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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Mountains 101 by University of Alberta

4.9
stars
2,476 ratings

About the Course

Mountains 101­­ is a broad and integrated overview of the mountain world. This 12-lesson course covers an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the physical, biological, and human dimensions of mountain places in Alberta, Canada, and around the world. Specifically, we'll study the geological origins of mountains, how they’re built-up and worn-down over time; we’ll learn about their importance for biodiversity and water cycles, globally and locally; we’ll explore their cultural significance to societies around the globe, and how that relationship has evolved over time; and we’ll learn how mountains are used, how they’re protected, and how today they’re experiencing rapid change in a warming climate. At the end of each lesson, Mountains 101 will also provide learners with some smart tricks -- Tech Tips -- to safely enjoy time in the high alpine environment: from how to pick the best footwear for hiking to making smart decisions in avalanche terrain. We’ll be delivering your online lessons from valley bottoms to mountaintops, from museums and labs, to alpine huts and other spectacular alpine sites, and we’ll do so with the help of a whole host of experts. We invite you to join us for this online adventure! The mountains are calling......

Top reviews

GV

Oct 22, 2022

It was a wonderful lerning experience for me. The content was great, the videos and lessessons were very enjoyable and enlightening. Bravo to the teams who created this couse, well done and thank you.

SK

Dec 22, 2017

So interesting! So well made, every lesson is thought out the interactive mountain map was a joy to complete each time! Incredibly thoughtful and sensitive to every aspect that touches the mountains.

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76 - 100 of 918 Reviews for Mountains 101

By Emily M

Jun 9, 2017

Very well planned, fascinating course. While the curriculum only has the tip of the iceberg, it was enough to get me interested in certain subjects to go research them on my own. I like that they have a section of Suggested Reading in the notes, it was nice to be able to have a direction to go when I wanted to read more on the different subjects. Great starter 101 course, had a lot of curriculum that I was pleasantly surprised to see!

Also, the videos were gorgeous, lots of beautiful mountain landscapes. Made it very enjoyable to watch!

By Claire S

Mar 26, 2021

My favorite course!! Interesting, engaging, informational, and fun. The instructors are great, and I really enjoyed hearing from guest speakers as well. The Mountain Interactive Map was really fun to complete too, and was a great thing to include. The amount of information packed into the course is awesome - a whole range of topics and fields related to mountains, their role in a variety of disciplines, and their significance for the world. Honestly considering a career switch after this course, I enjoyed it that much.

By Joscelyn V R

Jul 7, 2020

Fue un curso maravilloso y creo que podría retomarlo porque toca temas específicos relacionados a las montañas, pero lo hace tan comprensible y te mantiene tan concentrada que quieres seguir viendo más y más. Respecto a los temas que toca, me agradó mucho que tocaran (además de los procesos físicos, químicos y biológico), temas relacionados a la sociedad y lo estético-cultural, son temas que no se resaltan mucho cuando se hablan de montañas y me parece algo genial el enfoque que le han dado al curso. ¡Muchas gracias!

By Alessandro C

Apr 14, 2020

This was a wonderful course. I really enjoyed the comprehensiveness of the approach: geography, climate, cultural aspects, biodiversity

I particularly appreciated the glaciology and geology lessons. I have an house in the Alps and always spent a lot of time in the mountains. I think that awarness of mountains ecosystems is extremely important for all the consequences it has on our lives.

I have a particular interest in Mountaineering books .

Thanks for giving us this opportunity.

Thanks for giving us this opportunity

By Michaela C

Jul 1, 2020

My experience has been challenging, learning again after years away from education, yet it has been so fulfilling.

For anybody considering the Nature then I would definitely recommend the Mountain course.

The tutors are amazing, also all the fantastic team that collaborated during the course.

I have personally enjoyed and I have only positives to say about this experience.

I'm glad I made the choice and chose University of Alberta to study more about this miracle of nature named Mountains.

Thank everybody involved!

