Professor: Coleman Course format: Lecture w/lab Number of respondents: 10 Total Enrollment: 13 Class Composition: Froshs: 5 Sophs: 4 Jrs: 3 Srs: 1 Concs: ? Non-Concs: ? Don't Know: ?

Instructor Average: 1.89 Course Average: 2.01

“Life of Birds” serves as a looking glass into the biological world from the perspective of a bird. In delving into this natural environment, BI19 teaches students about the biology and behavior of these creatures. As an overview, the course focuses on topics of general biology and their application to the study of birds. There are no prerequisites for this class, although a basic knowledge of biology would be useful.

Overall, Professor Coleman received extremely positive reviews from her students. In general, reviewers felt that she was a very effective lecturer who introduced poignant examples during class, brought in interesting material, and made good use of overheads. Such respondents go on to indicate that she was enthusiastic, approachable, and always took students’ needs into account, although students felt her lectures were a “little slow at times.”

Class members found that the handouts from class and the Manual of Ornithology were both interesting and relevant to the course, while the textbook readings were less helpful. In terms of academic rubric, the coursework consisted of five labs, a map quiz, a paper and presentation, two midterms, and one final. By and large, most students felt all assignments were fair and reasonable.

Respondents claimed to have typically spent about two hours per week in work attributable to this course. This was actually less than what most people had initially expected prior to enrollment. According to most survey participants, take this course if you are interested in birds, and are looking for a good beginner-level biology course with a relatively light workload!

View BI/0019 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.