very detailed, and interesting. great for those interested in developmental economics

Not quite what i expected but still fascinating and thought provoking content.

Excellent course content but very poorly designed quizzes. More clarity is needed in formulating questions, since different pages have different values for the same data sets (even on the same website such as the World Bank indicator datasets) and it will be difficult for students to get the right answers.

THIS IS OUT DATED!!!!!

Questions in the quiz's are not kept to to date, therefor making it impossible to find answers from the links that YOU supplied.

I strongly suggest taking this down or updating the course, before you get even more comaplaints.

out of date

I have never expected to describe a completed online course, let alone an audit-only one, as “pivotal,” but here we are. Is it really possible to make a digestible overview of a complex, yet indispensable, perspective that is Sustainable Development, and to do so without trimming excessive content? This offering, helmed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, PhD, proves that it is. While the audio-visuals are not extraordinary, but expected from outputs of topnotch institutions and leaders of the field, the content and the story crafted from it definitely are. The last time I felt a similar level of awe while taking and after completing a MOOC was when I took “Mountains 101” by the University of Alberta. Interestingly, “Mountains 101” also has officially at least 12 weeks’ worth of content. Perhaps, both the course length and the apparent dedication & expertise by the makers are essential ingredients to make an online course unforgettable. Sustainable development, by itself, is interdisciplinary and comprehensive. True to these characteristics of the topic, the course demonstrates the same. Professor Sachs is perhaps one of the few, if not the only one, who have the sufficient amount of experience and expertise to effortlessly make the individual subtopics and their connections clear to casual audiences. Most importantly, for me, this course provides, in detail, the reasons to be disappointed of the current state of affairs and, simultaneously, the reasons to keep our heads up in striving for change that benefits the greatest number of people – the currently-living and the generations of yet-to-be-born. Furthermore, the quizzes are excellently made and generally utilize authoritative resources. Regardless of your current standing in life, you will be encouraged to “get dirty” and examine unforgiving research/statistical data that form the basis of sensible policies and forecasts. The only flaw I can think of regarding the course is that it is outdated. Since the course’s release circa 2015, much have changed in the planet and, as a species, we have been experiencing several pinpoint-able events that can make or break (or are already making or breaking) the global community and its constituents. In connection with this, some of the internet links leading to resources needed to answer some questions are already dead (with a little bit of taking advantage of context clues, though, the same or similar resources can be located). A possible update of this course will likely include an adjustment of the optimism/pessimism (on our collective capacity to bring about timely sustainable development) demonstrated in the material. At the end of the course, I feel “well-rounded” in the understanding of the world around me in terms of matters beyond my field of training (healthcare). Overall, I believe that this course, or any resource on understanding sustainable development, should be watched and/or read by everyone. Little by little, accompanied by on-going events that are causing hardship to numerous people worldwide, we realize that our action, or inaction, on sustainable development is a pressing concern on both existential and moral grounds.

Comprehensive and informative. Professor Sachs presents historical and current trends in sustainable development in cohesively, going to great lengths to simplify complex concepts. I am ending this course feeling more insightful of the trajectory of development as well as the MDGs and SDGs.

Absolutely inspiring. The only. problem I had was that some. of the links to maps in the test were outdated and did not open properly so I had no reference when answering questions. All in all, a very rewarding experience.

Very insightful. It proves that sustainability is a complex issue and requires a deep understanding about culture, geography, social justice, just to name a few. Thank you so much, Professor Sachs and Columbia University

Some statistics needs to be updated based on latest data, Links to the assignments are not working or not updated to the new link and needs to be aligned but overall the course is highly recommended!

Terrific content albeit from 2012-2015 timeline but the framework is relevent nevertheless. Thank you to Prof Sachs for this labor of love.

That course describes the challenges of society, economy and environment face and provides solutions through the sustainable development .

Amazing course and an amazing professor. I have learned a lot and I wanted to continue To a degree field.

Excellent Course. Just successfully completed it. Fantastic sessions by Professor Jeffrey Sachs

A broad and informative course. A great introduction to the topic.

Thorough. Deep. Brilliant!

Learnt so much!

Muy bueno !

Wonderful course conducted by Professor Sachs! The problems and potential solutions are well elaborated, yet put simply across for students new to politics or economics. I do firmly believe knowledge in the area of sustainable development is very crucial to understanding today's major crises and priorities, and am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from this course. However, some updating is required as many links within the quizzes are no longer relevant, or the webpages are non-existent.

Excellent content - I already had a good basis knowledge about sustainable development, but I must say I have learnt a lot. However, there are a few little improvements if I may suggest: (1) make the videos a little more interesting, with more images, graphs, etc. (2) update the course, especially the links (in the quizzes) - a lot has happened in the last few years, including the Paris agreement, the SDGs coming to life, etc so it would be great to get a perspective on these too.

So much old material and such imortant areas such as UN SDG not covered more than a pln while the old MDG were in focus. Broken links. During 7 years and with 101' students starting this course there should be incentive and time to update.

I am not sure if i will be given certificate for completion. Also needs a review based on new data, and also few of the times links are not working. Overall the course is very addictive and useful for those who really want to practice.

This was a good course. It was very interesting overall. However, there are many broken links within the course that need to be updated. This is especially important within the quizzes at the end of each chapter.

I love the pace of the professor and the information in this course. However many of the links lead to nonexistent pages and need to updated. It makes completing the quizzes and exams much harder.

An open window on the world + cool content + a wonderful teacher = It was a very cool and learning experience even if some updates (we are in 2020) would be useful during the weekly tests