Overall, I thought this was actually quite a nice introductory course to dinosaur paleobiology. Not only did it cover a lot of ground in the core subject (dinosaur diversity, lifestyles, phylogeny, and extinction), but it also went over evolution, finding fossils, and taphonomy and preservation in a succinct manner. It also dispelled some common myths and possible misconceptions about dinosaurs. The most I would do with it is perhaps update it a bit, as I have seen some information that seems to be more outdated. For example, I remember drawings for Spinosaurus are still long-legged (it has since been found to have short legs and a paddle-like tail). Also, I am pretty sure therizinosaurs are largely thought of as herbivorous by modern paleontologists, even though the course portrays their diet to still be ambiguous. Nevertheless, great course.

This was a great course. I really learned so much about dinosaurs. I would have given it 5 stars if it weren’t for the misuse of the term ‘meteorite’. Meteorite was used interchangeably with meteor when they are not the same. Meteorites are space rocks that have landed on the surface of the earth and meteors are still in space. In addition, the object that impacted the earth at the end of the Cretaceous was surely large enough to qualify as an asteroid. This may seem like a trivial detail to those who specialize in the study of dinosaurs, but it is important to be consistent and show understanding of subjects outside of your expertise. This is especially true in an introductory course where students maybe learning new information for the first time. Otherwise an excellent course.

After completing this course, I still find it very interesting that the presenters and the chief paleontologist believe that the earth and her inhabitants are millions of years old. It's a bunch of nonsense. Especially the fact that evolution is a a theory and not scientific fact. Darwin refuted his own theory while on his death bed. Read is bibliography. Anyways, aside from the false science of evolution presented in this course, it was informative to a degree, a bit humorous, based on the assumption that birds came from dinosaurs (really?), and somewhat fulfilling. As a Christian who believes in biblical science which supports a young earth, I wold like to see both sides of evolution and creationism presented in future courses for this particular topic.

Well made course, very interesting. Besides giving an insight on what is known about dinosaurs, the way the knowledge is reached is also described. The material is really good overall, the videos as well as the reading. A lot of practical examples are shown, such as fossils.

I followed the entire course using x2 speed on the videos. The fossil viewer did not work for me. Besides, the last few weeks of content seemed less interesting, I think it might be due to a lack of variation throughout the course.

Overall, the course was really nice. I enjoyed learning more about my childhood fascination and recommended the course to two acquaintances.

I really enjoyed this course. The video presentations were great and easy to follow. Being able to read along with the notes while watching and listening to the video was a help for some of the words I couldn't quite catch on the video, seeing them helped a lot. I would have liked to see more actual fossils, some of the digs etc. But maybe that's another class option? Thank you so much for providing these classes free of charge. I have always had an interest in Paleology and this gives me an opportunity to explore that interest from home. I hope to continue with more classes.

A fun introduction to paleobiology with a great overview of fossils, evolution. geology, periodization, dinosaur anatomy and taxonomy.

I enjoyed the video lectures and visuals. The small questions embedded in the videos were interactive and fun. The quiz at the end of each week was mildly challenging and helped reinforce the information from the lectures.

My only complaint is that the "fossil viewer" never worked. I'm certain it would have been very enriching and it was bitterly disappointing that we could never use it.

The course info was amazing, and very well-taught. I am a huge dinosaur enthusiast, and while there was definitely information I already knew, there was plenty I didn't! The only reason for the 4-stars instead of 5 is that sometimes, the subtitles weren't correct. There were often misspellings or incorrect/made-up words instead of the correct terms or species names. While I am not deaf/HoH, I do use the subtitles, and if it was distracting for me, it could be detrimental to a student who needs them for accessibility.

Really enjoyed this course. It gave me a deeper insight into theories and characteristics surrounding dinosaurs and their existence, and at the same time, told me a great deal of new things about their classification, characteristics and evolutionary context. I liked the clarity with which facts were presented and the stress that was applied on the idea of hypotheses and their acceptance/rejection. It inspired me to think more scientifically about the world around us.

