Although the level of the course is very basic (it is definitely designed for total beginners), I appreciated the opportunity to write to a prompt and with a deadline, both of which kept me motivated. That said, the peer review system was a bit disappointing; it is important for people considering this class to understand that your workshop poems are ONLY reviewed by other people taking the class at the same time as you, so you are basically at their mercy. I appreciated most of the feedback I got, but I did have one peer reviewer who just wrote "nothing" in every single space where a written comment was required. This was a bit annoying since I had worked quite hard on the feedback that I provided for her!

I also must join the (many, many) other reviewers who have commented on the antics and silly energy of the instructor. While it was obvious that he was trying to keep the viewer engaged with all the jokes, banter, etc. I must admit it did get old... for several of the videos, I turned off the sound and just read the transcription.

I would recommend this class for people who want a very basic introduction to writing and appreciating poetry. More experienced writers might be less satisfied.

The course material, assignments, and the instructor are fine. The only problem I have with this is the "Peer-graded Assignment", while a lot of the time they are helpful, there is a handful of people who have no idea what they are doing. They do not read the instruction (as for grading) at all and give the wrong mark (as in technical requirement, not in whether the poem sounds good or not). For example, it said "give 2 points if response to the other prompt" and yet the "peer" give 0 point? Some people cannot read and their response show that they have no knowledge about certain types of poem and their feedbacks are even sometimes contradictory? This same problem occur in other courses as well so I will stop using Coursera due to its inttelligent "peer" grading syste.

Doug's lectures were great! He's entertaining and he gets the concepts across very clearly. I struggled with the course itself, however. The participation rate was low and the iOS app was so buggy I deleted it. The web interface was better but still difficult to work with.

The iOS app would forget I was in the course and lose my assignments. It also wouldn't let me open the discussion forums. With the technical problems and low participation I can only give the course 3/5.

I think this course is good if you're just starting out and want to know the basics. But it's not a great course for more advanced students. The peer graded assignments are a gamble because some people fail to understand what the assignment actually is before they try to grade your assignment. Also, I don't like how certain sections are heavily focused on rhythm and rhyme. This course isn't really geared toward free verse poets.

The annotations of the different poems were great and taught me a lot about different poetic elements, but the lectures were unbearably corny with all of the different sound effects and bits. I found myself reading the transcripts because I could not watch the videos without feeling like I was being talked down to or that the instructor didn't take the course seriously.

The course itself is very good but the peer review process for your grade is a bit lackluster. If you have a peer who doesn't actually feel like trying or doesn't understand the material then your grade suffers despite what the other reviewers provided.

Not as much creative flexibility as I thought there would be. Writing to prompts left very little room to create poetry that felt like my own. Good short course (knocked it out in a couple of days) for revising/learning techniques.

This course seems to be aimed at absolute beginners. If you don't know what a rhyme is, this "workshop" is definitively worth your time. Else, there may be better investments.

The course focuses on mostly minor poets, but it does cover some interesting ground and the assignments are good. I found it pretty useful.

there's got to be more poems, more reviews. 1 poem to be reviewed makes the brilliant course flippant

ok. some tools are missing, like a resource page referred to by the instructor.

A stimulating course. Great online interaction with tutors. Some great links.

Learnt a lot about writing poetry. Realised there's still a lot yet to learn

The course could have used more content. That is, it is too brief.

Elementary and entertaining with some unique and creative prompts.

It was a great course, however it was very short and brief.

Several links and resources are unavailable when you follow links, which, if paying for the course especially, is unacceptable. I would also argue that this is not a beginner course, some knowledge of poetry is very helpful.

The instructor is animated and great, but the grading process is flawed and sucks.

I liked the assignments, the peer grading system as it forced me to read my peers objectively, and the flow of the workshop, however I am not satisfied with the instructor, because he added nothing to what I already knew and the Rhythm part which I was relatively new to, remained as elusive as ever. Being an instructor / teacher myself I do the litmus test of 'learner before the workshop vs learner after the workshop' - I did not learn anything new. I feel bad to say this, but the only silver lining was the assignment/s For me, that too got blurry in Module 5 due to my lack of understanding. Sigh.

This guy blew up my earphones because he randomly starts shouting?? Also the things he teaches are so elementary. Very boring, learnt nothing.

Decided I wasn't interested so tried to unenroll but can't.

Waste of time. Bad curriculum. Unprofessional instructor.