Learner Reviews & Feedback for Understanding Plants - Part I: What a Plant Knows by Tel Aviv University

So far, I'm really enjoying this course. I like the look of it, the professor is engaging and as a layperson I find the content very, very interesting. What a wonderful take on plant biology!

Maybe this course deserves 3 stars rather than 4 because it has some problems--but I really enjoyed it and learned a ton.

Problems: 1) The Professor is obviously learning how to teach via this platform as he goes along making the first few lessons much more confusing than they need to be

2) The book has been updated but the course has not

3) Some links to external content are broken--It's easy enough to find other YouTube videos that cover the content but it's a glitch

4) And, the biggest problem for me--as a professor some of his quiz questions fall into the "gotcha" category--meaning they are more about how the question is exactly worded rather than a test that lets you figure out if you're understood the content and remembered it correctly

But if you're interested in learning the material, the course is well worth taking.

Interesting course. Although some of the questions being tested in some of the modules including module three did not coincide with what was being taught. There were questions on the quizzes that were not covered in any of the lectures.

Tests are rather specific and difficult. A few misspellings throughout. Information was fascinating.

The content was extensive and complex; often a bit too complex and not elaborate. Very brief, unintelligible parts were quizzed. It was often hard to understand my Professor.

Great course - the professor is enthusiastic, engaging, and teaching complex concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand and remember, even for someone with no biology background.

It is a very emosionante course, demanding and at the same time fun. Without being scientific, nor handle technical terms, it is very easy to understand and learn, even for non-English speakers.

But if I would like the exams, which present multiple answers, have the opportunity to know which or which are the correct answers to the question, since when there is still to complete the correct options, do not guess! , without knowing whether or not there is an appropriate answer within the options.

I loved everything except the quizzes and final needed more grooming. Not with correct information, but with the set up. Besides the spelling mistakes and the "incorrect answer" text clearly displayed as one of the answers, they definitely needed a second and third look. Another tweak is if there is only one correct answer, don't set it up as if there is more than one. Keep the single answer questions as radio buttons, not squares.

Excellent lectures, terrible exams.

The Course was interesting enough for me to go for the Part II of the course as well. The final quiz still mesmerizes me, I could not get a few answers even after reviewing the entire syllabus, checking on the net etc. Probably after completion atleast if you couls share all the answers...Thanks

Love the clarity of the instructors deliver which is supported by great explanations and most importantly visual aids & demonstrations. Ps... Especially loved the bloopers at the end. Nice treat! :)

A perfect course to understand all senses of plants in a straightforward way and I must admit the way professor Daniel chamovitz helped me to better acknowledge this course was satisfactory for me.

It was very interesting to learn about research on plants and their abilities to detect and respond to a variety of stimuli and to relate that to people and our sensory experiences. Thank you!

Very good

A passionate lecturer which integrates superbly research of more than a century ago into dynamic, well-structured lectures with very good visuals and animations. Learned plenty! Be warned though: either there is a problem with Coursera managing the quiz section or with the course itself, as the final quiz is rigged with system errors. The questions of the final quiz are a trap: be aware of the differences between check boxes (i.e. multiple answers) vs radio-dial buttons (a single answer). Be also aware that it's all or nothing when making an error on a multiple-answer question. A really downer to end what was so far a very good and very enjoyable course!

I really enjoyed this course and I found most of the information fascinating. I was not at all a fan of the quizzes and final exam. The questions are more about the wording than the information. They're designed to trip you up rather than test your knowledge. And I absolutely loathe "check all that apply" questions. Other than that, the course was really great, and I'm thinking of going on to the next.

This is an excellent, exciting, and well taught course, which introduces quite interesting findings about plants. The addition of more learning materials, especially lecture notes, would make it truly great! Thank you, prof. Chamovitz.

The course is not bad, but I have to say, that one has to have previous knowledge in the field of biology, before taking the course.

The course was great. I wish it had seen more real pictures.

Average

Good information, quizzes very poor. The final had an incorrect answer. The quizzes assumed knowledge not taught or addressed in the supplemental readings, questions were often worded in a very confusing way. I would NOT take another course from this instructor. Very bad experience.

JUST DON'T PAY FOR IT. The content of this course is good, but the testing structure is confusing and bad. The quizzes are full of typos and don't seem to have been proofread at all. The subtitles for the videos are very wrong, especially when it comes to scientific terms. Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be any course moderators active on the forums. It's just past students who have no ability to fix anything. So issues that were reported years ago still haven't been fixed.

Don't pay for a course certificate because the quality is not worth your money. Just read Professor Chamovitz's book. The material is nearly identical.

This is my 4th course on coursera and definitely my favorite. Overall the course is very well made and it goes through concepts quite in depth. I have some ecology and land management background and I took this course together with other beginner courses to test my basics in order to advance more. Many of the other courses I could listen in the background and went through much information that I already knew. This one, on the other hand, I had to pay full attention, and failed the quizzes multiple times. The name of the course makes it sound like an introductory course for "tree hugging nature-lovers", but is instead an in-depth introductory course to plant biology. The professor, though, takes all the time to explain all the information and concepts and no previous experience is required. Quiz questions throughout the video make sure you understand and are ready to move on. Most probably will take the follow-up course.

Despite getting a little bit lost in some technical details, I thought the course was still worthwhile and interesting, and i learned stacks of stuff that I should have know all my life. Well presented and entertaining, and just about the right demand on my time.

Some of the tests were a bit hard going because I felt that multiple answers made it more difficult to learn from wrong answers. I would have preferred more questions with a higher % requirement.

This is the second course I have done by these folk (I did part II first). They are good courses. Hope they decide to do one on pollination some time. Thanks.

Great class. Professor Chamovitz is a very gifted teacher. He uses the media very well. The content is very well organized, the explanations very progressive and given at the right level of detail for an introduction. After taking this course, you will never look at your plants the same way. It's fascinating. The treatment of the philosophical questions (Do plants see? Do they remember?...) is a little weak. There are philosophers working on these issues. It would have been great if Prof. Chamovitz had invited one/some of them to take part in the course. But I'm quibbling here...