What is it?

This is a BIO101a study group, based on the curriculum provided on Saylor.org. No prior knowledge of biology is required.

What are the goals?

Saylor.org is a great place to find a comprehensive curriculum and links to ressources, but still misses exercises, projects and peer interaction for active learning. The goal of this challenge is to collectively contribute exercises and projects, while learning the curriculum provided on Saylor.org. At the end of the challenge, you will not only have learned basic biology, but helped making this learning more engaging for future generations of students.

How does it work?

Each task corresponds to a particular content, following the BIO101a curriculum on Saylor.org.  For each task, you will need to follow theses steps:

1. Read or watch the content referenced in this study group.
2. Challenge your peers by asking a question or suggesting a hands-on projects on the companion OSQA website.
3. Answer one of the questions or complete one of the projects, posting the result on the OSQA website.
4. Vote for one question and one answer, or for one project outline and one completed project on the OSQA website.
5. Once a month, the best ranked question and/or project will be added to the task in this study group. Complete this task/project and discuss about it with your peers, directly in the comment section of the task.
6. (Optional:) If you happen to generate new content (e.g. illustrations, essays, etc.), you are encouraged to make it available online under a Creative Common License and post the link in the comment section of the task.

What is the timeline?

A task will be created approximately every other working day, so the course will unravel at a slow but steady pace, giving you time to study. A month after a task has been created, it will be updated by adding the best ranked question/project contributed on the OSQA website. You can join at any time and study/contribute at your own pace.