A bit annoying - recordings for lectures and online seminars were usually uploaded late or not at all near the sem's end so for a couple quiz questions I literally had to guess what the correct answer would be since there were no resources available and also weekly textbook readings were a waste of time since most had nothing to do with what would be in weekly quizzes (worth 40% overall) and very few were relevant to the major projects which is crazy considering how big the assigned readings were and how much time you'd spend taking notes for them. Me and most people I talked to didn't do too well on the first major project about plate boundaries (30%) so I recommend checking your work over with the demonstrators at the workshops - the LMS instructions and marking rubric on their own were confusing IMO. Second major project about oceans (30%) was much more straightforward since there was much more hand-holding during the workshops about what we had to do. Content itself was easy to understand and online seminars from people in the industry were interesting, especially the one about palaeontology.

This unit is a great intro to earth sciences and systems. New topics are covered every week so you need to keep up with it, and literally everything in the unit is assessed. My advice to anyone doing this unit would be to really make good use of the lectures and the materials provided. The topics covered are interesting and aren't too complex for a first year unit. HD is doable but it's by no means easy and you have to put considerable effort into assignments. Start them early! Naomi takes the time to help students succeed but she can sometimes (unintentionally?) come off as condescending just don't take it personally because it can be useful advice. The unit is mostly online and the guest lecturers each week were really interesting because you got to see people with real jobs in the field of the content we were learning. Oh, and GO to your labs, attendance isn't mandatory but you can't get good marks without them. You learn lots of interesting stuff in this unit, would highly recommend.

Great unit!

Personally I really enjoyed this unit and Naomi has done a great job. She was very helpful and is a great lecturer.

What a great fun unit! Assignments are fun and very helpful tutors! I really enjoyed myself! Content is easy to stay on top of - I didn't enjoy the online lectures but what can you do. Id say its a great elective but not exactly easy HD. No exam also so that's a plus. Also attend all your tutes - they are essential for some of the assignments!!

The unit content itself was quite interesting and not too difficult to follow along with, even if you don’t have any prior knowledge of Earth science. The lecture content was alright, but I feel as though the online format was detrimental to my learning. I chose this class as a broadening unit and also because there was no exam. However, the Earth science reports took between 10-20 hours to do (there are 3 of these) and although my time management definitely could’ve been better, this factor definitely affected how I was doing in my other classes. There is a lot of researching involved for these Earth science reports and also for the end of semester video project, which was very time-consuming as often topics being researched were quite niche and it was difficult to find an appropriate number of reputable sources. The demonstrators and lecturers were very knowledgeable and competent and they would attempt to the best of their abilities to improve your understanding of topics. Although this unit has a fairly heavy workload, I’d recommend doing it if you have good time management skills and want to reduce the amount of stress you have around exam season.

The lectures are enjoyable if you have any interest in earth science as it covers a wide range of topics from volcanoes to oceans. There are two major assignments one is a public information document and the other one is a presentation which is worth 60% so you need to do really well if you need to pass. There are 3 other smaller assignments. There are also 5 web quizzes. There are no exams in this unit. This is not an easy broadening unit if that is what you are looking for and it requires a lot of effort if you want to do well.

Interesting lectures, Mary was great, really passionate. Tutorials could be improved.

Awesome broadening unit for people with little or no knowledge of Earth or science in general. Assessment criteria reasonably straight-forward, and tute's are harmless. Doesn't get into to much actual geology, so don't fear if you don't have much knowledge in science. Give it a go you Arts noobs!!

"The dynamic planet" is a good unit for you to learn more about how the planet works. We're living in the planet which the climate of the planet is predictable but not very reliable. The climate could change anytime without any advance notice.. It is good to learn more about the planet and to preserve it for out future generations. :)