From the very beginning of this course I was excited. For some time now I wanted to bring my fragmentary knowledges to order. So my hopes were high. And, oh boy, I wasn’t disappointed. Not only I filled in the blanks but I learned so many new things. I would recommend Big History to anyone regardless of their job or field of interest. It’s very well structured and it’s the most advanced course I ever took on Coursera in terms of design and preparation. Lecturers are really engaged. Topics are numerous and fascinating. I could go on and on but the major point is that I enjoyed these six week a lot and that was a time well spent.

Excellent course design and teaching. Professor Christian and the YouTube adjuncts play a central role in the course, but many disciplines are represented. This cosmology/cosmogony course is filled with information. The paper, while it might seem to be a hassle, is actually a good exercise in pulling the course ideas together over the journey from 13.8bya to the future.

Fantastic course which should be required of every high school student in the world. The true scope of "history" is far too limited and thus not understood. This course lays out the proper meaning of history. We can know history because we have discovered a lot of the facts in the past fifty years.

Very informative, cross and inter-disciplinary course. Lot of effort is put into formulating and developing the course. Thanks for all the people who have contributed to run the course successfully.

This course is the best way to learn about our origin and our future.I recommend everyone to take this course.

Brilliant and fascinating course. I will complete it one day.

Thanks, David, Christchurch, New Zealand

I find the week 6 of this course completely irrelevant. Also, I'm attending courses on Coursera to learn and quizzes are IMO an essential part of that process, but definitely not essays. For me personally, essays are just waste of time and there's nothing beneficial about them.

Another thing that bugs me is how questionably and often misleadingly are thermodynamical laws interpreted by the professors in this course.

It's been one of the best periods of my studying life taking this Big History course. I have learned so much and it has made me even hungrier to acquire further knowledge in this new field. I plan on doing the course again (unofficially) but this time I would like to be able to really go through all the Amazing resources that the course provides. I have already purchased a few books and plan to purchase more. Now I need to read them. I have discovered some wonderful lecturers, specialists in their fields and would like to thank each and every one of them for all their dedication and hard work. Everybody in the world should be invited to do this course. We should not be allowed to live on this planet without knowing what Big History teaches us. It is so important to understand where we come from, how fragile we all are and the challenges we face if we cannot start repecting our home, because we are talking about our home

This is a fantastic and comprehensive course. If I had to nit-pick, it would be questioning the particular coverage placed upon China in the sub-topic of "How did Modernity evolve after the Industrial Revolution?" and the seemingly critical view taken towards its modernisation.

One point in particular was "We've achieved a war over nature. Where we've done it, there's a cost to ourselves, as the intensifying flooding in Shanghai often illustrates. Early in October 2013, Shanghai was hit by two typhoons which came together and saturated Shanghai with the heaviest rainfall ever recorded." I'm not a Chinese citizen, but it sounded to me like China received her due comeuppance, which I felt was a little uncalled for.

While China's trade opening may be significant in world trade, I'm not sure if the particular in-depth coverage on China in relevance to the question, is a stretch.

This is definitely my favorite course on Coursera and anywhere else in internet! So glad I accidentally ran into it! Under a name that doesn't tell much about the content there is a real jewel - a multidisciplinary course that is truly able to connect many of the dots and make perfect sense of all these endless math and science, history and many other classes we all had to sit throughout our school years. I loved every minute of this course, all the experts zooming into subjects, all of additional materials (especially Crushcourse videos). Big History course is awesome for those always asking "but why?" questions. A very big thank you to The Big History course team for finding time and passion for making it available to everyone in the world!

Looks and sounds like a great course. Can't wait until the 28th March 2016 to start week 2. A bit annoyed with myself rushing quiz 1. I think one has to really pick all the meat off the bones of the information to get 100% (unless one is a Cosmologist - anyone got Stephen Hawking's phone number?)

Just finished week 2 and I am already giving this course five stars. A really-really-really top course, a sit up all night job. Still haven't found Stephen Hawking's phone number yet. He probably realises I'm looking for it, clever bloke and honorary Python that he is, and gone ex-directory. Can't say I blame him, I'd do the same if I found out I was looking for my number!

Excellent course! Profound interdisciplinary expedition from the beginnings of the Universe (since "the Big Bang" ) through the creation of galaxies, to our Sun, planets, beginnings of life on Earth, evolution of that life, major changes to earth resulting from activities of our unique species (humans), toward pondering what the near and distant future might hold. Using the concept of "Thresholds", the course aims to make sense of and connect major themes and trends as it traces the fingerprints of the unfolding of the cosmos - of which we as humans are an interconnected part.

