I found this unit very interesting to start with but as the semester continued the content began to repeat itself over and over again. There is one graphic in particular about admixture, migration and adaptation with a picture of a human and neanderthal that I think I saw at least 20 times. The unit content is great in theory and is easy to do well in but the unit lacks structure. The lectures are all pre-recorded online only and they can be very boring filled with too many examples and not enough explanation. Most of the time I did not know what I was supposed to be learning and the assessments didn't prepare me for the final exam. Assessments included two question sets (due halfway and then at the end), weekly workshop exercises, a group podcast, and final exam. The question sets and workshop exercises were similar to the question style of the final exam, but easy to score high in. The group podcast was the most pointless assessment as you could use AI to generate the entire podcast and then critically evaluate what was created. The final exam contained lots of questions and my 2 double sided pages of notes were pretty unhelpful. I managed a HD purely because of the lenient marking of the assessments, as the exam was quite difficult. Overall, the content would have been interesting if the unit was structured better.

A very, very interesting subject made hard by the piecemeal nature of the information on slides and lectures. Like the person below I was also in a "bad" group for the podcast which I found very stressful. The exam, was absolutely horrid. There was only 10 questions for 2 hours but each question consisted of multiple short answer questions meaning it was impossible to do each question any justice ( some of the questions within a question were worth 8 points so required significant input), there was no time to think or read each question properly or to finish the exam. Even though I knew and understood the content of this unit, I will be surprised if I have actually passed the exam. If you are not a speed reader or a fast writer and/or English is your second language I would avoid this unit.

Everything else was good. The lab sets were doable and the podcast was good too. The only down fall was the exam. It was way too long and too many questions for 2 hours. I ran out of time and many other students did as well.

Overall I enjoyed this unit. Silvana is a fantastic lecturer and thoroughly explains each topic. I really appreciate the enthusiasm she has for each topic. The assessments aren't too bad also. I always found myself spending more time completing the lab question sets than expected but it really helps to keep up with the lectures as similar questions are often discussed. The group presentation was stressful but only because I had a bad group. The exam was long but not too difficult overall. I would definitely recommend this unit if you're interested in how human populations change over time :).

Really great unit. Content is really interesting- nothing too hard to understand as long as you put in the time. Silvana is a great lecturer, every concept is very eloquently explained.

This unit SUCKED. DONT DO IT

Fascinating unit. Engaging content and delivery.