By Klippel Trenaunay 2 months ago Completed (Partially)

I loved how this class was presented. I have no background knowledge in this subject at all and professor Noor made it very easy to follow.

Yes it was very different than what I expected. I thought it would be boring and tough and I had doubts that I would be able to keep up. Professor Noor made it very easy to follow and gave all the information you needed to complete the quizzes and exams.

I would like to see the 90 minute exams done away with or at least if you leave the the exam, the timer stops until you come back to finish it. I can understand that this might be to discourage people from using notes or lectures or what ever to help with the exam; However, this is a global class and some people around the world might not have access to a computer to a straight 90 mins at a time for many reasons.

This course fits in nicely with what I have taken so far especially Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life. Some common terms and information is shared in both classes.

By Greta 2 months ago Completed

Watching Prof. Noor teach is just pure joy. He loves his field of expertise and passes his enthusiasm on to his students. The course material is well structured and easy to comprehend, a little prior knowledge in cell biology certainly doesn't hurt but it's not mandatory.
The quizzes however have a tendency to mess with your mind, according to the Professor this is the result of the "Noor syndrome, which causes diseased individuals to make overly complicated questions on tests" (this quote was actually part of a quiz question :-))

By Anthony R 2 months ago Taking Course Now

I am auditing this course. I am impressed with the coverage provided by the professor and his easy manner of presenting what might otherwise be quite dense material.

The assessments seem fair and the discussion forum is lively.

A fair and nice way to learn about these topics.

By leellyp 4 months ago Taking Course Now

Engaging professor, well presented material. Started very easy but got harder and more mathematical in the middle. Subject matter very interesting. Not much reading required. Practice problem sets were what took the most time, and necessary to get a good score on the tests.

By Maureen Thomas from New Haven, Connecticut 4 months ago Completed

Engaging professor, well presented material. Started very easy but got harder and more mathematical in the middle. Subject matter very interesting. Not much reading required. Practice problem sets were what took the most time, and necessary to get a good score on the tests.

By Carol Colffield from Sao Miguel Arcanjo, Sao Paulo 6 months ago Not Completed

A superstar teacher! Professor Noor lectures couldn't be more engaging. This course is a must. Thanks Dr. Noor! And of course thanks to Duke University and to Coursera for the opportunity.

By Gary Herreman 14 days ago Completed

First off, this is not an "easy" course; the quizzes and exams are sneaky ("Noor Syndrome"), making you carefully read and re-read every single question. The upside to this is that you come away from the course feeling like you really learned something, and that the material is going to stick in your head. (Advice: keep your notes organized because you're going to refer to them a lot.)

The lectures are absolutely fascinating. Prof. Noor goes into great detail succinctly explaining each topic. He's clearly very passionate about his field and that always a plus in a course.

This course is great if you are interested in going into genetics, or are interested in the science of it. It is an rather in-depth course, so general audiences may not enjoy it as much. High school biology and some statistics help.

It's a very enlightening course, and I'm glad I took it.

By daisykho from Bintulu, Sarawak 50 days ago Completed

Very good introduction to Genetics and Evolution. Professor Mohd Noor is an outstanding teacher and his enthusiasm for the subject is transmitted to everyone. Lots of interesting and useful, up to date materials presented to allow good understanding of the field of genetics and evolution today.

By nml 51 days ago Completed

I was taking first iteration of course, and I don't know if something changed.

It was the best course I've taken on coursera. I had no problems with it even though I have not that much experience in biology. However I had experience in math, and it was very useful here. If you're not comfortable with simple algebra equation then course would be more difficult to you, but since on lectures there are shown ways how similar problems on exercises should be solved then it shouldn't be that hard anyway.

Lectures were excellent. They were interesting, and every information needed to pass the course was on them.

There were 3 things needed to pass the course.
Multiple choice test homework with answers not shown till deadline worth 20% of total.
And two exams, that could have been taken only once. Worth 40% each.
Thresholds were 60%, and 80% for distinction.

Forum was great, staff was responsive, and was doing a great job.

To sum up it was a great course. It was first MOOC I've taken and I think I couldn't have chosen better.

By Ahmad Albaqsami from Kuwait City, Al 'Asimah 2 months ago Completed

Took this course when it was first offered in 2012.

One of the best things about the Course is the instructor: very charismatic and made the subject itself interesting.

The material itself is not very hard if one were to pay close attention to the lectures. I did have to study well for each problem set and same goes for the midterms and Final.

Other than the material not being hard the subject matter was very well presented and very structured. I hope the other courses concerning genetics (that I am planning to take) are as well laid out and presented.

Overall: highly recommended.. even as an audit

By Kelebek from Albuquerque, New Mexico 2 months ago Not Completed

Brilliant course and Professor Noor is amazing. I *did* end up dropping the course, simply because it required more time than I had to spend on it, particularly the mathy bits.

Professor Noor made the science fun, interesting and make sense, even for someone with poor to mediocre science background as me. Not having had a strong background in basic evolutionary principles it was fascinating to learn so much. He's definitely one of the top professors I've come across in online courses.

Pros:
Professor Noor's attitude and love of the subject are contagious. How cool is it to burst out laughing during a science class?
The slides were good and the course material stuck with me
Appreciated the presence of Professor Noor & staff on the forums
Subject matter was fascinating and well presented

Cons:
Time consuming (for me)
More maths than I was prepared for (user error, not the course's)

If offered again, I'll jump at the chance to take it, or at least audit it. Recommended for anyone interested in the subject and probably for quite a few people who aren't (because it's so much fun).