Astounding. I never stopped whining about it to everyone I knew because it was so eye-opening and actually enjoyable? I found myself engaged throughout and I didn't have to worry toooo much about understanding absolutely everything to get the bigger picture. I love the variety of options we got in resources and this has helped me in many of my other subjects at school because it's such an expansive (but not overwhelming) course. I actually find myself rather infuriated that it's not already part of the syllabus as this information is so pertinent to our current generation!

I loved every minute of this course. I only watched the video's because of lack of time, but really was sorry when reaching the end. Iit is packed full with (new) insights, very entertaining with excellent quality images, comments from the various lecturers that will make you think in a more balanced way about the world we live in.

I did not know about Big History and signed up out of curiosity. However, I believe it should be mandatory for everybody to get this kind of connection of various disciplines to understand more of what got us here.

Strongly recommended!

Totally enjoyable. The videos are professional, varied and so informative. Comparing the quiz to some others , I found they were better formulated and less ambiguous.

Personally I feel I learned an amazing amount in a short time span and bother the content and pace were stimulating! so bravo!

This is the type of general knowledge everyone should have but probably 90 % only have a rough, inaccurate or no awareness whatsoever. This could be run even at the school level, it could stimulate future scientists.

This course is blowing my mind (in a good way). It has been a long time since I've felt the wonder of the world (and universe) of which I am a part. In addition, this course is expanding the language with which I can talk about and understand my environments (new and old). The information is well-organised and concise and the resources are a good blend of academic, creative, informative and fun and the lecturers are knowledgable and passionate. I hope this field floods the world's places of education.

The discovery of David Christians approach, first by reading his "Maps of Time" and listening to some of his presentations on-line, then by attending this course was an eye-opener to me. I now try to explain the importance of the subject to as many people as I can. Not only adults or university students, but mid-level students as well deserve to be exposed to the view of Big History, It changes one's perceptions of the past and enhances one's apprehensions of the future.

Este é o meu primeiro curso e gostei demais. Tive dificuldades porque não sou fluente em inglês. Para compreender a matéria, tive que traduzir tudo, mesmo assim valeu a pena. Por não saber, deixei de participar do forum, o que teria me ajudado ainda mais. Acredito que a troca de conhecimento ajuda muito os alunos a compreenderem e participarem dos cursos. O curso também cumpre uma metodologia que faz o aluno pensar, ao invés de oferecer respostas prontas. Muito bom!

The high quality of videos and content makes this course an outstanding, fantastic and entertainment MOOC course for everyone who wish to learn the big history that is hidding in the Universe. Thanks coursera and macquare University for let us access to this beatiful show of altruism and openness, both of you deserve not only a big five star but a great standing applasue. Congratulations great course.

All my best Coursera community,

Carlos Arturo Pimentel.

They speak clearly, allowing differences of opinions without insulting beliefs, break each segment into the components parts and giving current information on each so that a student has sufficient information to decide - and enjoy the 'claim tests'.

I have taken coursera courses in each of the segments as well as having higher ed in some that are nice to get up-to-date - and all in one place - to begin to see what Alex Humboldt called the web of the world.

Great course because it provides critical thinking skills and broadens my understanding of past and current scientific theories. More importantly, it changed my perspective and approach to my life and studies. I am now more open-minded to new and challenging study/literal/life skills and concepts that I would not attempt before. I have become more confident within myself to accept challenging decisions and approach everything with a clear and open mind.

It was such a fascinating journey through time, knowledge, within myself and into the universe! I loved every moment of it and now I am touched because it's over. Nevertheless, I know Big History is in me, just as I am part of It (as small as, and apparently, insignificant one may seem) and I am full of gratitude towards the entire warm-hearted, generous, intelligent, very highly skilled and talented Big History team. Thank you very much indeed!

Fantastic and trailblaizing course. Changes your perspective on so many things and educates you in state-of.the-art knowledge in many fields such as astrophysics, geology, palaeontology, biology, archelology, social sciences and history. Great focus on what science is as well and differences between natural sciences on the one side and social sciences and history on the other. Where possible they also let you see 'the data' for yourself.

Intellectually thought provoking, as well as socially enlightening for all levels of understanding of the world. Highly recommend for high school students who are interested in expanding their prior, more narrow perception on history. It's interdisciplinary methodology allows for a significant increase in appreciation for how science, history and teleological studies interrelate, while the course is also still enjoyable.

Excellent course! This is a thorough presentation of a difficult subject with experts in the various fields explaining how their field (area of expertise) connects with or is dependent on other fields. Prior to this course I thought of history more in terms of written or archeological evidence. This course included astronomy, chemistry, biology, geology and other fields I would not ordinarily think of as history.