By IVAN M H A I M

Apr 9, 2020

A very interesting journey it was. I am really impressed and excited. Mountain is my fascination and it was really amazing for me to learn so many new things via this course. The instructors were amazing. I thank them and also all the guest instructors who shed light on so many different aspects surrounding the mountains. I hope everyone will enroll in this course. Trust me, it will surely be worth of your time. Also it is time we give back to nature and to do that, you need to learn about nature. Thank you!

By ibn A

Feb 6, 2023

This course empowered me to look the mountains in an altogether different light . Exposure to topics like Bio Diversity, Climate Change, Tourism, Glaciers, Hazards, Animal adaptations from the vantage point of mountains was truly breath taking. Parks Canada , Coursera and University of Alberta deserve an applause for probably creating one of the best online course on the subject. And thanks to charming Canadian Prime Minister for his nice message with iconic smile. ( Sameer, Pakistan)

By Jason M

Sep 10, 2019

A more profound respect and compassion for these wild, beautiful and vulnerable heavens on earth have developed and welled up in my heart. I now feel it is my moral and obligated duty to educate people and become a steward of these magical wonders of nature. In all honesty I was somewhat saddened at the conclusion of this course. I learned an abundance of knowledge and challenge myself to obtain more. It was a pleasure to listen to, learn about and study my favorite phenomenon on earth!

By Anil S

Feb 25, 2021

Very informative and conducted without heavy jargon, easy to understand language and visual aids.

It has achieved the triple objective of awakening of the uninitiated, conservatio of envoirnment and awarness of climate change.

My sincere thanks and gratitute to all organisers especially to the presenters of the course.

My only advice would be to include more of international eco systems in the curriculam such as Himalayas to creat a feel of internationalality.

Thank you very much.🙏🙏🙏

By Isabelle R

May 20, 2020

Mountains 101 has been such an amazing learning experience. Through your course, I’ve not only gained extensive professional knowledge but have also developed a new hobbie and love for mountains. I’m so happy to have completed my first summit tour in the alps this week and to have spent the hike informing my boyfriend on the flowers, geology and hazards of the mountain. The course would not be the same without the sincere and informative approach of Dr Robinson & Dr Hik. Thank you!

By Christopher H

May 27, 2021

An enjoyable course from start to finish. I took the course due to the interesting topics it covered and by the end of it I learned about mountains from the animals on it all the way to how to maintain them along with camping/mountaineering tips mixed in if I ever want to see them for myself. I would say my only gripe with the course is that the quizzes have serious spacing issues that make the questions hard to follow at times but that is not important to the overall experience.

By Scott P

Apr 8, 2020

Super course! It's a well produced, high quality online course. The instructors are engaging, the special guests bring it to a new level, and the graphics are elegant and informative: very well produced. I learned so much about mountains I am going to drive my camping companions completely nuts this summer, as i propound on how glaciers retreat, syncline and anticline, and I will ensure to work allopatric speciation into every conversation. Thanks to the team that made this!

By Marian W

Aug 10, 2020

Thank you for this wonderfully informative and interesting course. As a transplant from the prairies of Sask., to the mountain of Alberta I have been fascinated and intrigued by the beauty of the Rockies and other mountain ranges I have experienced in my travels. The instructors were engaging and the footage was outstanding and had a huge impact on the value of the information. My many questions have been answered and I feel more knowledgeable on these giants in our world.

By Mónica M J

Jul 3, 2020

A very informative course about mountains touching all the aspects imaginable regarding them. Very interesting interviews, nice backgrounds, great stories from literature and the past, great to see the professors out in the field in order to make this course... I could say loads of great things. I thought 12 weeks was a lot when I signed up for the course but it has been very enjoyable all the way through and it is kind of sad to say goodbye. Time to go out in the mountains! :)

By Lars J F

Apr 16, 2018

This is one of the best courses I have ever experienced in all aspects from the extensive course syllabus, logical and clear execution of lessons, great exercises, nice lesson summaries and a lot of good references. The sound and video quality is top and the superb photos and videos adds a lot - you can follow this course just to see beautiful landscapes! If you enjoy spending time in the mountains and/or have interest in geography, flora and fauna, do not miss this course!

