Course FAQ

“How to Grow (Almost) Anything” (HTGAA) is a bioengineering and synthetic biology course for both experienced bio-enthusiasts and those new to the life sciences alike. Each week features a lecture from global experts in their respective research domain along with hands-on, wet-lab skills development. HTGAA is a graduate level MIT Media Lab course open to undergrad and graduate students from MIT, Harvard, and other schools able to cross-register, and also open to a large cohort of online Global Students and Committed Listeners. For a short video introduction be sure to see About HTGAA.

Students (undergraduate and graduate) at MIT, Harvard, and also a large cohort of online Global Students/Committed Listeners. The course is intended for people from all backgrounds, locations, and education levels - but it requires engagement and willingness to learn. Our Global Students/Committed Listeners have included participants ranging from secondary school to retirees coming from six continents. This wide range and diversity of participants has enabled a vibrant global community of students and Teaching Assistants who help to organize and run the course.

HTGAA is free for Global Students/Committed Listeners.

Global Students can virtually attend lectures at their leisure but do not complete homework assignments or final projects. Committed Listeners virtually attend lectures and recitations weekly just like registered MIT/Harvard students and also produce weekly homework that can be presented to our team of Global Teaching Assistants. ‘Committed Listeners’ will also work on individual final projects and the group final project and will be able to interact with Global TAs during weekly Global Recitations and also participate in the course’s slack workspace for peer-to-peer learning opportunities. Links to the student portfolios completed by Committed Listeners will also be featured on the semester’s HTGAA Course Page.

To qualify as a Committed Listener a Global Student should, by the end of the first week of class, (i) fill out the Course Signup Form, (ii) attend or watch the recording of the first class lecture, (iii) attend or watch the recording of the first recitation, (iv) begin adding content to your provided HTGAA website for class work, and (v) complete the first week’s homework, documenting on your HTGAA website (as with all course work).

Anywhere from 5-10 hrs a week, depending on your background and knowledge of Synthetic Biology.

A device with Internet access is the only requirement. No homework for Global Students / Committed Listeners will require in-person wet-lab access (but many Nodes do offer access to anyone who wants to come in person); all Lab work required by Global homework can be performed remotely.

Yes, all lectures and recitations will be recorded and shared in a timely manner with course participants.

Yes, all Listeners are encouraged to ask questions in the Zoom chat! The Global TAs will try their best to answer them. For longer discussions, for Committed Listeners please use the HTGAA Forum and/or have the conversation live in Global Recitations.

Registered MIT and Harvard students will meet regularly throughout each week with in-person MIT and Harvard TAs. Committed Listeners meet regularly every week with their Global Node staff in Global Recitations and Office Hours, plus have access to the HTGAA Forum for asking & answering questions. Global Students may ask questions on Zoom Chat during lectures and recitations. We encourage our Committed Listeners and Global Students to ask lots of questions and engage with our Global TA team — you are the reason we’re here!

Registered MIT and Harvard students will present their homework and receive feedback each week during the first hour of class. Committed Listeners will present their homework and receive feedback during weekly Global Recitations with their Global Node.

Yes! HTGAA is an amazing opportunity to learn together and build fellowship with peers from all over the world. Committed Listeners can interact with each other, all of our TAs, and also our MIT and Harvard students via the HTGAA Forum.

Organized by Global Nodes, small groups of Committed Listeners and Global TAs meet on Zoom and/or in person first to review the week’s concepts from lectures/recitations, and then students take turns presenting their homework due that week and receiving feedback from Global TAs and other students. Please show up on time and plan to stay for the duration of the scheduled Global Recitation if possible.

Committed Listeners will be sent a form allowing them to express their Global Node affiliation preferences after the first homework assignment is reviewed and Committed Listeners are chosen. Then the Global Nodes will choose students from among those interested, subject to capacity limits.

Yes! Groups form every year, often regionally (such as South America, Asia, Europe, and more). Many Global Students return in later semesters to take the course as a Committed Listener and gain the full support system that offers.

Please see the list of Global Nodes and contact them for options.

HTGAA is a decentralized course. Individual labs can choose to conduct the same labs and experiments as the in-person course at MIT. Running wet-lab experiments is not cheap; most nodes are community labs and require a participation fee to cover onboarding/safety training and bench fees or membership fees. Please contact Nodes directly for details on how to participate in the in-person experiments. But note that any paid-access wet-lab work is a completely optional enrichment experience; no in-person wet-lab work is required of Committed Listeners, and the great majority who earn a Certificate of Completion do so without any hands-on wet-lab work.

Registered MIT and Harvard students taking this class in person and for credit (MIT course MAS.885) will be graded according to the following rubric:

Component	Percentage
Lecture, Recitation, and Lab Attendance and Participation	33%
Weekly Assignments (Class Write-ups and Lab Documentation)	33%
Final Project (Group work and individual project)	34%

Committed Listeners are assessed on participation, homework, and final project presentation; those meeting the standards are awarded a signed Certificate of Completion at the end of the course. Contact your Global Node for grading details.

By the last week of the course, Committed Listeners should: (i) attend or watch the recording of all class lectures, (ii) attend or watch the recording of all recitations, (iii) complete all homework and document everything on their HTGAA website (as with all class work), (iv) PARTICIPATE by attending (via Zoom) Global Recitations most weeks, (v) complete an Individual Final Project and document it on their HTGAA website, (vi) present the Individual Final Project to class instructors/staff/Global Students in the Global Final Project Presentation session over Zoom (date & time to be announced).

Registered MIT and Harvard students are taking the course for school credit while Global Students and Committed Listeners are offered the course free-of-charge for continuing education. Committed Listeners who earn a Certificate of Completion (see requirements above) will be acknowledged on the course website (where your student portfolio will be shared in perpetuity), receive an official signed course certificate, and have the opportunity both to become a Global TA in future semester and to join the course research project after the semester is over and potentially be a co-author on a group publication! Numerous former students and TAs were co-authors on our recent Nature Biotechnology paper, for example.

We will have an online Final Project Presentation for all Committed Listeners where they can share their work to the faculty and all of the other HTGAA students, and certificate recipients will be invited to an online ceremony celebrating successful completion of the course.