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

The course was concise because you learn the major charecteristics of the groups of fishes and how they evolved into another group.

Excellent course and good depth for beginners with some general biology background. Hope they continue it for entire evolution of vertebrates. Fantastic. A

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Very interesting in the extreme and very difficult in the questions part of the lessons.

I found this course to be a bit more difficult than Dino 101, but I learned a great deal. Studying these creatures makes the dinosaurs seem like the modern newcomers they really were. This course takes you WAAAAY back in time. Very enlightening; I highly recommend it.

I absolutely loved this course. I took it to deepen my knowledge of paleontology because it is part of my job in the museum I work in, but it made me want to learn more about aspects of paleontology that I have not yet explored.

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

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.

Very interesting and entertaining!

Although not as strong as the other palaeontology courses by the University of Alberta, the current courses takes much the same approach and uses the same teaching techniques as these other courses. As such, it easily and effectively gets the millions of years of early vertebrate evolution across clearly and concisely. The video lectures are both interactive and fun, and the course notes are both informative and well adjusted to the video lectures. If there is anything to be remarked upon, then it's the slight lack of depth as pertains to the material covered. This, however, is hardly surprising considering the highly complex material (drawing from fields as osteology, paleoecology, evolutionary and developmental biology, palaeontology and more), the speed at which it is discussed, and the level of accessibility that is provided. Overall, a very good course, and one I very much enjoyed following!

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,

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

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.

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.

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

While I don't believe in evolution, I'm very surprised that the university would subscribe to the notion that all land vertebrates came from some creature in the ocean. Overall, the presentation of the information given could have been a bit more cleaner and steam-lined, rather than attempting to give an abundance of information that pushed the notion that every living thing on this earth came from some aquatic form. The presenter could have been a bit older, possibly someone who had a bit more experience in the field, rather than a twerp who looked like he just came out of puberty. And he talked with this hands too much. Overall, however, just to get some online classes under my belt, in a subject that I'm very interested in, i'd recommend this class as part of an introduction to paleontology itself.

très bien expliqué

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.

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.

Well organized and excellent presenter.

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.

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.

Amazing information, but the instructor is a little distracting.

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.

Very interesting course and concepts clearly explained, thanks !