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

4.8
stars
1,149 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 315 Reviews for Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution

By Fa-is J

Jul 14, 2021

Good lecturer

By Paulo d S P

May 7, 2020

Just amazing!

By Gary E

Feb 6, 2019

It was fun :)

By 牛长泰

Oct 2, 2016

good course!

By Carmen T R

Feb 8, 2019

Interesting

By Michael

Nov 20, 2019

Fantastic!

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

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 Michelle S

Sep 25, 2024

Extremely interesting! I just struggled a bit with all the anatomical terminology. I'm a visual learner and could have used more pictures comparing changing bits of fishes as they evolved. But that's just me. I've enjoyed it so much and want to understand it better so I've downloaded notes and videos to come back and watch again. Would have liked more resources that were less academic. I'm just an average middle-aged person with no prior knowledge, who is interested, not someone wanting to actually be a paleontologist. Thanks for such an amazing and informative free course!

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.