Roman Architecture

very informative course

Excelente curso, muy interesante. Es una gran profesora, no solo domina el tema sino que lo sabe transmitir, lo disfruta y logra que una aprecie mejor el imperio romano.

Very good course, with informative lectures and nice images. Do recommend that you purchase the companion digital book by Prof. Kleiner and the often cited book "Roman Architecture" by John Ward-Perkins.

My criticisms are few:

1. The peer grading on assignments is flawed. One fellow "learned" lifted an entire paragraph from my essay, and by happenstance I was a grader on his essay, so I reported this episode of plagiarism. And as galling as that was, he also gave me my lowest grade on that assignment.

2. Some of the objective answer questions on quizzes contain a word or two that really alters the appropriate answer. E.G. One asks something like "All Roman amphitheaters were ..." when in reality the actual answer would be "Most Roman amphitheaters were..." If there is at least one in the first category, then you can't say "all."

3. Enough with the Yalie stuff. Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow! Seriously. E.G."Any of you Yalies going to Italy for spring break should be sure to visit..."

4. No offense, Prof. Kleiner, but if I want restaurant or gelateria recommendations for Italy, I'll do some serious Internet searches. Tre Scalini is a famous tourist destination, and few would contend that it has "the best gelato in Rome."

5. Consider adding the oft referenced "Monuments List" as an appendix for those who are taking the course online.

That said, easily one of the best courses on Coursera and far superior to another offered by an archaeology professor and his dog.

This was an excellent course. There were good visuals, the professor was pleasant and made everything come alive. Constant references and comparisons to previous lectures topics helped clarify. I believe because this course was the actual college classroom, it was much better than many of the courses that are filmed just for this site. I felt I was in the room learning and even though I was only auditing, got so much out of it.