Overall a good course, with a section on Islam and Magic that felt very well elaborated. All peer graded exercises however were poorly designed and had awful correction criteria.

First class, very interesting. Lot of facts and somethings I already knew from history class. Good introduction to coursera and view of magic

The video quality needs improvement and some terms students are not familiar with might be better understood with more explanation.

I found this course a little bit superficial, at least for the Spanish part. In my opinion some lessons are like a big introduction that has never come up to treat the subject in depth. Maybe I had a too high expectation but it is an university course and the title "Magic in the middle age" is so, so, attractive. Anyway my advice is: before pay for this course, follow the lessons as an auditor.

Sorry for my english and hope my review could be useful for someone.

This course provided interesting information in the video clips. However, there was limited discussion in the forums when I studied on this course. It would also have been nice to see more involvement in the forums by the course organisers. As it was, the students seem to have been left very much on their own with only a handful of moderators doing their best to help as they could.

I feel there are many more topics to discuss for this course. I also feel that the topics discussed could be examined in further detail and at a slower pace. And there were times when the speaker was quiet or the microphone didn't work properly and I had a difficult time hearing what was being talked about.

Could have more detail. This course feels rushed and skims over a lot of things without detailed explanation. The quizzes and peer assessments are poorly worded and confusing. Week 4 was excellent, Prof. Godefroid de Callatay's lectures about Magic in Islam were very well delivered and informative.

Interesting info but speakers give very disjointed lectures and don't give background on a lot of new terms so its very hard to understand.

quizzes were thoughtful

peer work not so much

audio was poor

content without context of era

A very good but in my opinion not so specific course.

Such a poorly designed and executed course. It seems thrown together without any attention to learning design and without clear learning outcomes and objectives. We were bombarded with names and facts without being offered any analysis, commentary or opportunities for critical reflection. The course was never tied to grander themes about history/humanity/ science or to contemporary events. The videos were almost completely devoid of visuals. Illuminated manuscripts and artworks could have been used to engage students’ visual senses. Week 4 was absolutely terrible. It was like watching a head read an encyclopedic entry. Why did we have to memorize the name Maslama Ibn Qāsim al-Qurṭubī, for instance? This is a serious question. My recommendation is to get an instructional designer or someone with pedagogical knowledge and expertise review the course and offer suggestions. It’s a shame that such an interesting topic was presented in such a terrible, mundane manner. I’d paid in advance for the certificate because I was very excited about the subject matter, but would have never gotten past Week 1 if I hadn’t made a financial commitment.

While this course presents great content and valuable information, the caveat is in the overall experience. The moderators and instructors are nonexistent and cannot be reached. There is only one moderator who finally did his job and showed up to deal with some issues that many classmates were having (including myself), and even his response time is only once every week! So, he only started checking in once a week after I had already nearly completed the whole course. There are also some serious issues with glitches, technicalities and not being able to pass assignments and grade others' assignments. I completed this course a week ago, and many of my classmates are not able to complete it due to extreme glitches, like the system not taking in their projects and not even allowing them to move forward. It's such a shame. I'm the lucky one in that I was able to finish the course. The others? Not so lucky. They're still stuck back there and the staff of this course is really just not around and doesn't care! It's such a shame because, like I said, the material presented in this course is informative and valuable information.

I feel that this course is not looked after. Teachers are not actively present. There was an error on one quiz and another assignment was very poorly explained, leading to many feeling like we lost marks due to not knowing exactly what was expected of us. Many of the lessons waste time gushing over what's coming next, but quite often the lesson itself feels weak and vague. At some points I struggled to understand the point the lessons were trying to make. I learned a few interesting things, but for the most part I'm extremely disappointed with this course.

The female lecture's speech is so fast and unclear, even though the subject itself is very interesting but I have to leave this class.