The course should have more Elaboration on Bitcoin

This course is

a) outdated. All "further reading" links are from 2018, and out of those, half don't even exist anymore.

b) frustrating. The final assignment is run on a Virtualbox VM which you might, or might not get installed on your machine. There are hundreds of graduates-wanna-be that get stranded at this stage because that technology doesn't work on Win10, or on the machine that they have.

The content is fine, but presented in a very old-fashioned way.

I did learn something new (but nothing a bit of googling couldn't have provided), having it presented in a structured format was helpful but i would NEVER recommend this course to anyone.

Disappointed.

Should make more use of better visuals.

Videos are way too short and basically reading a reference text. Not sure what the benefit of taking this course is compared to buying an audiobook on the subject

Extremely dry for something that was actually created on very practical basis.

Hopefully it will improve in next courses

Question in stile `select the wrong ending for sentence` are super confusing and not widely used anymore in nowadays e-learning anymore.

Week 4 assignment's environment setting is a very tedious task. try to make it user friendly.

Boring, and quick, minimal information, doesn't actually teach how smart contracts work.

not clear enough content

Bad presentation...

very superficial

This is awful. In the final project, the miner never generated ether. Therefore, flunked. I understand it perfectly. I couldn't get the ethereum application to run correctly. I posted this issue to the forum and read other posts, followed the troubleshooting tips and still doesn't work. THERE IS NO WAY TO GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR THIS CLASS OR EVEN TALK TO A HUMAN BEING. if you aren't going to have contact information for technical issues, you are setting some students (like me) up to fail. That is shameful.

The external material referenced in this course was actually more useful and better at explaining concepts than this course. I am glad I decided to audit instead of purchasing it. The lecturer should explain the concepts instead of reading off slides, especially when using heavy jargon for an abstract concept like this.

limited to no support form the TA. The end assignment requirement was a high end computer which wasn't specified before. waste of effort.

The program required for the final assignement will not run

Pathetic

Very helpful basic understanding to Blockchain technology. I have a background in Economics / Statistics and found the course accessible despite not having much technical experience in computer science. It was a good first look under the hood of a pretty interesting new technology. For anyone who is looking for additional resources, I'd recommend checking out the Podcast Unchained with Laura Shin. I selected at least one episode a week on my own and felt it complimented the content so I was able to connect contemporary projects or headlines with the foundational concepts in the course.

Thanks for teaching Prof. Ramamurthy and thanks for offering Coursera. Would love to see more specializations built out in this area particularly some related to learning higher level concepts and build more advanced skills.

Most important course with all the information required to understand the Blockchain Basics from Beginner to Intermediate level.. Its very important to take time and go through all the exercises and the Resources file for additional reading - only then one can take complete advantage of the course and have the concepts crystal clear. Must really appreciate the Instructor to provide really awesome curated list of resource websites, that really help get connected with what is exactly going on in the real world of Blockchain as of now.. Loved the course - totally worth the time! I was able to talk to my Sr. Director after completing this course! Was able to explain him about different Consensus protocols and use cases! Wow - that felt surreal! Thx Ms. Bina R!

Very well structured course that comprehensively builds up all the foundational knowledge required for understanding blockchains with emphasis on Bitcoin and Ethereum, but not just restricted to them. The course has short lectures followed by exhaustive optional reading, which I thought should have just been made required reading, given how they work towards both expanding and cementing the knowledge imparted in the lectures. I initially signed up to test the waters with this course to learn the basics, but now that I have completed it, it has piqued my interst in what lay ahead. I am moving on to the rest of the courses in this specialization. Thank you for a great course that was well delivered.

For a fifty-something, it was a matter of etching in a new corner in the mind to even begin to understand what it's all about. I probably spent 10 times the time a more competent person would spend trying to understand the concepts and the mechanism. I even think I learned a new language, since techno-speak is quite another matter in any language. The short videos covered the most important key points, the quizzes matched the teaching with clarity, and all the additional reading and video links were well selected, well placed and extremely helpful. Thank you; you've given me faith that I can function within the 21st century.

Thank you Bina Ramamurthy mam for this course. I am a Mtech student from WestBengal, India. I have got my final year project named "Blockchain for IoT". Two weeks before I have no knowledge about Blockchain but I have heard lots about Bitcoin in internet. Now after completing this course I have understand about Blockchain technology. I think i will pass my exam..Thank you mam. I also Thank you to coursera team for giving this oppurtunity for such facility where students can learn from different famous universities from different parts of the world.

The course is certainly a good way of understanding what block-chain is and it also encourages us to explore cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin (so as to see how a transaction chain is built). The given exercises certainly helped us understand how a block-chain works. All assignments were good, but the final assignment of this course puts our patience as well as our skills and willingness to the test in an incredible manner. I sincerely thank University of Buffalo as well as the State University of New York for the course provided.

I know a lot of people will not give this 5/5 because it is very simple. However, I believe this is what a true "basics" course should be. The course introduces learners to the core concepts and the common terminology used in the industry so that learners can converse properly with others about Blockchain applications. Without this underlying knowledge it is difficult to discuss new ideas with others. For these reasons I believe the instructor and team deserve 5 stars. Well done.

I love this course on Blockchain Basics and highly suggest to take it! It is a very good starting point for any person, interested in blockchain technologies. Moreover, it has a continuation on Coursera within this same Blockchain specialization from University at Buffalo and State University of New York. Bina Ramamurthy is a great Teacher, she explains many complex Blockchain concepts in a very clear, concise and intuitively understood manner. I enjoy her lectures. Thanks a lot!

The content was very basic and demanding but i was disappointed by the last project. It was enhancing course concepts but even though I already had Ubuntu installed, still I had to install virtual box on a windows laptop, then download ethereum ubuntu ova which you provided and then install ubuntu (again) to get project instructions. I know those 2GB are not much, but I am from a small city and reliable internet is not so cheap here.

Thank you for the curse by the way :)

Before starting this course , I knew some few things about Blockchain, but they were not arranged rather randomly perceived. Now I understand the basics. This course have helped me with short but effective videos, good web materials and an awesome tool. Although I am from CS background but I recommend it for everyone who are interested in Blockchain because the course is designed in such way so that everyone can take it.

Comprehensive course with informative content and practice exercises that gets you acquainted with the blockchain technology. Just one suggestion, I would have preferred a basic programming assignment as well that might enable the learners to imitate a general blockchain. Apart from that, the approach adopted by this course, to use visualizing tools for better understanding of the concepts serves the desired purpose.