America's Written Constitution

I attempted to take this course because I really wanted to learn more about the US Constitution and how it applies to my daily life. I made it to week three before I could no longer keep listening to Professor Amar drone on and turn a 10 minute lecture into a 25 minute lecture with filler words, tangents and lack of structure. Professor Amar is very knowledgeable about the Constitution and I don't doubt his credentials or accomplishments. However, with out an outline, slides, notes, structure... something... anything... this class is just a talking head that is painfully hard to pay attention to. If you're an auditory learner and prefer the old school, pretentious, Ivy League lecture hall format this is the class for you.

I wasn't looking for a grade, I simply wanted to learn more about our nation's Constitution. I either missed that class in grade school or, what I think is more to the truth, they didn't teach anything about the Constitution. It was slightly mentioned.

This course answered my needs. I wanted to go through from beginning to end. I really liked learning about how historical events (such as slavery) played significant roles in the drafting of the Constitution. It helped to also learn what was going on in the nation when Amendments were ratified to visualize the struggles.

This is one of the best course offered by Yale with Coursera. Earlier there was a course "Constitutional Law" and this course is half of the previous course. For international students the title "Constitutional Law" is more meaningful, because students outside US required a universal course title. However, we come to know some new principles, new idea, required for the constitution. I sincerely believe that everybody should learn about the constitution and its principles.

Does reading the course syllabus count as “starting the course”? If so, my review follows below. If not, I hope a moderator will see to it that the needed correction is made, and omit publishing my review. Thanks.

In Coursera’s “America’s Written Constitution” syllabus, paragraph 9 begins:

“The Law of the Land
-What's the difference between a treaty and a statute? Which takes precedent[sic]?”

That last sentence should read, “Which takes precedence?” Whether a typo or a grammatical error, it’s jarring to find something like this already in the course introduction, and it raises doubts about the quality of the course offering and about Coursera itself as an online learning platform.