Great, great course.

If you do not have geography knowledge will be difficult the last case and modelling with the softwares, but you'll do it.

Very important stuff to know:

1, It requires you to do a previous Standfort course (free), so that's a 2x1.

2, This course it is highly mind blowing for economist, policy makers, activist, financial and statistician people.

3, Instructors are great and some of them are la creme dela creme, so enjoy them!

I already had some educational background in ecosystem services prior to this course. The lecturers did thoroughly discuss the ethical implications of monetization over other, more implicit methods of ecosystem services valuation (although they were not as clear as they could have been with those terms, for example referring to "ecosystem services" as a method rather than a term to describe environmental impacts on humans that implies a specific mindset towards the environment). However, the class was poorly organized in that it consisted of a basket of case studies and interviews rather than building from a theoretical foundation. My hope was that this course would provide more technical detail, especially with regard to valuation methods and GIS. I was most interested in the optional module 6 and ended up learning only basic skills with QGIS from it. I'm glad I did not pay for this course, because it was not worth $49.

Good overview of what is involved in ES work. Would have been more helpful to learn some of the data gathering techniques or have more solid practice with methods for assessing ES. Also would have liked required reading that paired along with the sections. Each section was way too short and watching intro and outro was frustrating. Did not like the interviews mostly because of the way they were shot and the Professor asking questions seemed under prepared and just looked down at his papers...

Very disappointed with this one! From the sleepy experts talking with monotonous voices about things that much of the time felt out of place. It seems that every single lecture was more or less an improvisation. I think I'd rather see something a bit less haphazard. Also, much of the focus of the course lay on NATCAP. Often it feels like a very boring advertisement for NATCAP. I would not recommend it.

Found the course to be very educational and interesting. The concept of ecosystem services itself appears to be the most obvious development strategy once you hear about it., which makes it very surprising that it does not crop up more often. The course is well structured and gives a good insight into the idea of how ES operates and the challenges that it faces. Plenty of support material to help for additional reading. One issue I faces was with respect to the peer graded reviews. I feel that the information that the assignment asks for is worded in a different way from what is expected (as can be seen from the rubric system that is revealed later)

Excellent course. Very informative, motivating, eye-opening and thought-provoking. Highly interesting subjects addressed. Well-lectured (clear, understandable voices) which is seldom enough to be mentioned. Technically sound also (audio-graphisms-photography) which is important. Most of all, highly respectful of students learning needs, making it enjoyable to/for all learning levels.

Interesting contradictory debates among teachers/lecturers; definitely an innovative approach for a MOOC!

Outstanding MOOC. I gain a lot of new idea, concepts, learned approaches and practical discssions takig place nowadays. I have a mch cleared ideas of how I can contribute to mainstreaming natural capital, ecosystem services making justice to nature, human beeing and keeping in consideration diverse stakeholders needs and ways of thinking. I would do it again and again.

Loved the settings of each smal modules. And I had fun as well! Lerning has been fun and engaging. Well done team!

Excellent course, very interesting but also in depth and thorough

Introduces not only the methods of Ecosystem Services but also the debate around the use of ecosystem services and how valuable they are and can be to improving the relationship between people and the environment.

The professors are also excellent and engaging; it is a very well-thought out course and I can only recommend it to anyone who is interested in environmental protection or in environmental policy.

Great course to dive into this new concept at the cross border of Economics, Conservation and Policy Making. The course is well balanced, starting with more theoretical concepts, then addressing the criticism heard from professionals of the sector, and then reflecting upon the next steps.

Only regret is the impossibility to download all slides (presentations material from all courses) in one package so that you can follow the course by annotating those slides.

Es un curso que recomiendo, se tiene el privilegio de aprender junto a expertos de cada área. Está diseñado de tal manera que cada aprendiz pueda decidir el enfoque que quiere tomar, con base en el debate y diferentes puntos de vista. Es un MOOC completo y muy interesante. Personalmente cumplió con mis expectativas y sembró en mi las ganas de continuar profundizando en el tema. Muchas gracias por ofrecer este curso.

I really appreciate the great and valuable efforts of the Dear Instructors. This course gave a good insight about the relationship of nature with human in terms of services and values and connection among all the benefits which can be gained from nature. For me it was very enjoyable experience to follow various yet instructive contents throughout the course.

Thanks for providing such an amazing course.

I really liked the course! One of the more challenging courses I've done on Coursera, but I was really happy I learned so many new things. I think it's really good that they also challenge their own method, to make you realize the ups and downs of this method.

Good - all including - course. If you have no prior knowledge, try to finish the Stanford introduction course they suggest before the start.

It was just a wonderful opportunity to learn this course. As i feel, this course has significantly contributed towards my understandings in ESs, their valuation and more importantly, how it can be used to transform it into a decision support system. Thanks to Coursera and thanks to University of Geneva and all Course Instructors to make this happen for me.

The desire for understanding the application of ecosystem services has been met. The videos and the transcription helped to make the course very interesting. With the help of this course, i am able to confidently state where my PhD research will be - Mainstreaming. Whilst i seek for scholarship, I am most grateful to you Coursera.

I enjoyed this course as it further developed the modelling skills I learnt as part of my masters in environmental health. I recommend this course to others who are interested in recognising cultural and social concepts and want to apply scientific methods to better inform others of the value of cultural aspects of ecosystems.

This was the best course I have at Coursera. Professor Martin created an excellent content, connecting with professors from different view-point, and giving a thorough perspective of Ecosystem Services at the same time making us thinking about how to move to the next step. Thank you very much!

I'm currently studying a PhD in Environmental Science at Uni, and this course helped me to understand the context and practical use of the ecosystem service approach. I fully recommend that natural and economic/business students take a look at some of the materials and videos here.

This course was something that I'm not expect, there are a many things that I had no idea, ecosystem services,it is the course that gave me the curiosity of, what is sustainability? Where can I implement it?, what can I do for improvement the sustainability in my country.

The course is very detailed and yet remains accessible. I partiularlyThe tests are slightly redundant (often you are asked to given your opinion) but I don't place too much importance as the certificate, it's more the chance to acquire new knowledge.

Great instructors, guest speakers, diversity of topics, well structured format and great supplemental course materials make this course one of the most relevant and interesting classes I ever have taken. Thank you for offering this course.

I am a forest engineering student and this course is being of great value in development, technology, ethics. It is interesting to see how there are some public policies in the interest of ecosystem services around the world.

Great course! The professional quality of this MOOC makes it easy to follow. The references provided are essential to further the understanding of the Ecosystem Services approach. The lecturers are clear and knowledgable.

Dear Teachers,

This was a very well structured and simplified course and I really appreciate the learnings received in the same. I hope you do more courses like this getting into further details.

Thank you,

Regards

Shravani

I discovered this topic and I found the different views on it very interesting . This course is in my opinion a gateway to a more thorough reflexion on how we could collectively progress on ecosystem services valuation.

What I really enjoy about this course is that there are so many different speakers from different sectors. That makes it interesting because it makes you aware of these different approaches of ecosystems services.