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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds by University of Alberta

4.9
stars
1,516 ratings

About the Course

Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds is a five-lesson course teaching a comprehensive overview of the origins of birds. This course examines the anatomy, diversity, and evolution of theropod dinosaurs in relation to the origin of birds. Students explore various hypotheses for the origin of flight. Watch a preview of the course here: https://uofa.ualberta.ca/courses/paleontology-theropod-dinosaurs...

Top reviews

JT

May 4, 2024

An engaging and interesting walk through the theropod family tree. It takes in the major non-avian species whilst looking at the traits that took them down the path to modern birds. Very much enjoyed.

MC

Mar 14, 2018

This course was great! It explains everything clearly, and it keeps you involved by asking questions about the material, and keeps you amused with some interesting anecdotes. Highly suggested by me!

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426 - 450 of 458 Reviews for Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds

By wahaab A

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Nov 30, 2016

nice

By Saindo d R

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Dec 24, 2021

A

By Deleted A

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Apr 27, 2017

F

By Crystal B

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Dec 8, 2016

L

By Jakob G

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Jul 16, 2019

This was a great course to grasp the relationship between theropods and birds, and also to follow the development of therapods and realize the big differences between these.

Having English as a second language, I'm quite used to getting around even in an academical context that is fully English. However, I had a hard time with all the anatomical references, especially bone parts that apparently are referenced in Latin rather than English. I had to give the course another round, carefully building my glossary as the course went on. I did this to have some kind of reference document during the course, and it actually worked fins, but if you ask me in a month or so I will probably have already forgot which one is a sternum and which one is the tibia :-)

By João L d S

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Jun 22, 2020

It is a good introductory course. Since I am pursuing a career in paleontology I found some little inconsistencies that are not great problems. But one bothers me: saying that Huxley said birds descended from dinosaurs. This is not true.

SWITEK, Brian. Thomas Henry Huxley and the reptile to bird transition. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, v. 343, n. 1, p. 251-263, 2010.

By Lily A N

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Aug 2, 2017

This was a very well put together and thought-out course. Overall, the information presented was well ordered and the learning aids (lecture notes, tree of life, & glossary) matched/expanded the video content. Tho only issues would be that: the quizzes were a little too easy and, when book-marked, the pdf file links provided would no longer work.

By DC

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Jul 11, 2018

The cladistic and taxonomic terminology is overwhelming, interspersed with absurdly easy quizzes, but all in all a good course and all materials are available for free. As usual, Dr. Persons can get a bit out of control with the theatrical gestures and facial expressions but I would recommend this course.

By Dr. J S

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Mar 25, 2016

Perfect course. I learned lot of stuff and really enjoyed it. I am only giving 4 stars because as a non-paying student I could not benefit from the graded assignments. As person who would never use the knowledge professionally (working in IT), I did not want to pay for the certificate.

By Stephanie V

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Aug 17, 2017

Interesting and very informative. Well-presented and engaging videos. These were often quite long though (25 - 30 mins) and could perhaps have been broken down into two smaller chunks which would have made the information (of which there was lots) more digestible.

By David D

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Jan 25, 2019

Great course. My first thoughts were learning about bird evolution might need seem all that interesting but because it all starts with the dinosaurs we are somewhat familiar with, this approach makes it highly stimulating.

Well spoken and well presented.

By Skylore M

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Jul 2, 2017

The course is exceptional, but loses track near the end. In the beginning it has detailed taxonomical images of relevant bone-structure which is entirely missing by the final chapter.

By Joe H

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Mar 11, 2021

Excellent course! Very thorough. Very knowledgable presenters. Loved how well the course was laid out. I with there could be more interactive activities like the dinosaur foot!

By Melinda T

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Oct 26, 2022

This course was packed full of interesting information. The only thing i would change is the length of individual classes. This could easily have been a 10 week course.

By Angel A M

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Apr 11, 2017

Es un curso muy útil ya que nos enseña como fue el proceso de evolución de los dinosaurios para finalmente convertirse en voladores..

By Cindy L

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Mar 17, 2020

Fantastic course on theropods, I just wish they went a bit more into detail with some of the anatomy

By kim p

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Sep 14, 2017

I really liked the subject of this course. I love to see more bird related courses

By Maria W O

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Mar 30, 2016

Overall good course, although at times narrow understanding of right answers.

By Rebecca E

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Feb 22, 2016

Very interesting course, kept me involved and was very interactive.

By Joy S

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Mar 9, 2016

Tough to pass. Great scientific info. Instructor born to teach.

By Clotilde A

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Feb 2, 2019

Great course, interesting topics and explanations, thanks !

By Erick J A

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Mar 20, 2016

I'd like to be able to take a free version of the quizzes.

By omkar s

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Aug 27, 2019

Enjoyed knowing how these dinosaurs evolved over time

By Tom H

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Mar 3, 2016

Really interesting, nicely presented.

By Javier

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Jun 16, 2017

Podrían poner traducción al español