Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life

My class was taught by Dr. Eric Lander. If you don't know who that is, look him up on Wikipedia and be prepared to be impressed. It's the equivalent of taking beginning guitar lessons from Eddie Van Halen. As a teacher, Dr. Lander has the gift of making the complicated and technical seem simple and exciting. This was, hands down, my favorite class ever.

The class lists no prerequisites, but you really need at least high school chemistry and biology. Dr. Lander will take it from there. The first part of the course is spent on chemistry that is needed to understand the rest of the class. Then the class moves on to classic genetics, the structure of DNA, the mechanics of DNA replication, how DNA codes proteins, and how proteins form biochemical pathways within our cells to perform tasks like metabolism.

This is not the kind of class where you can just watch the videos once and ace the quizzes. Be prepared to work, and be prepared to be richly rewarded in return.

[2021-05-19 Update] I just finished taking this course, in its entirety, for the second time - the only class I've ever repeated. There's no reason to change anything in my original review, which was based on taking the class "live" as it was offered in 2013.

This time, I pondered what makes this class the best that I've experienced - not just among online courses, but everything from kindergarten through a master's degree in electrical engineering. Dr. Lander is the key. He's a storyteller; you don't just learn scientific facts, but the history behind them: the people involved, the challenges they faced, and the importance of their contributions to a well-woven story that culminates in what is now called Genomics. Lander genuinely enjoys teaching. He goes at a comfortable pace, preferring that you understand what is being taught over trying to cram in as much information as possible. His audience engagement is excellent; he takes ideas from the class - often giving more credit than is actually due - and uses them to arrive at the solution to some challenge (like how to isolate a particular gene). Thankfully, there isn't a whiff of ideology to be found; his class is purely about science.

Each lecture is broken into segments; each segment is followed by one or more questions to see if you absorbed the key idea(s). I'm not ashamed to say that this often caused me to re-watch the clip! Each "unit" of 2-3 lectures is followed by "practice problems"; doing them is a learning experience in which you actually solve problems using what you've learned (as opposed to regurgitation). A simple example would be determining if a gene is dominant or recessive, based on a family tree. I usually found working these problems to be fun.

About every 3 units, there's a practice exam, which is also a learning experience. I really like the way they give some big challenge like "solve alkaptonuria"; my first reaction was usually what yours would be ("I have no idea how to do that!"), but it's actually a guided tour in which the problem is broken down into pieces that you're fully capable of doing, based on what you've been taught to that point. In that way, the course is designed to build your confidence.

I took the free "audit track" version of the class. It is a bummer that I'll lose access to the course in a few weeks, but there are costs involved with offering the class; being able to take the class for free is a privilege, not a right, and I'm super grateful to have been able to take this amazing class twice for no charge. If the "upgrade" was $50 instead of $150, I'd do it.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this fantastic class.

If you’re looking for a class where you can simply take notes and pass tests by rote memorization, read no more: this is NOT the class for you. If you are looking to be challenged, to be engaged, and to actively have a concrete understanding of the concepts presented, you’ve come to the right place.

So that you understand my perspective going into this class, let me first say that while I did come into this course with high school biology and chemistry under my belt, high school was so long ago (over 20 years ago), I’m nearly starting from scratch. I have an undergraduate degree that did not require biology or chemistry classes (and the science courses I did take then were, again, a really long time ago). So I had no expectations that I could excel in an MIT class, I took it simply to “refresh” on biology and got more than I bargained for in the best way possible. I completed this 15-week course in 6 weeks (with the exception of the final, which needs to be taken during a certain week - be aware of that when signing up).

Even though I grew up just after the stone age when the internet was just a baby, I’ve taken numerous online courses, in a variety of formats, before and after this one. This is not only the best online course I’ve taken, it’s the best course I’ve taken, period. The only downside is that every course I’ve taken since then falls far short of the high bar Dr. Lander has set.

Okay, so about the actual course: What I really appreciated about the course that’s different from many other online courses are the problem sets and practice tests. Yes, they are challenging, but all of the information you need is covered in the lectures. This is not one of those courses where the questions on the test are unrelated to the lectures and you basically have to teach yourself the material. As I said above, if you want to be tested only by parroting back information and not by actually understanding, you won’t get it in this class. “Test yourself” questions come after each video and there are problem sets after each section of material. In the “test yourself” areas, you can view the answer to get an explanation and a more clear understanding of the material (again, something not offered in many online courses). Each problem set builds on the last, building a much deeper understanding than a typical intro class.

