If the theory, methods, and tools (the ones used or similar tools) are new to you, you will most likely love the specialization and the capstone. If you are familiar with parts of the theory or some of the methods and tools the specialization still offers a broad overview of the field and some interesting insights.

For the latter group (those who have some experience in the field of computational social science) the capstone might feel a bit redundant. You can do the 4 assignments in 10 to 20 minutes (because they are basically replicas of the peer-review assignments of the previous 4 courses of the specialization and very simple). You will then wait for days or weeks for peer reviews. That was a rather frustrating experience of an otherwise good specialization.

A very interesting and well designed course to begin with while setting on the journey of computational social science. Hands-on labs / assignments gave sufficient exposure as well as skill building experience on various softwares and techniques.

Dr. Hilbert is a fantastic lecturer and educator! I sincerely hope he continues developing and delivering new courses like this in coming days. The specialization opened up worlds of new ideas to me. Highly recommended!

Well done to Prof. Hilbert for putting together a wonderful course. One thing I found is how hard it is to counter fake news from the artificial simulations. Shows how true the old saying is, when a lie (or advertisement) is repeated enough times, people start to believe it. That is the power of the media.

I am keen to explore the potential of these tools further.

One potential drawback is the stereo typing of individuals based on big data personality assessment. People can change overtime and not only that, the use of language can alter too. So the assumptions underlying the construction of natural language assessment may need to be reviewed to stay relevant.

Do I now have experience with computational science? Yeah I believe I do. Thank you very much.

What a great way of integrating all we learned throughout the specialization!

Finally all your work paid off, is simply amazing. Thanks

long time to wait for a peer review

I find it a huge organizational problem of the subjects of the specialization that you have to wait an infinite time to get your assignment reviewed. I have reviewed a lot of assignments, most of them did not comply with the demands of the corresponding assignment itself. I found it very frustrating to come across those assignments. It is very sloopy that there is no control of what is suitable to be reviewed, within a specific time-interval.

The most challenging part was not the software related to learning the skills of computational social sience (NetLogo, Gephi), but the requirement and reliance on other software such as Excel, desktop screen recording and computer cameras to capture our work and narration, having to find a way to upload big video files - which for me meant starting a YouTube channel. All of that made the Capstone and earning the certificate in general super stressful. Waiting for peers to grade and counting on peers to grade carefully and well was also another disappointment and stressor.

What was taught and what I learned was amazing. Sometimes it was difficult to not have a solid source other than peers to ask questions.

Highly recommend but not for people who want an easy course.

Thank you for offering this course. It is one of the best courses and specializations I'd taken on Coursera. Well organized and interesting. I've learnt a lot and am looking forward to applying all the skills in the future. Best!

This capstone project provide the opportunity to revisit previous learning. It provide a path way to integrate and strengthen the whole learning process in this specialization into a single integrated course.

This course brings all the previous four modules into a single project where you apply what you've learnt previously in order to solidify your understanding on what Computational Social Scientists do.

Great course! Great specialization! Exceptionally good teaching and communication in the videos!