The central question of this course: “why study wood?” If “why study wood” is the question, one answer would be that it is the only raw material available to us that is truly renewable in human life span terms. Wood is as important to society today as it ever was, despite the development of many man-made substitute materials, changing resource availability, and the changing needs of society. Some items on the list of wood products stay the same (lumber, plywood and veneer for building construction, furniture, shipping pallets & crates and other containers & packaging materials, railroad ties, utility poles, chemical feed stocks, etc), but the list also keeps changing to meet new needs and challenges as the resource changes. In short, wood is a far more diverse, green, and renewable resource than you might have imagined. Join us to learn about the important role of wood in human history, civilization, and our future. By the end of the course, learners will be able to: - describe wood as a raw material and its critical importance to the world economy, and the lives of the people that make that economy work. - identify the projected trend for wood consumption to continue to grow in the coming years, despite the image of wood as a "low tech" material. - identify the ways in which wood's properties can lead to its efficient and sustainable use. -identify wood's positive role in boosting the world economy and ability to lead to unexpected vocations.
CZ
As a Civil Engineering student, this course has been very helpful for me. I do recommend to have this course in order to get the basic concept of wood science and its use as a building material.
MK
The audio quality of voice during the presentation videos were not very clear. Sometimes not clearly audible as well. But the content was good anyways. Got to know many things.
DC
Very informative. Production value lower than what I've previously seen in other courses but it seems to work for this course, and give it an underlying charm.
MM
Very imformative, very engaging, very inspiring!An awesome course to be taken and the knowledge shared here is simply shocking and usefull.THANK YOU.
AM
Fun and interesting course for anyone who deals with lumber or wood products. it really piqued my interest in the wood industry and makes me want to learn more. Thanks.
AH
Several of the links were dead, but other than that, great information in a very easy to follow manner. I especially enjoyed the questions during the video. Those helped tremendously.
MM
This was a nice overview, and though there were some broken hyperlinks in the lessons, I'm glad I took the course, appreciated the instructors, and the course materials, and I learned a lot.
DT
Short, sweet, simple, and concise while at the same time presenting a decent summary of key factors affecting wood use and harvest as it pertains to construction.
SP
This course was really interesting and useful. I strongly recommend watching it to every body who is interested in wood science and timber structures. It well worth watching several even times!
SE
I enrolled in this course 5 years ago and downloaded the videos, but I only started watching them 2 weeks ago. Honestly, it was so cool and useful — I found it really helpful!
MP
Hello, thank you for your efforts in the course. It was very useful and beautiful. I hope you will always be healthy and happy. Mohammad Pakzad from Iran.
SS
It was a great experience to learn wood, I am a civil engineer unfortunately we learn much of wood in school. Thanks to everyone who available us to learn this materials.
Showing: 20 of 206
It was very much interesting while listening lecturers.and observing wood science applications in manufacturing different wood based products .this was the best platform to learn new things
This course was a wonderful experience in learning about forest - wood - timber - products. Thank you for sharing that knowledge. It is a trip of understanding the wood and it's uses
As a Civil Engineering student, this course has been very helpful for me. I do recommend to have this course in order to get the basic concept of wood science and its use as a building material.
Content is common knowledge about wood. Excruciating, inaudible, incomprehensible audio. Awful enunciation majority of the videos. I would not recommend it to anyone. All the quizzes are inept, amateurish, repeating the same questions that popped up throughout the videos. Lawrence Osborn specifically was mumbling at Week 2 videos. In week 3's first video, Lawrence Osborn is finely speaking whereas, Jeffery Salhor is whispering. it is evident the conversations or discussions are among them, not to be heard by the student. It is imperative that the production/ technical team need to focus on the sound recording. I muted the videos for week 3, just read the transcripts.
This course is a great oppontunity to learn and improve about the deep universe of wood science. It explains very well theory and processes with detailed examples and clear schemes. From the architecture point of view is huge tool and a excellent opportunity to understand from the begining his science. Im estactic to had been part of your students in this course. Excellent!!
This is very good course. I enjoyed this and the science of wood. How principles of physics works in wood science. I alot of thanks to course instructors and whole team of course they describe the things very practical and easy way.
I really liked this course in terms of structure, in particular. The quizzes in the video effectively kept me paying attention to the contents and made me better understood the contents of the course. Thank you very much!!!
Very useful to understand about the American wood industry. Also helps know about some general information about wooden materials and wood itself.
Was a pretty course with lots of information conveyed beautifully with the picturisation and the blogs conveyed lots of information about the trees and its specification among the nation worldwide with well versed and knowledgable lectures from the best tree experts. Almost covered up all the content with the vast knowledge of the expertise and the way to look among the tress and its benefits; with the lot of differntiaion in them to helps accquire ad nderstand markets that deals with woods and the products of tress. I hoped this course could also cover the medicinal benefits from the tress( woods ).
Thanks, for offering this course! Though I've been working with wood at home for some years, I learned a great deal about the wood, ranging from specifics of working with the wood from the different species of trees to the global market and management of the forest. Your corse gives a great incentive go to forward with learnig more and working more with wood, looking at it in bigger depth rather than a conventient material only. Thanks, again!
Many thanks to the professors, organisers and West Virginia University! This course gives an interesting ground for thinking and unusial perspective of the place of wood materials and products in our lives as well as developing critical thinking on building materials' opportunities. Even though, sometimes, lectures are not ideally structured, they produce an incredible and homely atmosphere!
The course is amazing. It surprised me in terms of content. For having modules I thought it would be simple, but it turned out dense and with a lot of information. The instructors are great. The topics and issues are outstanding. I do recommend this course and I'm proud of me for being completed and gone over all the content.
Thanks for the instructors.
My best regards,
it´s a fantastic course , wich gave a chance to understand the importance of wood in different industrial process , besides I could improve my skills about kind of woods , market , moisture , properties of woods , wood products , etc..
I strongly recomend this course for everyone who is intersted to konow more about the matters that I mentioned in this description.
Great course for anyone getting in touch with wood for the first time; from an academic and also a very practical view. It's amazing to discover the wood potential in environmental and construction terms, and to realize that there is still very much to be done worldwide to protect but also to better manage its production and responsible use. Thank you very much.
The course was very succinct. I took wood science back in uni but I never really understood it as well as I did in this course. It is highly recommended to those with prior knowledge of wood science and aiming to learn more or even to the absolute beginner. I used to be scared of this course but now I find it truly fascinating thanks to the instructor.
Very useful course. Nicely presented in a well structured way, it gives a global view of wood science. It has links to very interesting resources of books, international associations and technical NASA papers (pretty understandable, in my opinion). It has a great value for the time required. Fully recommended!
Very interesting stuff in this course. Everything from tree species, types of wood, wooden products, notes on sustainability and markets, the luthier business, invasive species and types of habitats, etc. The two professors really capture your attention in a way that most courses can't manage.
Very helpful in understanding how water and elements affects wood physiology for flooring and deck material. Strength of wood factors for building was covered as well in addition to choices of wood in building applications. Helpful in house maintenance.
As one of the materials for sustainable construction, a Civil Engineer needs to know all about it. This course was for me, a great introduction in this amazing world, they give you the general basis of the entire process and life cycle of wood in America.
This course was amazing! The instructors have so much valuable knowledge to share and they are very personable. It has been a significant factor in my decision to go back to school and pursue a degree. I highly recommend signing up for this course.