Dr. Lander is a very engaging instructor and it’s clear he really enjoys teaching and the subject. He presents the material in plain language, interwoven with interesting stories, that makes it much easier to grasp. Something that’s unique to the MIT online courses I’ve taken as compared to other courses is that they are recorded in front of an actual classroom of students who were taking the class at the time. This is far more useful (in my experience) than an instructor lecturing to camera in a way that is hard to define. I think it is because the instructor is getting real-time feedback from the students, who can ask questions during the lecture, which allows topics to be clarified before the courses are even published online. I also appreciate seeing students learn and ask questions that I might have asked had I been there in person. It makes it all feel more like I’m taking the class in person.

I’m very confused about the review saying no one fixes mistakes or cares – that is not the experience I had at all. There are real people associated with MIT on the course staff that can help you along the way. There are discussion forums on EACH page where the staff and other students can help with questions and even an email address where you can get clarification or get errors corrected (I once pointed out a typo in the Cerego flash card set that goes along with the course and it was fixed within a day). I’d also like to clarify what someone else said about 12 hours for the final: this just means you have a 12-hour window in which to take the exam once you start. It does not mean it is going to take you 12 hours to complete, they just know that life happens and you’re going to want to take breaks and the like. Also, can start by auditing the class and are not restricted from material, except for the final exam, if you don’t verify.

I learned a tremendous amount in this class. What I took as just a “I guess I should take this” class turned out to be challenging and exciting for me. I originally was going to audit the class but I ended up being so engaged that I signed up to verify. I am not overstating it when I say that this course changed my outlook on what I thought I could understand and achieve as someone coming to science learning later in my life. I hope others do too.

tl;dr: I highly recommend this course. :)

It is an amazing course if you need to learn the fundamentals in order to take more advanced courses or if you just want to have a good grasp of biology to understand some exciting current developments that are going on. That doesn't mean it's easy, if you have not taken a course like this you will most definitely have to put in the work, and you should have relatively good high school chemistry and biology foundations, and I would also recommend to brush up on math and basic probability to make the most of the Genetics unit.

The course, at least when I took it, it was self paced, which was very fitting for my schedule. I took the audit course to brush up on some things I had forgotten since I went to university, and it went completely beyond my expectations. The interactive exercises and the graphics used are better than what I've seen in many academic contexts or online videos. Special mention to Prof. Lander, that takes all these elements and uses them to teach classes that, in my opinion as a scientist and someone who loves to teach, were nothing short of amazing. I was already familiar with most of the topics and yet the approach of Prof. Lander usually made them seem almost brand new, highlighting them as elements of a bigger story still unfolding. Really, what an amazing teacher.

It is my first experience with a fully online course, so I don't really have a point of comparison for the price for the verified track that earns you a certificate, and I don't know how they test you for said certificate (I only took the audit course). But as far as the learning experience goes, I found it an amazing course and I would recommend to anyone interested at least to give the audit course a try.

One of the best classes in Biology that I have taken since high school! This is the first Biology class I took on a MOOC on the edX platform from MIT. I took this first in 2013 when it first came out on edX. Never thought, I would find Biology so interesting and engaging.

Since I took this class in the instructor paced mode, I continued this class once again in the self-paced mode, as, I wanted to work on the real-life examples that were available to only registered students.

This class introduced me to molecular biology and genetics, taught by Prof. Eric Lander. A great teacher and a researcher in the field of genetics. Well, this became an anchor class for me to spark my interest in Biology, which was the least favorite subject for me in high school! Well, a lot has changed since then in this field. Since then on various MOOCs, I have taken several classes in Biology and related fields, where the foundational knowledge acquired in this class is extremely useful.

I would recommend this class to anyone interested in getting a good foundation in current day Biology and even if you want to apply to MIT for undergraduate studies, this may help --as 7.00x is one of the GIR (general Institue requirement) classes in Biology! Well, still take it to learn, and not just for college admission. It is a hard class, still, you will learn a lot!

Unfortunately, this course designed not to teach, but only to earn money.
There is no support or feedback from people behind of the course. Nobody cares if you will get a question or will find an error.
Many problems designed ungainly, lubberly, have mistakes, some problems are too tedious, take to much time not actually teaching something, but ask to copy paste hundreds of times or simply don't work at all because of technical problems.

The exam will be available only for a week. If you make decision to pay them and will try to pass the exam, you should bear in mind that exam will take 12 hours, not 6 hours as claimed, so you should take couple days off to pass it. Also, you should understand that this course is below the minimum required to pass the exam. This course will not prepare you for the exam at all. In my case, despite I took another similar course in parallel and read a book, I got only 82% while 80% is minimum.

To get the certificate you have to pay 150$ 3 weeks before the exam will be available. That's made to take off student's right to ask money back. Edx give only 2 weeks for refund.

It was a good course if priority were not earning money but the care of a student. Not the case. After you complete the course, you will not get even chance to leave a review. This is another red flag something really wrong with the course.

Shame on MIT!

