Time commitment expectations?

[ksedivyhaley]

I'm finding it difficult to keep up with the coursework and my research at the same time, and am wondering if I am misunderstanding the course expectations.

Since Tuesday, I have spent about 6 hours reading the Explore chapter of the R for Data Science book (including exercises in chapters 3 & 5 but not in chapter 7) and 1 hour reviewing course notes (mostly the sections on dplyr not covered in class, not covering the ggplot material we haven't really gotten into get). Last week I spent about 4 hours on the homework, and based on your comments in class I should expect to spend 40-60 minutes on peer review. That's 11-12 hours a week outside class plus 3 hours of lecture time, which feels like a lot on top of graduate research expectations.

Am I ahead on the reading? Am I overthinking the homework? Am I just slow? (About half of the concepts we're covering are new to me.) Or is that the amount of time I'm expected to spend learning the material?

[NicoleOngUBC]

I share somewhat related sentiments about the course. The readings are a bit overwhelming because every week's lecture is linked to more reading (and then more reading...). Meanwhile, I found I was learning most by 'doing' and experimenting with different functions and arguments in RStudio.

Perhaps, we just need a bit more structure to the course materials or a schedule to the readings.

[jennybc]

It's a good question!

I just did some googling on norms for expected time spent outside the classroom on university courses. The numbers vary but one I see a lot is 3 hours, which implies 9 hours outside of class.

Some people will spend less and some will spend more. That depends on how much R or programming experience you have and what your goals are. Transforming from someone who approaches data with Excel to someone who uses R, Git, GitHub, R Markdown, etc. is a Really. Big. Deal. And many grad students feel this is long overdue for them and use STAT 545 to light the fire under them to make this transition. I'm sure many of them spend 11-12 hours per week on this.

@ksedivyhaley It sounds like you are being super-conscientious with the reading, which is great. But perhaps you don't have to cover it all so universally. There is definitely redundancy between class time, the lessons on STAT545.com, and the R for data science book. You can use your judgment when it feels like you've covering the same ground over and over again.

@supersonicole Doing stuff and experimenting is the very best way to learn! The other resources exist merely as gateways for that. So if you can find good experiments and solve puzzles, w/o doing every last word of reading, then you are doing just fine.

[RosieRedfield]

Maybe it will help to think of this course (and tell your supervisor to think of this course) as part of your research-skills training, like learning to do tissue culture or run a gel. So the time you spend on it really counts as research time.