tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900471683421755580.post3823423657899530250..comments2024-02-08T02:04:08.219-05:00Comments on Trials and Tribulations of a Family Historian: Experiences with an online genetics classShannon Combs-Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086333811097762754noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900471683421755580.post-6123069054187365632013-08-06T09:21:32.019-04:002013-08-06T09:21:32.019-04:00As a person with a background in genetics I though...As a person with a background in genetics I thought this would be a relatively easy review course for me. I was, at times, extremely frustrated with the professor and course. However, I figured it was being out of practice and my first course "back" since college. My husband laughed when I would argue out loud with the computer screen.<br /><br />However, in the last video of the course I was very happy to hear the professor talk about our grievances and how we made her look at the exams and quizzes differently. She was surprised that we had many of the same complaints as her former students. Since we were regular people taking the class, and had the same problems, she saw how the course needed to be restructured. <br /><br />That being said, I scored in the top 80% of the distribution of grades on each module, midterm, and final. If she does a bell curve for the grades I should end up with ~ 75-85%. If she does raw scores it will be more like ~ 50-60%.<br /><br />even if you just audit the class there is a ton of excellent information in it. I would recommend it just for the lectures and the supplemental information.<br /><br />Thanks for the tip on the other course. I will check it out.<br />Shannon Combs-Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10086333811097762754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900471683421755580.post-75611234955520619192013-08-06T09:02:43.816-04:002013-08-06T09:02:43.816-04:00I was glad to read your comments. I am signed up t...I was glad to read your comments. I am signed up to take the next session that begins in September. I am currently finishing up a course in epigenetics through coursera which is excellent. Within that class there have been several people who were taking Useful Genetics at the same time. They were very frustrated and warned us against taking it. A lot of frustration apparently was because of some of the questions on the quizzes/final where no explanation was provided for incorrect answers. In one bold move, they convinced the professor from epigenetics to choose the correct answer on a multiple-choice question from the exam. She went through each possible response and explained why none of the choices was exactly right. She was sure what answer should have been chosen, but said the teacher incorrectly used the word fetus when it should have been embryo at the stage of development discussed. At any rate, I'm going to take the course and see how it goes. I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND Eric Landers' course, "The Secret of Life" offered through edx.org. It is very science-based, however. A new session begins in September.Kathy Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09417754385375586302noreply@blogger.com