Free Option
Coordinators
Smilja Todorovic / Pedro Domingos
Objectives
The purpose of this curricular unit is to allow students to complement the core courses with optional ones that accommodate their individual needs. Through these courses students are expected to gain more personalized training, by learning e.g. emerging techniques relevant to their research, tools like statistics, programming advanced data analysis (chemometrics and PCA), gain specialized knowledge on a particular field or acquire soft skills relevant for their personal and professional development.
Syllabus
For this curricular unit students can select advanced courses/workshops that match their individual projects and needs. Courses may be provided by a Portuguese University or Research Institute or by international institutions.
The aim of this unit is to tailor the program to the student ´s needs. To this end, the student is expected to search for relevant courses in Portugal and abroad and discuss with the coordinator their adequacy for this curricular unit and his/her scientific training. To receive the corresponding ECTS and officially include the course as part of the Free Option unit, the student will have to provide a certificate of attendance, a program of the course detailing the content and duration, and a brief free-form report of 1-2 pages describing the course activities.
Teaching methodologies and course structure will inevitably vary from course to course.
Only advanced courses taken in recognized institutions will be accepted, ensuring that the teaching methodology is coherent with the intended learning outcomes and promotes the acquisition of scientific knowledge and skills.
Evaluation
Students will provide a short report describing the course and learning achievements, which will submitted for evaluation by the Free Option coordinators after completion of the course.
In order that attendance of a scientific course, a visit to an external lab or other alike scientific activity, can be considered as Free Option, it should:
- in terms of the duration and the content be equivalent to a week long lab rotation at ITQB, providing hands-on experience;
- have a structured program, which together with a certificate of attendance and up to 2 page report, should be provided to Free Option coordinators for assessment and validation.
|
