn about something new, although it is quite difficult. Brian Key, who presented a large number of the lectures, was incredibly interesting. Although revising from his lectures for the final exam was slightly difficult as there is not much content on his slides so I had to make sense of my frequently incoherent notes, I would sit in his lectures fascinated and really engaged with what he was discussing, which is something that I haven't really experienced before. All of the other lecturers are great as well, and all equally passionate about what they are lecturing about which always helps. A lot of the content is still being actively researched making this course great for anyone that wants to pursue research, particularly in developmental biology which seems to be an active area.
The practicals were great as well because again they were different to anything that I had done prior in my degree. Getting away from simply pipetting different things to looking at chicken and Drosophila embryos and manipulating them was really exciting. However, I did find the practical report for the chicken embryo difficult to write but that could have been made better if I had allowed myself more time to do it.
The wiki assignment was also a nice change of pace from other courses and gave you more scope to research around a particular area. I enjoyed doing the research and writing it, although the groups are allocated by the coordinators which is fine if you are put into a group of people who are willing to work, but that is the draw back of all group assignments.
The final exam was not as daunting or difficult as I had anticipated. There were no major curve balls and the questions were straight forward.
Overall a really great course and would definitely recommend that anyone with an interest in developmental biology, or just wanting to try something different, should do it.
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2014

Your program/major

BSc

Is lecture attendance necessary?

No

Is the textbook necessary?

No

Positives
  • Very interesting content
  • Great practicals
  • Lecturers were all engaging and passionate
Negatives
  • First practical report difficult to write
Posted on November 24, 2014 4:59 pm

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