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

4.8
stars
1,121 ratings

About the Course

Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution is a four-lesson course teaching a comprehensive overview of the origin of vertebrates. Students will explore the diversity of Palaeozoic lineages within a phylogenetic and evolutionary framework. This course examines the evolution of major vertebrate novelties including the origin of fins, jaws, and tetrapod limbs. Students also explore key Canadian fossil localities, including the Burgess Shale (British Columbia), Miguasha (Quebec), and Man On The Hill (Northwest Territories). Watch a preview of the course here: https://uofa.ualberta.ca/courses/paleontology-vertebrate-evolution...

Top reviews

TO

Jun 20, 2016

WOW, I learned a lot form this and it was fairly educational but not overwhelming or difficult. This instructor really gets the points across without being to easy or hard. A very good class.

JC

Mar 2, 2018

Celebrate your inner fish as you swim along with this awesome course charting our earliest ancestors. Very well constructed and delivered once again by the team at the University of Alberta.

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251 - 275 of 307 Reviews for Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution

By Jose C M

Jun 7, 2016

excellent!

By Eduardo

Apr 17, 2020

EXCELENTE

By Constantino B

Mar 7, 2020

Excelente

By Dani C

Nov 8, 2019

very good

By Benjamin M

Nov 7, 2019

Thanks!!

By Victor M E R

Nov 11, 2018

exelente

By Linda A

Apr 25, 2017

Excelent

By LΣΛΝDΓΘ

Oct 9, 2020

Great!

By RAGHUVEER S D

Jul 25, 2020

good

By Mona A A

Jun 6, 2020

GOOD

By GARIMA S

Mar 7, 2020

nice

By Sally R

Jul 31, 2022

By Robert C C

Apr 25, 2016

G

By Alexander P V M

Aug 31, 2016

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!

By Robert C D J

Mar 31, 2018

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.

By Mark M

Sep 8, 2021

I enjoyed the course. Was introduced to interesting knowledge that was well presented. I did the course because of its connection to astronomy, an interest I have been actively developing. So I wanted to understand the principles and I really wasn't interested in the technical detail. The quizzes were focused on technical detail, which misses the point of a MOOC. I had to redo the quizzes until I got 80%. Assessment should be focused on developing thinking skills, and that opportunity was missed.

By Evelyn T

Apr 2, 2020

Really enjoyed this course-- it was a little more difficult than Dino Paleobology101 but that's totally fine. I didn't particularly enjoy the long chapters about rocks and types of environments (although I understand that it's important to know to understand fossil preservation and the environment that the animals had lived in) but the rest was all really great. Looking forward to the next few courses in this series.

By Michelle J

Aug 18, 2022

I have a deep (no pun intended) interest in paleontology because of living here in Alberta. In this course, I was introduced to several other interesting areas in Canada that draw me to continue to study this. It was interesting and informative. I wish however, that the notes contained more drawings or references because I was unable to play the videos which I suspect had additional visual learning tools.

By Francisco L A B

Aug 3, 2020

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.

By Daniëlle v d B

May 3, 2020

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.

By Zoltán V

Oct 10, 2016

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.

By Om M V

Aug 26, 2020

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!

By Alexis P

Apr 11, 2016

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.

By Charles R B

Jun 19, 2017

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.

By Caroline K

Sep 22, 2023

I jut hope coursera gives a fair amount of the fees to the student who did all the presentations: the professor may have written it but did not show up even once !He deserves it more than her! That said, the course is great and I leanred a lot of things !