Learner Reviews & Feedback for Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution by University of Alberta

The course is very well structured, and the drawings are fantastic to help the people visualise the different vertebrates that lived once on the planet. However, I found that it would be more dynamic for the course to have short animations of those fishes while the subject is being explained in the background. I guess it would catch more the viewer's attention throughout the course.

A great way of getting me more familiar with palaeontology. With a background in biology, I had already a basic understanding of phylogeny but in this course, that was quickly explained and then moved onto other things that perfectly fitted my level of learning. I learned a lot and loved all the examples of different genera and different types of fish and early tetrapods.

The professor could have been a bit more serious, he acted as if he was a kindergarden teacher. Seriously: do you really need to imitate with your hand how a fish swims? I don't think so.

Also, the pronounciation of the latin words was horrible - then again, all native English speakers have problems with it, so don't take this remark personally.

A very detailed, comprehensive course for those interested in Vertebrate Evolution and have no background in Palaeontology. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. My sincere thanks to the University of Alberta and all its faculties involved with this course. I hope to see many more such courses on Coursera!

Very interesting and compelling course, and I liked the questions every few minutes during the lectures as that helps me to retain information.

My only complaint is that the lecturer's manner of speaking is very rhythmic and repetitive and that makes it kind of hard to lose track of his words.

Very fast short course, which does not go into much detail. Once again, the quiz questions are far too few to make a comprehensive test of knowledge. Save your $ for an actual full-on rated University credit course, with 30 hrs of lecture and 60 hours of homework/study/lab work.

All the anatomical details of early fishes got a bit too dense for me to fully absorb but I enjoyed learning about this crucial period of tetrepod evolution. There were certainly some strange looking creatures in the early seas.

I have learned so much from this course, thanks to Coursera and University of Alberta. This course is highly recommended for students with a passion for Evolution and Phylogeny. The handouts are also very useful.

I believe the course should have been six weeks long instead of four. I enjoyed the course, however should have contained more detail and the quizzes should have had more questions, at least ten.

Overall very interesting course and videos. It would be nice to have a page at the end of the course showing the evolution of each fish discussed (along with features and timeline).

Pretty in tense but the quizzes are pretty straightforward and the course goes pretty quickly. The diagrams helped. My first stab at real paleontology and it was a good intro.

I found the material and the lessons very useful and clear,. I have deduced one star, because I found it a bit difficult to assimilate so much information in such short time.

The presenter is world class, and I really enjoyed the interactive maps. The quizzes should be a bit more challenging though - perhaps learn how to identify a few fossils,

Difficult subject to get your head around but ultimately worth the effort. The teaching, as always with the University of Alberta's MOOCs, is second to none.

A great course with useful and complete information. The only negative point is that there were not enough assignments for practicing and remembering.

This course is very informative to students as will as teaching profession, we learn basic concept about early vertebrates

Interesting content and informative lectures. Wish the course was longer and more in depth on certain subjects.

i really enjoyed it aloot and learn alooot of new knowledge about early vertebrates....thumbs up...

Nice Course on Early Vertebrate Evolution. The interactive sections of the course were Amazing.

Definitely an appetiser for the subject although the names and terminology are a challenge.

enjoyed the course very much, lots of good information in manageable pieces.

i like this. this is good. good can be fun. fun has rewards...yay, i win

Very interesting course and concepts clearly explained, thanks !

Amazing information, but the instructor is a little distracting.

Awesome information, easy to follow readings and videos.