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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science by University of Pennsylvania

4.9
stars
5,768 ratings

About the Course

Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman—renowned worldwide as the “father of Positive Psychology”—has led visionary leaps in the scientific research, empirical data and personal understandings of human flourishing. This course explores the past, present and future of positive psychology as a journey through the key scientific leaps led by Dr. Seligman and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Center and Master of Applied Positive Psychology program. There are no prerequisites....

Top reviews

RS

Dec 8, 2017

Very self-enhancing. Activities are fun and at the same time a good avenue for learning experiences. Very positive and student engaging. Thank you for giving me the chance to be part of this course =)

JK

May 5, 2021

This is not a course for educational purposes only. This course will change the way you look at yourself and your relationship with society forever. Take it, and encourage your friends to do the same.

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1801 - 1825 of 1,963 Reviews for Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science

By CQ

Jun 19, 2020

This is a great overview of what we can look forward to delving more deeply in to once we get into the more specific classes. I did watched Tal's 1504 Harvard Course before taking this course and I wish that more time had been spent on love and relationships because I found that to be a high point of the lecture series. I really liked learning directly from the Master and hearing from the various experts in the field. Like a survey course, we had the opportunity to learn a lot at once and to see how big Positive Psychology is. I would have liked a stronger framework throughout the course. I think PERMA is the foundation of Positive Psychology and I would have liked to see it hit in every discussion of the ways that Positive Psychology applies to different disciplines. It was a huge treat to watch the scientists present what matters to them and to read their published works. This course is really digestible and, maybe that's why I initially gave it three stars, it left me wanting more. I feel like I only scratched the surface, which compels me to continue to the next course. I'm also really excited by how this course inspires me to want to make a difference in my field, to want to bring PP to education based on where I feel that it can make a difference. This is a great course!

By Karin T

May 8, 2023

Good introductory course. The videos, reading, and assignments are engaging and thought-provoking. Overall really enjoyed and appreciate that this is available on Coursera.

However, some of the links do not work (please fix these), but I was able to find things that were referred to by searching on the web but I noticed other students were unable to find some of the materials.

Also, would really like to see A LOT more links/citations to academic/peer-reviewed literature, especially for PERMA theory. The only two citations for PERMA theory were for the book Flourish and a short response-type journal article to criticism of PERMA theory.

***PLEASE ADD MORE LINKS TO RESOURCES FOR PERMA THEORY***

Also, offering one downloadable PDF for the entire list of resources would be much more efficient/helpful than having to click on each resource.

By Manickam R

Aug 1, 2020

Respected everyone, I was immensely grateful to Coursera and Pennsylvania University for giving me the opportunity to do this course, Positive Psychology: Martin E.P. Seligman's Visionary Science.

I was totally wondering by holding the Valuable Certificate of Pennsylvania University (along with Coursera) how much it worth to me and to my future well-being and career achievements.

I deeply appreciate the author Dr. Martin Seligman for his work on Positive Psychology and it through education for the global well-being. Thankyou sir.

I would like to suggest everyone, of different fields and countries to do this course for their well-being and surroundings. I challenge and sure about that it will definitely bring an intense change in your life and living. Thanks again Pennsylvania University and Cousera, thankyou all.

By Dani S

May 1, 2022

I enjoyed this course.

I would have liked more case studies and research provided. wtih summary sheets.

Also would have liked more tasks or activities you could apply in real life. I know we had some, but would have liked more. to see how creatively this can be applied.

Would also have liked more on the limits of this approach. it's not all perfect. where it fails or what helps frame it in discussions with others.

i didn't like how the notes were provided for download. format is terrible.

key summary sheets would hlep. top points and take aways.

resources from this could be better provided.

By Bhavya

Feb 2, 2019

I enjoyed the applications section (such as stats from researches and journalism bit).

I think the introductory theory could have contained more information, such as further understanding on each aspect of PERMA.

However the course made a compelling argument in favour of Positive Psych, inspired me for personal reflection, as well as to read more similar courses.

I'd like to hear more (especially from the conceiving propounder) about where this new branch puts the role and usefulness of the old way of practicing psychotherapy.

By Zhaomin H

Aug 13, 2017

Great introduction and overview of positive psychology with the founder and his team! No heavy textbooks or papers but short videos featuring the major studies with findings and real world application. I especially like the hands-on assignments. Didn't give five starts because a few of the links (I think two or three) were broken. Some of the interactive essay/short answer questions are the same as the assignment/quiz questions. I think this is unnecessary. Also a reference list for the studies mentioned would be great!

By Deleted A

Nov 12, 2017

It's a great course that brings out many scientifically interesting and personally useful topics. Martin Seligman is a wonderful professor; I really enjoyed personal examples he shared and enthusiasm seen in him. Thank you so much!

What I would suggest to the course makers is to put practical exercises as the first video of each week, so students have the entire week to make the exercises. I would also like to see more peer-graded assignments - I enjoyed reading and learning from others!

All in all, a very good course!

By Olexander T

Dec 23, 2017

This course started very well and I learned really a lot: optimism/pessimism, PERMA etc. But than it went so much into other theoretical fields which have nothing to do with us, e.g. religion or journalism. I understand, that these topics might be clarifies in the following courses of the specialization, but most of people don't want to go so much into the details.

Still, I learned really a lot about very new field for me and I don't regret starting this course at all.

