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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions by University of Alberta

4.9
stars
1,333 ratings

About the Course

Of all the animals on earth, which are the strongest for their size? What about the fastest? Who were the first animals to evolve flight? Insects take all of these titles and more! As the most abundant animals on the planet, insects and other arthropods affect our lives in so many ways. From beneficial interactions like pollination and biological pest control, to the transmission of life threatening diseases; this course will teach you about the big ways that these little arthropods impact our lives. In Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions, you will be plunged into the diverse (and sometimes alien) world of arthropods to learn how they work, what they do, and how insects and humans interact every day. After completing this course, you will be able to: Describe the evolutionary relationships between insects and their arthropod relatives Inventory major groups of insects and their diversity Demonstrate evolutionary adaptations that make insects successful Discuss insect biology and human-insect interactions Evaluate positive and negative interactions between insects and humans Propose practical and symbolic roles insects play in human societies...

Top reviews

AB

Jul 7, 2020

Very interesting and specially the anchors of this course are very enthusiastic and encouraging throughout the course so my focus is maintain for bugs and surly I will search more on insects further.

MM

Nov 19, 2020

An absolutely fantastic course with logically set-out modules and enthusiastic, inspiring and engaging presenters. Very useful for anyone involved in Science outreach and/or widening participation.

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1 - 25 of 567 Reviews for Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions

By Jamie K

Jul 12, 2019

I already hold a Ph.D. in entomology and a BCE from the Entomological Society of America, and thus have a broad background in the study of insects. However, prior to this course I did not have the opportunity to take a full course that focused specifically on insect-human interactions. While parts of this course were redundant on the knowledge I already hold (which allowed me to zip through the course faster than I'd expect the average student to do), I did slow down on the later units that included some new content that I had not learned previously. Even the redundant portions were a welcome review of insect biology. The course was well organized, engaging, and offered a wealth of information. The visuals were effective, the explanations were clear, and the topics were covered broadly and without apparent bias. Thank you to everyone who worked to make this course happen; your hard work and dedication really show.

My only critique - and it's a minor one - is that the instructors spoke as if reading a script. A more conversational tone would help to create a feeling that I'm really in the classroom.

By diana a

Sep 27, 2019

I'm trying not to cry, as I've reached the end of this wonderful course. I loved learning from you wonderful teachers, and will miss your faces and voices. Thanks for making this course so wonderfully engaging, full of incredible visuals, succinct interviews, unbiased facts, and thought-provoking lessons and quizzes. I was very happy to enhance my experience by creating Quizlet flashcards for all the terminology and pre/suffixes, and to make that available to my fellow learners. As of now, there are currently 158 participants that have signed up to use them. I'm thrilled that others are benefiting from them as well. My love of arthropods has gained a more scientific foundation, for which i will forever be thankful. My next goal is to somehow become a part of Citizen Science! Thank you for inspiring so many of us. Thanks to the University of Alberta for making this accessible to the world, and for Coursera and their easy-to-use interface. I adored every minute of it.

By Stuart M

Feb 5, 2020

Excellent course! Content-rich and very informative both as a learning experience for the insect enthusiast or beginning entomologist as well as an excellent review for the practicing entomologist.

By Priya

Aug 7, 2019

I am an engineer by profession, who has always had a fascination for insects. This structured course helped me learn about them more formally.

The course is very well organized. It was helpful to have diagrams, photos and videos as the instructors spoke.

As a lay person, the modules most informative to me were - "Plant Feeding and Impacts of Herbivory" and "Insects and Disease". The part on taxonomy in Module 1 was also very interesting. I would have liked to delve a little deeper into taxonomy.

I found that one of the female instructors spoke too rapidly, especially on the later modules (9, 10, 11). This made it a bit difficult to follow along.

My only recommendation would be to include a "Further Reading" section at the end of the course that students can refer to if they wish to dig deeper into a particular topic of interest.

By Shyamal L

Dec 17, 2019

I majored in entomology and completed several graduate level courses in entomology more than two decades ago. I decided to take up this course mainly to examine the quality of the content and it is really well made, keeping the interest of the complete outsider and providing a great overview. I cannot but recommend this to all those who have have an interest in insect life but have either not chosen to study entomology or have been unable to do so.

By Lizzy B A

Jul 16, 2019

This class is phenomenal. It was shared in the FB group "entomemeology" and a few of us signed up. It's such a great way to take an intro to entomology course because there's no pressure for a grade; I can just passively learn now and let myself totally enjoy it. Later I won't be so stressed taking a full entomology course for a grade!

By Harald S

Aug 26, 2019

Excellent course for a "beginner" as existing rudimentary and a more ore less scattered

(diversified..?) knowledge was just sorted out in a updated way so a more stable

believe in bugs by now for a "student" born 2 year before beginning of WW2.

