Review of the Online "Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology" Course
11/22/16
By David Brown
In October 2016, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology announced an online course entitled "Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology." I immediately signed up and completed the course over the next month.
My Background
I have been an avid birder and bird photographer for about 4 years mostly focusing on documenting the birds of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. I am a college graduate with a degree in mathematics. I had no previous formal training in biology or ornithology.
Course Summary
"Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology" is marketed as a self-paced online university-level ornithology course. The required textbook is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology, 3rd Ed. For each chapter the student watches an introductory video, reviews online course materials, reads the textbook, takes quizzes, then is presented with optional additional content. The instructors are Dr. Kevin McGowan and Dr. Sarah Wagner. A signed certificate is offered to those who complete the course. View the website for the course.
Cost
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology membership — $44
- Course — $199
- Textbook — $121.50 plus shipping
- Total cost — $374.22
Cornell Lab of Ornithology members get a discount on the textbook and course that exceeds the membership cost so I saved money by becoming a member first.
Textbook
The textbook is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology, 3rd Ed. edited by Irby J. Lovette and John W. Fitzpatrick. It is a pretty typical college textbook with over 700 color pages. The text is very readable and there are plenty of photos, diagrams, and sidebars. Each chapter is around 40 pages long. I highly recommend it. The cost to Cornell Lab of Ornithology members is $121.50 ($135 for non-members). It's also available on Amazon (We get commissions for purchases made through links in this post).
Course
For each chapter the course consists of the following parts:
Introduction
The first webpage for each chapter has an introductory paragraph summarizing the topic plus a short video explanation by Dr. McGowan or Dr. Wagner. It also has links to an online glossary of terms and a link to contact Dr. McGowan with any questions.
Course materials
The course materials page consists of videos and interactive tools that relate to the topic. For example the avian anatomy chapter has a tool where you can show or hide body parts and quiz yourself. This content is usually interesting but for most chapters it is not very extensive.
Quizzes
The quizzes are a main part of the course. Each chapter has 4 quizzes in the following formats:
- Choose the Best Answer
- Choose All Correct Answers
- True or False
- Match and Sort
You need to score at least 80% on a quiz to pass it. You need to pass 37 quizzes (65% of them) to pass the course. Each quiz can be taken up to 5 times, though the questions may change. The quizzes have no time limit and you can look up the answers in the textbook as necessary.
The site says that each quiz takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete but I found that if I thoroughly read the chapter then the quizzes were fairly easy and only took a few minutes each. Even when I just skimmed the textbook beforehand the quizzes didn't take that long to complete. Some questions follow the same wording as the textbook whereas others make you combine pieces of knowledge to arrive at the right answer.
I failed a few quizzes but passed all of those on the second try immediately afterwards. If the quizzes were closed book I would have had to spend much more time studying and memorizing, but in most cases it was not too difficult to the find the section of the chapter that answered the question.
More to Learn
This optional section has links to additional articles, videos, and other content that relates to the chapter.
Criticisms
The course is fairly expensive. $200 seems a high price when little additional content is offered. The main part of the course feels like it is the quizzes. The course materials section does not provide as much as it could. The majority of the learning comes from the textbook.
Some questions could be worded better. For example when the textbook says "130 million" and a true or false question says "about 150 million" it is hard to know which way to answer.
My recommendation
If money is tight but you are self-motivated to learn the material, just purchase the textbook.
If you have the money and want the structure and motivation that the course provides, along with the certificate for completing it, then purchase the textbook and the course.