By Igor J

May 27, 2017

First 2.5 weeks where much more interesting, orginised and direct than last 1.5 week.

However, the cousre did a very good introduction to the topic / problems and research related to the field.

Look forward to learn further and more

Martin Saligman - personal deep thank you for what you started doing.

Also, interested to learn more about Positive Education and possibly get involved. As one of the things I want to do in life is contribute into development of Education.

By char s

Mar 2, 2019

The content is very good. It feels like I am taking a regular course online.

I only have a couple issues... when it is required to respond to a classmates work before you can complete the section, it doesn't let you. Many times there is no student to respond to which is the problem. And lastly, the phone app starts you over when you move out of it to stop for the day. I have have to go back to the beginning and scroll to find out where I left off.

By Jo O

Dec 18, 2017

Some great material in here, including some very useful exercises (WWW and ACR, for instance). It would get the full five stars if there were more references to support some of the findings, and to allow for further independent study. The session on positive journalism would be better if it was made more relevant to the 99.9% of us who are not journalists, and if there was more of an evidence base for some of the ideas being promoted.

By Marc G

Aug 31, 2017

This course helps you envision a more upbeat future full of opportunities, thus shifting the typical focus from a distressful present and a traumatic past. It covers a myriad of different issues, and perhaps because of that specific topics are not explored in much depth, but the course is great to gain a general overview of the many different fields within positive psychology and to get a feel for the current state of the art.

By Nadja F

Feb 22, 2021

Overall easy to follow and logical in most cases. Some information is very superficial, but interesting and can be seen as additional topics. These can be followed by other means in self-supported further study.

The course is interesting, as Martin Seligman walks you through the history of the topic and explans the concepts from the side of his story. That makes it very entertaining and explains contexts.

By Ben W

Apr 28, 2020

This course has been most interesting and enriching. There is a great deal of valuable information and knowledge/research shared. This course is a very useful and interesting introduction to the field of Positive Psychology. The nature of the 'assessment' is not very challenging. Perhaps a more stimulating means of assessment would lead to being more engaged with the highly valuable content presented.

By Michael M

Mar 23, 2018

I enjoyed the class and learned a good deal. I felt like the quizzes had questions with answers which were misleading and not 100% accurate. So, a few frustrations there led to my rating of 4 instead of 5. The range of subjects and history of positive psychology were both very extensive and helpful for me to start this certification program. Lastly, a little more humor would be appreciated.

By Navneet S

Mar 1, 2019

[+] This course offers a good insight, both concepts and hand-on tools, to orient towards Positive Psychology. The course offers hand-holding through the journey, while helping understand the concepts and assessing our-self, and offers ample relevant references to bring clarity on the topics. [-] Few videos could be edited to cut short and to include summary of key topics discussed.

By Deana R

Mar 18, 2020

Loved the content and videos but some of the quiz questions seem out-of-sync with the material given. The questions are often overly wordy which makes it difficult to understand the intent of the query. And some "correct" answers range from unclear why they are correct, to partially correct, to flat out wrong. Obviously, this is frustrating and distracts from the overall experience.

By Nadya

Jan 30, 2020

Понравился сам Мартин Селигман - веет мудростью и эмпатией. Были даны мощные инструменты по развитию оптимизма, практики позитивной психологии.Ожидала больше практического применения от курса. Во второй части (3 и 4 неделя) было больше информации для расширения кругозора (про позитивный журнализм, способы исследования больших объемов данных для сбора информации), чем для практики.

By Babis

Mar 19, 2020

A great and highly valueble introduction to PS. The course has offered my insights to the foundations of PS and how as a professional I can improve in key areas of my practice. Equally, from a personal point of view, the activities and exercises of the course added perspective and raised a number of questions for me to keep working towards wellbeing improvements.

By Josh W

May 19, 2020

Great Introductory course on Positive Psychology that includes a large amount of background on the subject, as well as a handful of tools and interactive steps to help with learning. I would have loved some more challenging activities, but I recognize that this is an introductory course, and I am looking forward to taking some of the other related courses.

By Wendy K M

Jul 15, 2022

If you are curious to learn what Positive Psychology is, especially if this is a field you are considering a career in, this course gives a good overview. It's not overly scientifc so easy to understand for those without a psych background. Dr. Seligman is engaging and it's wonderful to learn directly from the father of Positive Psychology himself!

By Timaria B

Jul 10, 2019

This course did a good job of outlining core theories and discussing research applications and results. It also included day to day positive interventions that we can use in our daily lives. I thoroughly enjoyed this course as a future psychologist and plan to use the theories and applications in my studies during graduate school and in practice.

By Ondrej S

Jan 2, 2021

Informational course with a lot of experiences and data. I would see a potential improvement in the questions/discussions and quizzes. For especially the quizzes were somewhat incorrect in question/answer correlation. However, I would gladly take the course again and can only recommend it as an introduction to the world of Positive Psychology.

By Tim D

Dec 29, 2020

It would be nice if the instruction was given in a means more like a Tony Robbins or other motivational speaker, polished, with stories. The um's and pace of the videos varied in qualities and I found myself running most of the videos in 125% speed. The content was good and the exercises can be applied to keeping connection with the content.

By Cesar F

Feb 2, 2020

It is a great course and I have learned many useful things. Just two reasons why I have not rated it with five stars

The training methodology is good but not excellent, and most important

The section dealing with religion do not have in my view the same scientific level that you perceive in all other sections. It seemed pretty biased