I've learned a lot in this course, although it appears to have been recorded in 2013 based on the unique number Dr. Currie wrote on the fossil. So I'd like to know how our knowledge has changed since then. I'm still undecided on whether or not to purchase the certificate, but an updated course would be good and I would then be much more likely to purchase the certificate. I could not access the 3D fossils and the interactive geological time didn't work correctly.

I really enjoyed this course and learned a lot about a subject that I was very interested in but didn't know much about the subject. I would have given the course a 5-star rating except some of the reading material had some spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors that could and should easily be corrected. They are the kind of errors that would lose points if they were a graded assignment given to a student in a university course. Other than that I loved it!

The course material is interesting for amateurs who wants to have a better understanding of dinosaurs and the videos are well done and interesting.

However, at times I found the course notes to be written poorly (with repetitive, over-simplified language and some mistakes here and there) and the forums looks somewhat empty to me.

Thank you for the effort, I hope the course gets updated with new material i time!

The course was fun and engaging. Pretty easy provided one pays attention. But some aspects of the course are sadly outdated. For example Spinosaurus now looks different than we once thought and so the art models for some dinosaurs need updating. And some article links are no longer valid and the fossil viewer that is prevelant throughout the course is largely not usable due to software updates.

Really 4 1/5 to 5 stars. The loss of stars is because of technological problems, notably the fossil viewer and geologic time viewers never worked no matter what device I used. I also think the latter chapters would have been better first. But the course itself is amazing and I plan to take all of Alberta's paleontology courses. Thank you so much for the course.

There's an enormous amount of information to take in during this course. It's very well presented although a number of links and the fossil viewers are non-functioning which was a disappointment. However I enjoyed the challenges and have a much better understanding of dinosaurs and the prehistoric world. Glad I signed on and stuck it through to the end.

Really well made course that truly expands your knowledge on the subject. My only issue with it was that there were a lot of errors in the lessons in terms of typos and editing and booking exams was difficult because there didn't seem to be communication between people who run the course and the LAC because there weren't enough seats to book exams.

Good overview, unfortunately dated.

A great overview of paleobiology hosted by world famous Phil Currie, marred by broken links in the course readings. The course material is anywhere from 6-8 years old, in general, and paleobiology has been moving fast in the last decade, so some of the information is obsolete at this point. Recommended, overall.

I really enjoyed the course. There were no current participants in the forums, but I read them all and learned a bit from those, too. I especially liked Betsy's presentation and hope she gets a raise for her good work. This course is obviously a broad overview and a great place to begin for anyone interested in this line of study.

Many grammatical and sentence structure errors at times making the reading confusing or difficult. Many of the resource links at the conclusion of each reading were no longer valid/did not work. While I enjoyed the information and presentation, proofing the printed material will simply make it better and boost credibility.

Dino 101 es un fantástico curso dividido en 12 lecciones, cada una de ellas te ayudarán a responder preguntas y a comprender mejor la forma en la cual los científicos interpretan el registro fósil, todo lo anterior relacionado con algunas de las criaturas más sorprendentes que han habitado la tierra: los dinosaurios.

Good points: systemic coverage of the topic, and instructors all seem enthusiastic about the subject.

However: sometimes there is this avalanche of different dinosaurs that is impossible to keep up. Also, my granddaughter (not quite 8) knows more about dinosaurs from reading books.

Great explanations and fun classes, excellent drawings and visualizations, but I did find this course a bit one-sided. You could improve it by spending some time discussing the evidences against millions of years, and the evidences of people living contemporary with dinosaurs.

I enjoyed this class and learned a lot. My only reason for not giving it five stars is because the 3D fossil viewer never worked for me, and the reading assignments had a lot of typos/grammatical errors/spelling errors. Someone should proofread the "text book" for future use.

There are a few mistakes here and there, and a few things need to be updated, but overall, the course is really good for a beginners level in Paleobiology. It was well explained, the diagrams and quizes were helpful and the resources complemented the course well.

Over all this course was great and i learned a lot! One thing i wasn't happy with, was the fossil viewer stopped working after maybe the 3rd or 4th interaction. Every time i would try and look at it a blue page would come up and none of it worked.

Over all a good course. Some of the quiz questions could be rewritten for clarity. The section on Diversity should be its own module, not just tacked onto the paleo-geography module. Otherwise a fun course that does a good job keeping you engaged.