The lectures are really great, and Eric Lander is knowledgeable and engaging, but there is a disconnect between what it taught and what is tested on. It seems like what is taught is very generalized, but the problem sets and exams are exceedingly detailed and nitty gritty, and much of the time it feels as if youre being tested more on nomenclature than concepts.

I would not recommend this to anyone who doesnt already have a pretty large base of scientific knowledge (both chemistry and biology). Although its classified as a beginner course, requiring no prerequisites, in order to be successful, you need to already know your stuff.

All that said, Lander's commentary on the discovery of things now held to be scientific facts is to die for. Its very informative, and he teaches a useful critical mindset. I dont regret taking the course, even though its seriously stressing me out.

I found this course to be difficult but know it was because my level of biology and chemistry study ended in grade 10 over 20 years ago. I took the course with the idea that, at the very least, I would learn some information that could help me be successful in an in-person university environment. I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging Prof. Lander was and how quickly I became captivated with the subject matter. The "test yourself" questions were fairly straightforward and I skipped along the course excitedly.

When I got to the first problem set I was alarmed at how much more thinking I needed to do beyond information regurgitation and it took me several hours to complete the questions. However, the notes I took during lectures, along with the deep dives were enough to answer the questions as long as I was willing to take the time to think, draw things out, and experiment. By the last problem set I was so excited upon completion as it was clear to me that things were actually making sense in my brain! While I'm not at complete understanding, I recognize the massive growth I have achieved and I am very proud of myself.

In regards to my engagement with the class, I am sad that it is over as I looked forward to my free time in my day-to-day where I could open my laptop and sit down with Prof. Lander and the class and learn something new about the world. My only wish was that it was continually updated so that he could be sharing stories of events and discoveries that are happening now as opposed to nearly a decade ago.

As for the content of the course, I found it to be incredibly well planned and well laid out. Prof. Lander made difficult concepts exciting and interesting. He takes a regular intro to Biology course and throws it out the window and instead brings you real life.

Thank you, MIT and Prof. Lander, for this incredible course and the confidence and intrigue it has sparked within me.

This course was very useful and fun at the same time. The concepts taught are important but are explained in a fun way that everybody who is willing to learn and has interest in how life works can understand.
Professor Lander is amazing! He teaches both history of discoveries and modern technologies(2013) asking questions so you can think yourself which makes every lesson very interesting and attracting attention. And the answer is often not what you expected, many are unpredictable. Science can be strange and sometimes humorous but is very interesting.
The interactive tasks of the course are great. They really help to understand the material better, review it and find some details that you want to know more about encouraging your own research. There are comments working after each lecture or task so you will find some curious questions and answers there or can ask your own.
It took a few months in a slow pace to complete the course and I enjoyed it and learned a lot! I think it is great for young people who want to start studying biology or already know a lot about it because in this course there are many things you don't find in high school or in books, but can understand. It also teaches you scientific thinking. It is also very good for those who are in search for some new and interesting information about how the world and nature works.

This course furnishes the student with a toolkit to understand contemporary biology. It includes biochemistry, genetics, the rapport between these two subjects. After doing that, you have the opportunity to study molecular biology, which will allow you to understand how DNA replicates, how is it transcribed to mRNA and then translated into amino acids and proteins through the ribosome. Next, professor Eric Lander will introduce the students into cloning and analyzing a gene, i.e., either how to purify it, create libraries and find a specific gene (you will be introduced to the usage of plasmids as vectors and how to cut specific DNA sequences with restriction enzymes - thus giving you some basics of biotechnology). In the third section, you will deal with genomics, studying how to identify genetic diseases, as well as recent developments in genome editing (it includes a basic explanation of CRISPR cas9 and gene knock-out. In the last section, Eric lander will introduce students to two study cases of diseases, as well as the implications of biology in society. This course is an excellent opportunity to learn more about biology and will furnish insight for the prosecution of further university studies in biology or biochemistry, as well as providing sufficient knowledge for lawyers, judges and politicians dealing with the law and regulation of biotechnology, as well as bio-ethical problems that require a solid basis before making a decision.

This course combines exciting, cutting-edge content with such a well-crafted format that even over the net it feels like a group-learning exercise. Professor Lander is probably the best of the numerous graduate and post-graduate lecturers I've experienced over the years. Seeing biology at the molecular-process level, and in particular the near-universal and therefore 'ancient' genetic code (which was new to me), makes it ever more challenging to accept that macro-evolution could have achieved what it's generally credited with. I loved doing this course - thank you so much to Eric Lander/MIT for providing it!

(Having now read a few of the other reviews, some seem to think that the test questions should contain nothing beyond the lecture content. That's never been my experience with other uni courses, and this one was no exception - I couldn't have done the course without buying and referring to the excellent recommended course book "Molecular biology of the cell" published by Norton (fyi the course material includes links to a free on-line version of the book text))