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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Medical Neuroscience by Duke University

4.9
stars
2,693 ratings

About the Course

Medical Neuroscience explores the functional organization and neurophysiology of the human central nervous system, while providing a neurobiological framework for understanding human behavior. In this course, you will discover the organization of the neural systems in the brain and spinal cord that mediate sensation, motivate bodily action, and integrate sensorimotor signals with memory, emotion and related faculties of cognition. The overall goal of this course is to provide the foundation for understanding the impairments of sensation, action and cognition that accompany injury, disease or dysfunction in the central nervous system. The course will build upon knowledge acquired through prior studies of cell and molecular biology, general physiology and human anatomy, as we focus primarily on the central nervous system. This online course is designed to include all of the core concepts in neurophysiology and clinical neuroanatomy that would be presented in most first-year neuroscience courses in schools of medicine. However, there are some topics (e.g., biological psychiatry) and several learning experiences (e.g., hands-on brain dissection) that we provide in the corresponding course offered in the Duke University School of Medicine on campus that we are not attempting to reproduce in Medical Neuroscience online. Nevertheless, our aim is to faithfully present in scope and rigor a medical school caliber course experience. This course comprises six units of content organized into 12 weeks, with an additional week for a comprehensive final exam: - Unit 1 Neuroanatomy (weeks 1-2). This unit covers the surface anatomy of the human brain, its internal structure, and the overall organization of sensory and motor systems in the brainstem and spinal cord. - Unit 2 Neural signaling (weeks 3-4). This unit addresses the fundamental mechanisms of neuronal excitability, signal generation and propagation, synaptic transmission, post synaptic mechanisms of signal integration, and neural plasticity. - Unit 3 Sensory systems (weeks 5-7). Here, you will learn the overall organization and function of the sensory systems that contribute to our sense of self relative to the world around us: somatic sensory systems, proprioception, vision, audition, and balance senses. - Unit 4 Motor systems (weeks 8-9). In this unit, we will examine the organization and function of the brain and spinal mechanisms that govern bodily movement. - Unit 5 Brain Development (week 10). Next, we turn our attention to the neurobiological mechanisms for building the nervous system in embryonic development and in early postnatal life; we will also consider how the brain changes across the lifespan. - Unit 6 Cognition (weeks 11-12). The course concludes with a survey of the association systems of the cerebral hemispheres, with an emphasis on cortical networks that integrate perception, memory and emotion in organizing behavior and planning for the future; we will also consider brain systems for maintaining homeostasis and regulating brain state....

Top reviews

MG

Jan 14, 2021

This course was a great opportunity for me to understand the world of neurology and helped me to clear all the ambiguities regarding the complex mechanisms that are happening in our beautiful brains.

KT

Nov 21, 2018

I leant so much without even realising it until I got to the final exams and all this knowledge was making sense. Amazing lecturer with so much wisdom in the area. The course is very well delivered.

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51 - 75 of 802 Reviews for Medical Neuroscience

By Indra R

Mar 27, 2019

I used this as preparation material for a module/test for my graduate degree and i found the videos to be clearer, more complete, and helpful than my actual courses. That is quite impressive.

By Sharvaree D

May 1, 2020

Excellent course.

A bit difficult though.all credit to Prof Leonard White for making such diff course interesting and understandable.

Thanks to the entire team of DUKE UNIVERSITY.

By Zeshan A

Dec 7, 2018

The best course I ever had in my life. Thank you Dr. Len White for providing such an great opportunity to learn neuroscience and motivating us to explore the brain.

By Fatima K

Jul 3, 2021

this coarse is the best for whom want to learn neurology. The lecture is explained very well, I enjoyed this lecture very much and it was really worth it.

By Lara M O

Feb 10, 2023

This course is incredibly rich in details, and the professor gives amazing advice on how to learn, with great initiatives to keep students engaged.

By Hamad A A

Feb 3, 2023

one of the most comprehensive

and detailed course

I’ve ever taken. Amazing instructor and smooth

learning experience with

the best curriculum.

By Eleanor M

May 3, 2020

I thoroughly enjoyed this course! I learned so much from Dr White and was impressed with the quality and clarity of the course content.

By Christopher W

Jan 13, 2023

Fantastic course with a fantastic tutor! I have been inspired to continue learning more in the field of Neuroscience!

By Jack

Dec 2, 2021

Certainly the best online course for neuroscience. Possibly the best online course for anything.

By Jeremy C

Dec 14, 2018

Solid course. I only wish there were more. Thank you, Professor White & team!