By Ian O

Apr 22, 2020

Professors Robinson and Hik, along with Matt, Laura, and all the guest presenters, were all engaging and well-spoken throughout the course, which led to a delightful experience learning about all aspects of mountains. I have never been to a mountain, my closest experience has been as a sport climber. However, this course has sparked my interest in engaging with mountain landscapes and working towards being an advocate and steward for all the different facets of mountains!

By Laurence G

May 6, 2020

I very much enjoyed the course. While not a rock climber or accomplished skier, I backpack and hike in the Sierra Nevada often. I have visited Banff and Jasper, rafted in Kicking Horse and generally enjoyed the Canadian Rockies. The highlight was standing atop a mountain that I was told drained into three different oceans. I'm particularly interested in mountain geology. While this course covered that topic, I would have enjoyed even more discussion.

Laurence Gruver

By Meagan H

Aug 25, 2019

I love the outdoors and decided to take this as an interest course. I was not disappointed! I really enjoyed this course and learned a lot. The course is both very interesting and informative and at the end of every lesson there is a short video with different tips for mountain travel. My camping/hiking/climbing trips have become much more interesting with all my new knowledge. If possible, this course also made me slightly more patriotic. I 100% recommend this course.

By Jan M

Nov 5, 2018

I cannot believe it is over. Such a highly informative and professionally made course. I love the outdoor videos, photos and admire how the topics are presented and explained in a clear and interesting way. A very big thank you to both presenters, professors Robinson and Hik and their colleagues and guests for their amazing effort and a job well done. I can highly recommend this course to anyone who would like to get to know more about the beautiful world of mountains.

By Kathleen S

Feb 13, 2017

This is an excellent class for the basics of mountain geography. I took this out of interest only, not for a grade or college credit, and enjoyed it very much and even learned a thing or two. The cinematography was beautiful and the lessons delivered in an interesting format. Both instructors were excellent and passionate about what they were discussing. Well done!!! and thank you for offering this FREE class to the world. Well worth the time & effort! Nevada, USA

By SHUBHAM B

Jun 12, 2020

A really insightful course. Professor Zac & David took things from very basic and leveled up. The examples and sites to visit on map that are related to every topic gave a deeper perspective of what was being taught. The outdoor tips in each module were really interesting too. Thanks a lot for making this course, as a Mountaineer , this gives me greater confidence in my knowledge about the mountains and I would be looking forward to more content from the Instructors.

By Rich W

May 13, 2020

This course is really fantastic. I love the mountains and found that I was being taught more about topics I'd already thought about an introduced to a range of new ones that I hadn't considered.The lecturers and presenters are engaging, the quality is immensely high and its clear that there's a deep love of the mountains folded throughout the entire course.I would highly recommend Mountains 101 and will definitely be looking into how I can take my learning further.

By Istafa S

Aug 25, 2017

This course was really well done! The content was really interesting with many guests that were relevant to the topic being discussed covering an interdisciplinary view of mountains and their significance. As a result of this course, I will now be looking into Masters programs offered at the University of Alberta so that I too can be a part of the great research happening at this university. Thank you truly to the creators and all those involved with this course.

By Odysseas C

Nov 25, 2019

Amazing course. Despite the fact I come from an entirely different background (Marketing) I enrolled because I am a landscape photographer and I wanted to enrich my knowledge on the place I like to spend my time the most, Mountains. It helped me gain important practical knowledge that will me help better prepare my next trips to nature, gain further respect and admiration for Mountains and dwelve deeper in their biological importance, history and understanding.

By monica v

Jul 14, 2020

This was an amazing course with great teachers and invited guests speakers. i have learned so much over the last two months about everything mountain and my goal now is to go out there, esp. to Canada and do some serious mountain hiking. I used to do quite a bit of mountain climbing in Europe where I grew up. Our summer vacations were spent in Austria, Switzerland and Norway with lots of opportunities for some amazing hikes. Thanks again for an amazing course!