experience with DINO 101 (Coursera)

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Has anyone used Dino 101 through Coursera - it was put together by the Univ of Alberta?  Thanks in advance for any info.  I have a few questions:

 

1.  We've never used a coursera class before, but it looks like we can take the entire course for free, right?  You pay if you want a certificate of completion or something like that...  (yep, I'm clueless here)

 

2.  Was the course enough for a high school credit?  There doesn't seem to be a textbook -it's seems to be all video lectures and quizzes.  If I added some extra reading + labs, would it be a credit?

 

3.  I want to add labs, but sheesh...where can I order a Plesiosaur to dissect in our dining room?  Does Home Science Tools sell T-Rex skeletons?  How did you do labs for this course?????   :confused:

 

4.  Did you add any reading to the course?

 

Thanks for taking time to reply.

[MomatHWTK]

We watched the videos and would sometimes try to answer the in-video questions together. We did not take any of the tests or do any assignments. (My kids were all middle school or younger at the time.) It is a fabulous class, the instructor is very engaging. Even if my children didn't remember every fact, they learned a lot. It was a great overview to interest them in the topic. 

For labs, you could perform earth layering experiments or max faux fossils with clay. 

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Thank-you!

[kiwi mum]

I did it with two twelve year olds. Yes it is totally free. We just watched the videos and tried to answer the questions. We didn't add anything to it because we were using it as a supplement, not trying to make it a high school credit. I just had another look at the info page to confirm and it is 12 weeks of 1-2 hours per week, so nothing like a high school credit. 

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Oh, that's definitely not enough for a credit, then.  I looked on coursera's website and they have 3 other paleobiology courses:  Ancient Marine Reptiles, Early Vertebrate Evolution and Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds.  Now I'm thinking... all 4 courses plus some reading and labs.

[mumto2]

Oh, that's definitely not enough for a credit, then. I looked on coursera's website and they have 3 other paleobiology courses: Ancient Marine Reptiles, Early Vertebrate Evolution and Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds. Now I'm thinking... all 4 courses plus some reading and labs.

I can't remember what classes but I packaged the Coursera up with Dino 101. I think I found a couple of Archaeology ones. Your classes sound great. I made sure they did the work for a free certificate and had those as back up for completion.