Neuromatch Academy: Teaching Computational Neuroscience with global   accessibility

Tara van Viegen (1); Athena Akrami (2); Kate Bonnen (3); Eric DeWitt; (4); Alexandre Hyafil (5); Helena Ledmyr (6); Grace W. Lindsay (7); Patrick; Mineault; John D. Murray (8); Xaq Pitkow (9; 10; 11); Aina Puce (12),; Madineh Sedigh-Sarvestani (13); Carsen Stringer (14); Titipat Achakulvisut; (15); Elnaz Alikarami (16); Melvin Selim Atay (17); Eleanor Batty (18),; Jeffrey C. Erlich (19); Byron V. Galbraith (20); Yueqi Guo (21); Ashley L.; Juavinett (22); Matthew R. Krause (23); Songting Li (24); Marius Pachitariu; (14); Elizabeth Straley (9); Davide Valeriani (25; 26; 27); Emma; Vaughan (28); Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam (29); Michael L. Waskom (3); Gunnar Blohm; (30); Konrad Kording (15); Paul Schrater (31); Brad Wyble (32); Sean Escola; (33); Megan A. K. Peters (34) ((1) Princeton Neuroscience Institute,; Princeton University; Princeton; NJ; USA; (2) Sainsbury Wellcome Centre,; University College London; London; UK; (3) Center for Neural Science; New; York University; New York City; NY; USA; (4) Champalimaud Research,; Champalimaud Foundation; Lisbon; Portugal; (5) Centre de Recerca; Matem\`atica; Bellaterra; Universitat Aut\`onoma de Barcelona; Barcelona,; Spain; (6) International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility; (7) Gatsby; Computational Neuroscience Unit; Sainsbury Wellcome Centre; University; College London; London; UK; (8) Department of Psychiatry; Yale University,; New Haven; CT; USA; (9) Baylor College of Medicine; Dept. of Neuroscience,; Houston; TX; USA; (10) Baylor College of Medicine; Center for Neuroscience; and Artificial Intelligence; Houston; TX; USA; (11) Rice University; Dept of; Electrical; Computer Engineering; Houston; TX; USA; (12) Psychological &; Brain Sciences; Indiana University; Bloomington; IN; USA; (13) Max Planck; Florida Institute for Neuroscience; Jupiter; FL; USA; (14) HHMI Janelia; Research Campus; Ashburn; VA; USA; (15) University of Pennsylvania; Depts of; Neuroscience; Bioengineering; Philadelphia; PA; USA; (16) Faculty of; dentistry; McGill University; Montreal; QB; Canada; (17) Middle East; Technical University; Ankara; Turkey; (18) Department of Neurobiology,; Harvard University; Cambridge; MA; USA; (19) New York University Shanghai,; Shanghai; China; (20) Talla; Inc; Boston; MA; USA (21) Johns Hopkins; University; Department of Biomedical Engineering; Baltimore; MD; USA; (22); Division of Biological Sciences; UC San Diego; La Jolla; CA; (23) Montreal; Neurological Institute; McGill University; Montreal; QB; Canada; (24) School; of Mathematical Sciences; MOE-LSC; Institute of Natural Sciences; Shanghai; Jiao Tong University; Shanghai; P.R. China; (25) Department of Otolaryngology; - Head & Neck Surgery; Massachusetts Eye; Ear; Boston; MA; USA; (26); Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery; Harvard Medical School,; Boston; MA; USA; (27) Department of Neurology; Massachusetts General; Hospital; Boston; MA; USA; (28) IBRO - Simons Computational Neuroscience; Imbizo; Cape Town; South-Africa; (29) Laboratory of Brain; Cognition,; National Institute of Mental Health; Bethesda; MD; USA; (30) Centre for; Neuroscience Studies; Queen's University; Kingston; Ontario; Canada; (31); University of Minnesota; Depts of Psychology; Computer Science & Eng,; Minneapolis; MN; USA; (32) Psychology Department; Pennsylvania State; University; Philadelphia; PA; USA; (33) Columbia University; Dept of; Psychiatry; Center for Theoretical Neuroscience; New York; NY; USA; (34); Department of Cognitive Sciences; University of California Irvine; Irvina,; CA; USA)

arXiv:2012.08973·q-bio.OT·December 17, 2020

Neuromatch Academy: Teaching Computational Neuroscience with global accessibility

Tara van Viegen (1), Athena Akrami (2), Kate Bonnen (3), Eric DeWitt, (4), Alexandre Hyafil (5), Helena Ledmyr (6), Grace W. Lindsay (7), Patrick, Mineault, John D. Murray (8), Xaq Pitkow (9, 10, 11), Aina Puce (12),, Madineh Sedigh-Sarvestani (13), Carsen Stringer (14)

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TL;DR

Neuromatch Academy organized a large-scale, fully online Computational Neuroscience summer school that emphasized accessibility, inclusivity, and active community engagement through innovative virtual teaching methods.

Contribution

This paper introduces a novel online summer school model that successfully combines multilingual support, community management, and low-cost delivery to maximize accessibility in higher education.

Findings

01

Recruited 1757 students globally

02

Implemented virtual inverted classrooms and small group projects

03

Achieved high inclusivity and engagement levels

Abstract

Neuromatch Academy designed and ran a fully online 3-week Computational Neuroscience summer school for 1757 students with 191 teaching assistants working in virtual inverted (or flipped) classrooms and on small group projects. Fourteen languages, active community management, and low cost allowed for an unprecedented level of inclusivity and universal accessibility.

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