By Abu H

Mar 9, 2019

very good course under the supervision of greatest Prof. L. White

By Laura G

Dec 23, 2018

the best course that i has been

thanks Dr Write

By Jerusha R

Nov 15, 2019

This is a really comprehensive and detailed course. There's so much material here so it's a great foundation. Beware, it's very heavy on anatomy, so pay lots of attention to the anatomy bits. You need to commit to really learning on this course - it's not easy and the multiple choice quizzes are challenging. Having done the course without an anatomy resource I can suggest that you get one (these are discussed in the course) as it would be very helpful in understanding the locations of everything that is talked about, which is really important. At times, Dr White is a little bit verbose and has a tendency to give a brief overview of something and then the overview morphs into a deeper view so it's repetitive but the structure isn't always clear. A textbook would be a helpful accompaniment to clear up some issues. Again, I didn't have this either, but Wikipedia was really helpful. Overall this is a great grounding in neuroscience and has the academic rigour you'd expect from a course offered by a university of the calibre of Duke. Don't be fooled by thinking this is easy because it's online, it's not! Be prepared to spend 6+ hours per week on this.

By Judith M

Sep 1, 2017

Depending on how long one has been out of school quite hard work. Needs a number of hours every week to keep up, especially for those not having "The Book" (Neuroscience) or not having the use of all the online material provided. (Logins didn't work). However, I'd recommend it to people in health professions like me, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Nurses in Neurology, or anyone wanting to revise the work with a clinical bias. It allowed me to study from home. which is great! It's the clinical stuff that was really interesting in the final exams although quite difficult!

By San s

Aug 11, 2020

While the course is interesting is filled with great information and engaging lectures, I personally felt it to be too long. Since I was pursuing this course out of sheer interest in the subject alongside my full coursework load, I found the individual lectures are way too long for me to do this course alongside my regular coursework. Having shorter lectures by simply breaking up the topic into smaller sub-topics would have helped me immensely. As it stands, I have discontinued this and would prefer to await a break from my classes to resume this.

By Deleted A

Jun 18, 2021

It seems the test questions are more designed to trick than teach you.

By Esteban P

Jan 11, 2017

I took the Medical Neuroscience course as a way of getting a broad overview of the subject, and was not disappointed. The course starts with a solid basis in neuroanatomy, and builds in concepts and topics in a well structured way. The course seems to pursue two goals - on the one hand, to provide the basic neuroanatomy, physiology and functional background, and on the other to apply the knowledge to understand, identify and localize some medical conditions such as stroke, motor neuron disease, or Parkinson's Disease. The lab sessions and tutorials are entertaining and informative, thanks to Dr. White's friendly and engaging presentation style. The tutorials are accompanied by useful notes, and the frequent quizzes support the learning of the very extensive material. His recommendations for learning the material (follow the path, visualize your knowledge, learn spatially and socially) are useful in many other contexts. The materials are supported by a reference texbook, Neuroscience 5th edition from 2012, and a new edition is expected in 2017. Also, the text transcriptions of the video presentations appear to have been generated by machine, and need to be proofread and corrected. In spite of this, they are very useful to review specific points in the videos. Although the course presents a huge amount of material and the discussion forums allow both clarification of issues and questions as well as deepening and extending the knowledge provided by the basic materials in the course. I strongly recommend this course to anyone interested in gaining a basic overview of human neuroscience.

By Virginia

Sep 3, 2017

The journey throughout the Nervous System is even more intense and eye-opening than what you can imagine at the beginning. I loved the way Prof. White goes over every topic, sharing part of his personal thoughts and experience, which results in a very welcoming way of conveying information. The optional tools provided are also highly valuable, and the tips that are given all along are very useful when it comes to self-organization and techniques of study. The course is thick: there is much to say, and many times there is no space for everything, but it's a fine start if you do not know very much about Neuroscience. I particulary learnt a lot about anatomy, which is a big deal when understanding the Nervous System. The assessments are "fun": you don't just answer plain questions, but need to use all you've learnt, integrate it, and think to get to an answer. As a little flaw, I would say that in order to answer these questions, there are several things that are not thoroughly developped in the course and yet you must know about (the "pathological" part: diseases, circulatory system - which is quite complex and only approached switftly- etc.).

From a more personal point of view, I've learnt more and better in this course that in some larger in-person courses I had in my career about the topic. Hence, I thank professor White and his crew for the experience. It's worth it!

By Elizabeth C

Jul 29, 2022

Thanks to Dr. White and his team for all their exceptional work in putting this course together. Dr. White does a phenomenal job of teaching complex concepts. I appreciate his dedication to precision in language usage. What an amazing opportunity to have access to his teaching. I learned so much. The course was truly challenging. I didn't have the text or access to Sylvius but I took Dr. White's advice and created lots of drawings as I made my way through the tutorials. It was also helpful to have a split screen running on my computer with the tutorial video on one side and the corresponding tutorial notes on the other. I took pages and pages of notes which proved helpful for the quizzes and final exam. I did end up having to Google quit a bit - especially to find images of the neuroanatomy. The clinical emphasis on the final exam was tough but a fun and intriguing way to apply the learning. I am a high school science teacher with some background in neuroscience. It took me about six weeks to complete the course. I will likely purchase the text as a reference for my own teaching. I've taken several Coursera MOOC's in the past. Medical Neuroscience is by far the best. I highly recommend it if you have an interest in neuroscience. Truly excellent. Thanks again, Dr. White!