By Cheryl S

Mar 27, 2020

Professors are knowledgeable. I obtained so much information about my future career in this one course! I honestly plan on taking it again at some point to refresh my memory and hone my skills.

By Bryan B

Aug 13, 2020

Excellent breadth of information, and more depth than expected. Videos and provided course notes are detailed and well-organized, and interactive exercises were helpful (more of them would be welcome!). Questions posted on the forum were answered by staff quickly and in great detail.

This is an amazing way to learn more about a vast and often overlooked part of our ecosystem - highly recommended!

Note: please do not judge the course based on the first five minutes of the introduction video - Dr. Joelle Lemmen, Ilan Domnich, and Valerie Marshall present virtually all of the course material after that.

By Gabriela C R

Aug 21, 2019

Amazing!!! Learn so much about insects! I am an agronomic engineering student and I definitely think that I will apply some topics that I have learn in my professional life. It was a great experience, thank you so much.

By Juan A P A

Aug 22, 2020

This course is the best of this platform. The instructors are so nice and fun, the course facilitator Ilan Domnich is such a nice guy that answer every single question in the forums. It's a long course but totally worth it. I got out of the course with a smile on my face, loving insects a lot more than I did before

By MarHar

Nov 20, 2020

An absolutely fantastic course with logically set-out modules and enthusiastic, inspiring and engaging presenters. Very useful for anyone involved in Science outreach and/or widening participation.

By vaibhav j

Jul 17, 2020

Best instructor and teaching assistants. they start from very based and and slowly increase the difficulty of topics. i used to love buys ,after doing this course now i love bugs more the before.

By Dennis W R

Feb 2, 2020

This course was exceptionally well produced both in content and in presentation. As a teacher of medical students for the past 30 years, I wish I could do as well as you have done. Thank you

By Jessica B

Oct 17, 2019

Very informative, fun and interactive. The lecturers are very passionate and you can see that they really love what they do. I would recommend this course to any science loving individual.

By Dr M A

Aug 7, 2019

Its really a very interesting course to learn the basic knowledge of different type of insects and their interaction with the humans as well.

By Guilherme H L B

Aug 13, 2021

The course is perfect, in every possible way. It explores all the aspects of the interaction between humans and insects and supply us with such a great number of articles, cientific papers and interesting videos that I am sure there is no way someone went thru the whole course and was not amazed at least once with how much importance this group of animals have for the envyronment and how much they impact our lifes. The people who were in the videos, both the course speakers and the guests, did such a great job in highlighting the amazing fields of oportunities that can be occupied in this area, that it made me want to be a part of all that even more! As a brazilian who take care of native indigenous bees, the only thing I missed is a mention to this group in the class that taught us about bees and their importance, as this stingless bees are responsible for most part of the polinization in tropic areas of the world. I think Alberta researchers would love to take a look into some material approaching this subject! Thank you all for taking your time to produce such an incredible material and for caring to make it available for international students. I am looking forward to participate in other courses!

By Preeti S V

Jan 9, 2020

E O Wilson once said "Every kid has a bug period... I never grew out of mine", nor did I. Fascinated by insects, especially the stingless bees as a kid, I have been working on non-Apis bees in Doon Valley, foothills of the Himalayas, since the beginning of 2012, that earned me a PhD. I simultaneously started to study a new group of insects the Cicadas in NE India since mid of 2018. Academically, I was not trained in entomology in undergrad school, hence wished to have a degree or a beginners course on insects. Bugs 101 has been a great source of learning and great place to know people and areas of research around the world. The course was crisp and participant friendly. I have recommended Bugs 101 to many of my colleges and friends who want to know more about insects and the world of Arthropods. I am looking forward to an advanced certificate course in insect ecology which can be useful in my future postdoc plans. I strongly recommend everyone to take this course to get cool insights into the world of insects.

By Abhishek V b

Jul 8, 2020

Very interesting and specially the anchors of this course are very enthusiastic and encouraging throughout the course so my focus is maintain for bugs and surly I will search more on insects further.

By JORGE L V C

Aug 25, 2021

Excelente el curso! Lo recomiendo mucho, incluso si ya tienen conocimientos previos. ES muy completo y me dio oportunidad de recordar y aprender cosas nuevas.

By Gabriela Q

Dec 1, 2020

Curso muito legal e diverso para quem se interessa pela entomologia. Sou bióloga e aprendi e relembrei muitas coisas!

By alejandro

Jun 18, 2020

Very nice course that helps you to understand the importance of insects in almost every part of our life.

By Crystal I

Dec 6, 2019

It was an excellent course! I would highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in entomology

By Stella B

Aug 5, 2021

I really enjoyed this course; very dynamic and insightful. Thank you for all your great efforts!

By Stephanie

Feb 16, 2021

Loved learning more about Insects and their importance in our world. Great course, I want more!