2024 Syllabus

Coding4Conservation instructor assignments can be found here.

Sunday, March 10: “Travel Day”

• 5:30am: Meet at Madagascar Biodiversity Center in Tsimbazaza for departure
• 6am-6pm: Drive to Centre Val Bio in Ranomafana, with a stop for lunch in Ambositra
• 6:30-7:30pm: Dinner
• 7:30-9:30pm: Instructor Introductions and Overview of Week

Monday, March 11: “Getting Started with the Basics”

• 12:00-1:00pm: Lunch
• 1:00-3:00pm: Overview and 3-minute student introductions (Cara)
• 3:00-3:30pm: Coffee Break
• 3:30-4:30pm: Discussion: Data and Models (Tanjona)
• 4:30-5:30pm: Lecture: Data and Models (Cara)
• 5:30-6:00pm: Formulating Research Questions Pt 1 (Cara)
• 6:00-6:30pm: Office Hour
• 6:30-7:30pm: Dinner
• Homework: Write your own research question due Tuesday, March 12 at 5:00pm

Tuesday, March 12: “Using Models with Data”

• 6:30-8:00am: Breakfast
• 8:15-8:30am: Road Map and Daily Agenda (Sophia)
• 8:30-10:00am: Simple Statistics: Lecture / Tutorial (Michelle)
• 10:00-10:30am: Coffee Break
• 10:30-12:00pm: Exercise + Discussion: Dynamical Fever (Gwen, Sophie, Santino)
• 12:00-1:00pm: Lunch
• 1:00-3:00pm: Linear Regression: Lecture / Tutorial (Andres)
• 3:00-3:30pm: Break
• 3:30-5:30pm: Mixed Modeling: Lecture / Tutorial (Emily)
• 5:30-6:30pm: Formulating Research Questions Pt 2 (All Instructors)
• 6:30-7:30pm: Dinner
• 7:00-9:00pm: (optional) Night Walk - meet out front of CVB
• Homework: Edit your own research questions due Wednesday, March 13 at 1:00pm
• Homework: Read Pando et al 2023 in preparation for Reading a Research Paper, due Wednesday March 13

Wednesday, March 13: “Applying Simple Models”

• 6:30-8:00am: Breakfast
• 8:00-8:15am: Road Map and Daily Agena (Sophia)
• 8:15-10:15am: Mechanistic Modeling: Lecture / Tutorial (Sophie)
• 10:15-10:45am: Coffee Break
• 10:45-12:00pm: Exercise: Epidemic Cards (Sophie, Emily, Santino)
• 12:00-1:00pm: Lunch
• 1:00-3:30pm: Discussion: Refining Research Questions for Modeling (Cara)
  • Small Group Assignments Here
• 3:30-4:00pm: Break
• 4:00-5:00pm: Small Group Discussion: Reading a Research Paper - Pando et al 2023 (Christian, Natalia)
• 5:00-6:00pm: Mid-Session Feedback (Mentors)
• 6:00-6:30pm: Break
• 6:30-7:30pm: Dinner
• Homework: ‘Creating a Model World + Building a Statistical Framework’ due Friday March 15th at 8:15am

Thursday, March 14: “Fitting Models to Data”

• 6:30-7:30am: Breakfast
• 7:00am-1:00pm: Hike in Ranomafana National Park - meet out front of CVB
• 12:00-1:00pm: Lunch
• 1:00-1:15pm: Response to Feedback (Sophia)
• 1:15-2:15pm: Tutorial: Model Fitting with Epidemic Cards (Sophie, Emily, Santino)
• 2:15-3:45pm: Model Fitting in Practice: Lecture / Tutorial (Michelle)
• 3:45-4:15pm: Coffee Break
• 4:15-5:30pm: Work Time + One on One Instructor Meetings (All Instructors)
• 6:30-7:30pm: Dinner
• Homework: ‘Creating a Model World + Building a Statistical Framework’ due Friday March 15th at 8:15am

Friday, March 15: “Refining Your Work”

• 6:30-8:00am: Breakfast
• 8:00-8:15am: Road Map and Daily Agenda (Sophia)
• 8:15-10:00am: Activity: Model Telephone with Model Diagrams (Sophia)
  • Example model description here
• 10:00-10:30am: Break
• 10:30-12:00pm: Model Selection and Comparison: Lecture / Tutorial (Christian)
• 12:00-1:00pm: Lunch
• 1:00-2:30pm: Introduction to Phylogenetic Modeling: Lecture: English / Lecture: French / Tutorial (Gwen)
• 2:30-3:00pm: Coffee Break
• 3:00-3:30pm: Assignment: Final Research Plans (Cara)
  • Example assignment here here
• 3:30-5:45pm: One-on-One Instructor Meetings (All Instructors)
• 5:45-6:30pm: Break
• 6:30-7:30pm: Dinner
• Homework: Final Research Plans due by midnight on Monday, March 18. Submit here.
  • Example assignment here.

Saturday, March 16: “Putting it all in Perspective”

• 6:30-8:00am: Breakfast
• 8:00-8:15am: Road Map and Daily Agenda (Sophia)
• 8:15-9:45am: Lecture: Modeling in Practice: The Life Cycle of a Modeling Project (Andres)
• 9:45-10:15am: Coffee Break
• 10:15-11:45am: Coding 4 Conservation Talks (4 talks, 10 mins each)
• 11:45-12:30pm: Lecture: Looking back: How far have we come? So many models! How to choose?! (Tanjona)
• 12:30-1:15pm: Lunch
• 1:15-2:30pm: Work Time + One on One Instructor Meetings (All Instructors)
• 2:30-5:45pm: Work Time + Free Time
  • You can walk to Ranomafana town during this time if you want! Meet at Hotel Manja at 6:00pm.
• 5:45pm: Bus departs CVB for Hotel Manja
• 6:00-9:00pm: Farwell Dinner
• Homework: Final Research Plans due by midnight on Monday, March 18. Submit here.
  • Example assignment here.

Sunday, March 17: Travel Day

• 5:00-5:30am: Breakfast to go
• 5:30am-6pm: Drive to Madagascar Biodiversity Center in Tsimbazaza in Tana, with a stop for lunch in Ambositra
• Homework: Final Research Plans due by midnight on Monday, March 18. Submit here.

Monday, March 18: Free Day

• 8:00-10:30am: Office Hours at MBC
• Stop by if you would like help with the course content and/or your final research plan
• Homework: Final Research Plans due by midnight tonight. Submit here.

Tuesday, March 19: Final Symposium at Madagascar Biodiversity Center

• 9:00-12:00pm: Research Talks

• 12:00-1:00pm: Cocktail

• Note: We will not be teaching a few specific lessons this year, but here are links to the lectures/tutorial to peruse on your own time if interested:
  • Spatial Visualization and Plotting
  • Occupany Modeling
  • Introduction to Network Models: Lecture/Tutorial