By Dr.Rekha S

Apr 20, 2020

One of the excellent courses I have ever attended. Prof.Dr.Leonard White made every lecture very interesting and simple. Although the subject is very difficult i enjoyed every bit of it. Many a time i failed the exam which made me read again and again. Each video lecture is designed very thoughtfully. This course not only made me more knowledgeable in neuroscience which attracted me right from my child wood, it improved many other aspects too. I have developed more interest in learning different things. It showed a way to me .our age or economic condition is not a hurdle if we wish or determined to do something strongly .i have completed this course only because of the encouragement form the Coursera team time and again. I am thankful to the entire team for their support and encouragement throughout the course.

sir only one request to provide me the certificate of completing this course successfully .definitely this will help me and others to encourage for this course.I hope you will provide me the certificate, please. finally, I want to say I want to do some more advanced courses in neurology provided under the guidance of Prod.L.White. I want to thank the entire team especially Prof.Dr.L White from my core of heart

By Mariya C

Apr 7, 2022

This course is absolutely amazing! There are no words that can express my sincere gratitude to Prof. White who has put so much effort and taken so much from his time to prepare this absolutely wonderful set of lectures for us!

The course is extremely interesting, covers many topics, gives the chance to consolidate the knowledge with the quizzes and the textbook! I very much enjoyed listening to Prof. White who is not only a distinguished scientist, but also a great educator. What I mean by this, is that he not only understands this complicated topic, but is also able to explain it to others, something that many other professors lack skills to achieve.

Rarely there are courses on Coursera that are so detailed and so amazing! This is what I especially like about it. This course definitely shows high quality and attracts the learners who are serious about neuroscience. There is no time for “playing games” here, but for serious work and studying! This is how courses should be. This is a course that should become a model for others who want to prepare educational courses.

I am honoured to have been part of Prof. White’s course on Medical Neuroscience! Thank you, Professor!

By Claire C

Jan 8, 2017

very interesting but difficult course and very thorough. All the info anyone who is not a medical doctor will ever need. The teacher is committed, patient, kind and overall excellent.

This is a very good course but i personally feel that the lectures should be spread over at least 20 weeks instead of 13. As it is currently taught, the course is placing a lot of stress and pressure on the student to keep up with the pace if the student also has other home or work commitments so it makes it difficult for such an interested student to go into all the depths the course asks for if time is constrained by the pace of the course. I feel that if the course had been taught over 20 weeks at least then i would have had more time each week to go into it in more details.

But overall i really enjoyed the lectures, and i know i have learnt all that i will ever want to know about the neurology of the human body

Thank you Dr White and team for all your time and efforts in putting out such a wonderful course. Students like me really do appreciate it all

By Rawa

Nov 18, 2016

It is a wonderful course for serious learners wanting to learn about the human nervous system and how it works. I myself am a medical doctor (I graduated over two years ago) and I can attest that (in my university at least) I didn't have neuroscience lectures with this depth and detail.

Due to my medical background I found it comfortable to go through the course without much effort or lots of extra studying. But I figure that if you do not have some such foundation it might be a bit more challenging to go smoothly with the course, and you might needs more extra studying and more time put into the course.

But if you are interested about neuroscience and want to learn the essentials of how the human brain works (as per our current knowledge) then I recommend that you put in the effort and go with the course even if you don't have a strong background in the life sciences or in medicine.

Many thanks to Dr White and everybody else who have participated in creating and maintaining this course.

By Ivan V A

Feb 14, 2018

I think it is a very good course in Neurosciences, because gave me an good update and now I felt me with total confidence if I wish to take more advanced course in Neurosciences. I am Physician(Professor of Internal Medicine/Nephrology)and I don´t belong to specialties like Neurology, but working for many years in Intensive Care Units;I had to handle many and differents cases of difficults Neurological Problems, with support of neurologists Teams, but I was aware that I needed and Update and more than that, an Integrative view of Nervous system Function.As Collateral effect, this course wake up on me an deep interest in Neurosciences, as very good serious medical hobby.

Thank you and congratulations for this course and I hope to see another course given by DUKE UNIVERSITY, headed by Dr Leonard White and his Team

Ivan vuc ina MD-FACP

Professor of Internal Medicine /Nephrology

University of Chile/Clínica las Condes

Santiago de Chile

By Ayyan R

Mar 9, 2023

The contents of the course & the learning materials provided is sufficient for a curious learner about this field to gain sufficient knowledge. Professor Leonard White and his team have done a great work in making this course available for the general public who are curious to know about how the brain functions. My personal interest were from Week 12 where we get to know the functions of amygdala, ventral tegmental area (VTA) which releases dopamine through D1 and D2 pathways which are then received by nucleus accumbens which explains the addictive behaviors of many individuals. Also, I liked the topics on sleep which described the importance of sleep and the various waves such as delta (stage-4), thetha associated with sleep, dreams that occur during REM sleep. Apart from the topics that I've specified above other topics were exciting too, this course met my curiosity to know about our neuro-anatomical structure and it's functions.