Analyzing the Efficacy of an Open Access Biomedical Informatics Boot Camp

Abstract

Each summer, the University at Buffalo hosts a free, virtual biomedical informatics (BMI) boot camp. Lectures covering various subject matter areas are offered including, but not limited to: machine learning, natural language processing, programming, database queries, clinical decision support (CDS), and public and consumer health informatics. Once the 2023 boot camp had concluded, an anonymous, voluntary survey was offered to everyone who attended. The results of the boot camp were overwhelmingly positive with 70% of the survey participants indicating that they agreed that their expectations were met. 82% of the participants indicated that our JupyterHub and the educational coding materials stored on it are useful tools for the learning process. Qualitative analyses showed a desire for additional hands-on learning over theoretical lectures.

Keywords: Bioinformatics; Computational Biology; Teaching Innovation.