Pros:

1) Specific, actionable strategies to increase resilience.

2) It's an introduction to resilience.

Cons:

1) There is a blatant lack of diversity in the examples and scenarios where we applied resilience skills. This is especially important since my particular interest was how people from severely disadvantaged backgrounds use resilience to mitigate the socioeconomic effects of their background.

2) The optional readings on content not covered in this course require some kind of purchase.

3) This course is not rigorous (quizzes had questions with obvious answers), and lacks breath/scope (only goes in-depth with some, not all variables that affect resilience)

Very useful course in building up resilience. Will take time to work on these skills but this course gives a good grounding by providing lots of helpful guidance and tips. So glad I did this course.

Took the course since it was part of the Positive Psychology Specialization. I highly enjoyed the real-time resilience and different skills. The only reason why it isn't 5/5 is because I wish that the readings on Resilience, Character, Positive Psychology, etc. were not just links to Amazon to buy the books or journal purchases. I wish we could just receive free excerpts or summaries of what the readings were because I would have loved to read the "optional" readings without having to pay.

I took this course because of Dr Reivetch (and her expertise was clear throughout), but overall I was disappointed in the course because

(a) There was ZERO use of media other than talking heads by Dr Reivetch..... not even one bullet-pointed slide, much less any illustration or animation of her points. She simply stood in one place, looked into the camera, and spoke for the entire duration of the course.

(b) As a practitioner, I was hoping for more help in teaching / training / supporting the development of Resilience skills in others. This couse was almost entirely Self-Helpy.

This is a really excellent cours. I have learned a lot and feel strengthened after these weeks.

The following areas were particularly valuable to me:

The influence of optimism on one's resilience.

The mindful handling of one's own thought traps.

Experiencing and further developing one's own character strengths.

Dealing with Anxiety.

The technique and the internalization of active and constructive communication.

Recognizing and appreciating circumstances when a person is doing well.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

The course was really good. I had some idea of mindfulness but the course brought up some refreshing new concepts on resilience and it turned out to be really useful for me. Thank you so much Karen!

Sound, constructive, well presented. Psychology has come of age and is offering the kind of suggestions about healthy outlook and character building we've yearned for. Congratulations and Thank You.

Excellent! There was some common sense here, but plenty of new data and tools anyone can use in both their personal and professional life. A must for every human who wants to get the most out of life.

As always, very impressed with the coursework and the Professors. I will use each topic in my day-to-day life and continue to encourage others too. Thank you for taking the time to create this MOOC.

This is another great course by the Penn State team - I loved Karen's presentation style, she gets you thinking and analysing rather than simply passively absorbing. It was a very practical course, relevant and interesting. The *only* down side for me is that the reading material was not provided in direct links, making it more time consuming and complex to seek out the relevant references. Otherwise, another fantastic course. Thank you!

Really very good course. I really recommend to complete all tasks and make a notes watching the sessions. The gained knowledge will help to build self awareness and stronger relationships with others.

It was quite useful in the beginning, but towards week 4 or week 5, my interest drifted because there was not much solid content being shared.

This course material is easily applicable to my life. I found the content to be very useful and the instructor was easy to follow. I enjoyed this a great deal.

This was my favourite course of the specialization so far! It was so practical and the facilitator was great. There was fun in the MOOC, different activities made it more interactive. For a first MOOC, just wonderful. Thank you.

I truly felt like I was in a classroom learning all the material! I greatly appreciated all of the real-world applications and hearing all of the different perspectives throughout each week and topic!

Dr. Reivich is a terrific presenter. She provides frequent and useful summaries, is clearly passionate about the subject, and has organized the content in a very logical, easy-to-follow manner.

Great course that is more heavily biased towards application(s) than research and findings which will likely serve most well. Specific techniques are laid-out in plain English.

This course is not as polished as some others. The instructor at times seems to simply be reading from her teleprompter. Other times she seems more engaging. I would have preferred a more consistent feeling of connection to Dr. Reivich. This can be challenging in this format but having seen it successfully done by other instructors it is unquestionably possible.

For some, the material will be powerful enough to overlook "roughness around the edges". It certainly was for me. Of the courses offered in this series, this one deeply resonates.

Maybe because I studied psychology I was expecting a little bit more detailed information for the topic. But the course overall was well structured, the videos had very good quality and the amount of scientific papers and the possibility to take surveys and tests are a nice variety. Go on with more courses, thanks alot!

This is a lovely course and it teaches valuable skills. The one point for improvement is that there maybe could be more visual aids. All lectures are just a 'talking head'.

A little less academic than I was expecting and much more about practical application in your own life. Overall, very useful, though and interesting. Thank you!