About the course in general . . .

• This was undoubtedly the most interesting, motivating, and well-constructed course Iıve ever taken. The web material was especially helpful, even more resources, i.e., animations and quizzes, would definitely be welcome! The only drawback was the huge amount of material covered, but it was managed effectively. The Bamfield field trip was awesome, helped a great deal. Everyone involved with this course was friendly, respectful, and extremely helpful.

• Thank you ­ this class was a pleasure to come to. It has further opened my eyes to what is around me.

• Dr. Palmer is honestly the best instructor I have had at the university. He is knowledgeable, and he cares about the success of his students. The web material was excellent. I found it very useful when studying for lab exams. The new diversity quiz was also very helpful.

• There are no words to describe this lecture. Just as most of the other students, I thought ­ ughh inverts. But the web page was the first thing that disturbed my distaste for the creatures. Ever since then my enjoyment grew and grew. Dr. Palmerıs style of lecturing (it was one big story of evolution and diversity), the neat pictures and all the additional information that he provided us were great (e.g., ongoing lectures, internship program, etc.). He really wanted us to be involved. Dr. Palmer and Dr. Koss might have just changed my life.

• I am not enrolled in this lecture, but I attended quite a few lectures simply because I find them to be very interesting and enjoyable. Dr. Palmer is a great lecturer, both informative and lively, keeping the class enjoyable. I would gladly take this course for credit in the future.

• The best part of the lectures was how Dr. Palmer was always enthusiastic and pointing out interesting concepts that werenıt necessarily going to be on the exams, simply because they were cool things to know.

• I have very much enjoyed the lecture; Dr. Palmer is truly passionate about the invertebrates and it made the class interesting and fun.

• The lectures ­ I loved Dr. Palmerıs approach and teaching style ­ integrated ideas, searching out interesting examples or tie-ins to the material really helped. Willingness to field questions or ideas from the class. His sense of humour.

• The course pack was a very good idea, and it was made in such a way that new material was presented in lecture (i.e., there was a point to coming to class).

• [The lab] was a memorable interaction with living organisms. Excellent reinforcement to the lecture. Ronıs unforgettable charisma and involvement on all levels of university life. It was more than just a lab about inverts, it was a lab about life.

• Iım most impressed with how closely related the labs and lectures are and the people who did this should be praised. Other courses such as chemistry or genetics fail to grasp concepts or ideas and transfer them to the labs. This makes labs feel like another class and foreign from lecture. This is the only lab that I have ever had that was not like this. I must say I AM IMPRESSED! Great course.

• FANTASTIC ­ very helpful animations and the study images were wonderful ­ the best website for any course Iıve taken.

• I loved the web ­ it was user friendly, the pictures were clear, and everything I needed was there. The movies were also very easy to use and understand. Quizzes available challenged me, and I knew what I had to learn.

• The web page is great. As a matter of fact I received some e-mails from students overseas asking who is this professor ­ he must be really interesting.

• Text was good and engaging, well-written and illustrated. The only thing I didnıt like about it was that the photos werenıt in colour, which is actually all right because it keeps the cost down.

• I liked that the text was easy to read and interesting; it did not seem like a textbook (did not put me to sleep).

• The text for the course was great. It also told the story of invertebrates rather than just list facts and terms.

• The Bamfield trip was absolutely invaluable! I loved it.

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(revised Dec. 29, 2003)