Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds

University of Alberta via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Free Online Course (Audit)
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

5 weeks long
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

French, Portuguese, Chinese, German, Russian, English, Spanish, Romanian

A Best Course of All Time

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Paleontology Courses

Overview

Class Central Tips

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

Taught by

Angelica Torices, Ph.D and Philip John Currie, Ph.D

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 49 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds

Samantha Thompson @samisomsam

I really enjoy the University of Alberta classes in general and this one was no different. I liked how the readings went along with the videos so it works for different styles of learning.
Pat Bowden @pat

Pat Bowden completed this course, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.

A fascinating course that discussed the evolution of birds and convinced me that the age of dinosaurs did not end 65 million years ago.
Anonymous

The lecturers were excellent and loved all the props...fossils and stuffed birds and of course the live and amusing parrot. The intermittent quizzes were also useful in summarizing the points. Was difficult for me to remember all the term and names of things...did not know what clades were for example. A simple diagram in a pdf might've helped there. And finally a short explanation of the relationship trees to get us going would have helped as well. Thanks for the enjoyable and informative course that I'll probably suggest to my friends and relatives who love birds.
Anonymous

The lecturers were excellent and loved all the props...fossils and stuffed birds and of course the live and amusing parrot. The intermittent quizzes were also useful in summarizing the points. Was difficult for me to remember all the term and names of things...did not know what clades were for example. A simple diagram in a pdf might've helped there. And finally a short explanation of the relationship trees to get us going would have helped as well. Thanks for the enjoyable and informative course that I'll probably suggest to my friends and relatives who love birds.
Donato Rossella @Jaqq

The professors are engaging and passionate on the subject, the material provided is already organized to fully complete the course and keep useful mementos about the contents.
Glennn Wooten

As a retiree, I have enjoyed taking classes that interest me, not just classes I can apply to making a living.
This class was astounding! It had the right level of detail. The instructors enthusiasm for their subject was infectious. I found myself wanting more when the class was done.

Highly recommended!
Anonymous

This course is a very educational look at how dinosaurs evolved into birds. It has definitely made me look at birds differently! Great information, teachers and course notes/videos. Highly recommend
Anonymous

A great and fun Course. Would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to find out more about dinosaurs.
Anonymous

I thoroughly enjoyed this course. The lecture organization and presentation was clear and engaging. Thank you
Kristina Šekrst

Kristina Šekrst completed this course and found the course difficulty to be medium.

The same way Dino 101 is certainly in the top three of all MOOCs I have ever taken, if not the best, these courses seem like worthy sequels. I was thrilled to see professor Curie as well again. All in all, a great lecturer, amazing graphics, and the…

The same way Dino 101 is certainly in the top three of all MOOCs I have ever taken, if not the best, these courses seem like worthy sequels. I was thrilled to see professor Curie as well again. All in all, a great lecturer, amazing graphics, and the most awesome real-life fossils from the University of Alberta. This course continues Dino 101 in more detail, focusing on Theropoda dinosaurs, and describing their evolution into birds we know today. You'll learn a lot about anatomy, hunting habits, life conditions and novelties these species have manifested, and you'll learn that everything you know about dinosaurs is probably incorrect. I'd recommend this course anytime, and I'd recommend you to take the whole paleontology series, including Dino 101, since this is one of the best things the Internet can offer. I have always been amazed by the quality of production of Dino 101, and this continues the great trend of engaging videos and AMAZING notes - which are like small encyclopedias. Thank you for your time and trouble, it's much appreciated.
Anonymous

Loved the loose ends this course tied up. What a new way to see birds. It is fascinating to me how a little bit of new understanding can enrich how we see our world. This course was short, enjoyable and FULL of things any thinking persons should know about their world.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

Fantastic course that gave a great insight into the evolution of the dinosaurs we know today - birds! The lecturers were fantastic, and went into great depth on each lesson. Use of live, fossilised and taxidermy specimens was great to demonstrate the points made in the lesson. Quizzes were strategically placed throughout each lesson to add to the learning. Assessments at the end of each lesson really helped to solidify my learning and showed how much I’d learned in such a short time! A great class for someone who was a Dino nut as a kid but wants to learn more about what has been discovered in the meantime about the relation between dinos and birds. Loved it.
Anonymous

This is an interesting and engaging course. The videos and written notes are well presented in an easy to use way. I felt the level of course information was just right-not too simplistic but challenging enough to make me feel like I was learning something new. I really enjoyed completing it. Thank you to everyone at the University of Alberta palaeontology department for producing such an excellent course. Julie M
Rosemary Coomber

I found this course to be a very interesting and informative follow-up to Dino 101. The video lessons are clear and easy to follow. I printed off the notes and read them prior to watching the videos. I found the video transcripts very useful for reinforcing information/concepts following the viewing of each lesson. The read/watch/read structure works well for me. Dr. Currie and Scott Persons (he must have his doctorate by now) are clearly passionate and very knowledgeable about the subject matter. The diagrams, pictures and fossils are well used to illustrate concepts. I enjoy the quiz questions that pop up during the lessons.
I would enjoy visiting the University of Alberta when this pandemic is over.
Anonymous

This course is fantastic and very interesting, I want to congratulate the doctors for their enthusiasm and wisdom. Thank you for allowing us to make these quality courses online.
greetings from Argentina...the land of the herrerasaurus.
excuse my poor english.
Raul
Dick Cooper

I have a keen interest in ornothology and having an understanding how birds evolved over millenia has helped me appreciation the origins of birds generally and how different genera adapted to suit the habitats they occupy.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

Course is well organized and presented. The instructors were enthusiastic and easy to understand. Fascinating subject. I had no idea there were so many kinds of dinosaurs. The course work increased my curiousity about the subject, and I found myself going to other sources, as well, to learn more.
Parthasarathy Y

I'm Parthasarathy from India. I'm a Paleontology enthusiast, I dreamed of studying about dinosaur and decoding evolutionary relation at the age of 10 when I'm watching dinosaur documentary in discovery channel. In that I came to know about t-rex, deinonychus, microraptor etc... But I don't know how these animals are grouped and inter related. After taking up course in Coursera I came to know about these things. In my locality there is no facility to teach about palaeontology but through Coursera it became possible. Thank you
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

The course is fun and easy to comprehend. Memorising the terms and names is a little difficult but in the end it's the pure pleasure of the whole story presented in the course that makes it a hit. Well presented and super informative. Some 'just wow' moments are a bonus.
Anonymous

The engagement of Mr Persons is one of the distinguishing features of this course. His enthusiasm not only for the subject but also its communication is evident in every lesson.

The structure is simple yet elegant: proceeding forwards in time and examining the relationships of the dinosaur groups not only to each other but to our present day birds. The link between birds and dinosaurs is elucidated very clearly and logically.

I enjoyed this course immensely, and am already looking forward to the next!