Finished: Genomics Medicine Gets Personal, Georgetown University

So, I clicked “submit” on the last question of the final exam a couple of hours ago, and I'm satisfied to note I have an overall 92% grade. But was it a good course?

Ooh, let's rewind a bit. This course is supposed to be many things, an introduction to the world of genomic, or precision, medicine for the layman as well as for medical students. In eight short weeks, we get maybe a dozen different people giving short lectures about their particular field, all in relation with genomic medicine. The lectures are arranged in four themes, which are broadly the clinic, the lab, business, and ethics. Dr Haddad, the main instructor, introduces everybody and conducts Q&A sessions, in order for the course not to feel too disjointed.

So, a success? Partly. The production is good, although maybe they've overdone it a bit. Before each video segment we have a full page of text explaining the pedagogical objectives of the segment. Big instructions in bold remind us to use the navigation bar to, erm, navigate the course. And so on. It feels somewhat dumbed-down.

The course content is, obviously, varied. Generally I liked the clinic theme and was bored with the other three (the lab one was very introductory). Although they emphasize that medical students may be watching the videos, in truth − I guess medical students have better things to do. The overall level of the course is very, very basic. Apart from a tidbit here and there (I wasn't aware of fluorescent in-situ hybridization), I can't say I have learned much during the course, and only stuck with it because it's summer and I had nothing better to do.

Hmm… I may sound too harsh. Let's say that if you approach this course as you would, say, one from MIT, then you'll be disappointed. Which is not to say there isn't merit; the team have made a good attempt at surveying the landscape of genomic medicine, primarily from doctors' points of view, and deliver something akin to an Internet-era pop-science book, and a pretty decent one at that.

So, would I recommend this course? Not generally, not to people with a utilitarian view of MOOCs, who measure success in skills and knowledge acquisition. But to specific people, maybe to people who're simply curious, who've heard about sequencing the genome, maybe about the recent judicial issues surrounding 23andMe, and who are willing to spend a couple of hours a week to find out more about it, yeah. Definitely.

Worth Sticking To? Genomic Medicine Gets Personal, Georgetown University

We're now in Week Two of this course, and getting to grips with the actual content. As a reminder, this course from Georgetown University is about the transformative aspects of “genomics” as a whole with regards to the theory and practice of medicine.

In other words, while I've been studying basic biology, bioinformatics, epigenetics, etc., from a purely intellectual point of view, this course takes a different approach, grounded on the experiences of doctors counseling actual patients. Which is all and well, only… well, the actual science is too basic. I am not certain I can actually be bothered to listen to people explain that there are 22 pairs of autosomes, or what a mutation is. So while the point of view is certainly interesting, at this stage I am not quite certain it is enough to keep me interested. We'll see; but in the meantime, this course is in the uncomfortable position of the one I am most likely to drop.