Bugs 101
Insect-Human Interactions

Free online entomology course from the University of Alberta

I don't know if this has been posted here but the University of Alberta is offering a 14-week (1-3 hours per week) introductory entomology course for free online:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101

It's aimed towards beginners and covers insect biology, taxonomy, and human-insect interactions.

I've really been enjoying the course and thought I'd share it here for anyone else interested in this resource

Faculty of Science to introduce new MOOC ENT 101 aka Bugs 101 this Fall

Article: https://www.ualberta.ca/science/science-news/2019/july/insects-online-course

> As temperatures rise on another Canadian summer, many of us are already battling pesky bugs like mosquitoes and wasps. Beyond just being a general nuisance, some insect species, such as pine beetles, can wreak havoc and destruction on our forests while other pests affect agricultural and horticultural resources. 
>
> This summer, the University of Alberta will launch Bugs 101, a MOOC that explores entomology to better inform citizens about human-insect interactions in the context of climate change and global biodiversity.

You can also view all the topics, and also take a free, not-for-credit- version of the course on Coursera this summer: https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101

List of 3 credit MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses

PALEO 200 (aka Dinosaurs 101) offered Fall

STS 351 (Understanding Video Games) offered Fall

ASTRO 101 (Black Holes) offered Fall (once weekly lectures offered inclass and remotely

NS 201 (Indigenous Canada) offered Fall and Winter

INT D 280 (aka Mountains 101) offered Winter.

ENT 101 (Bugs 101) offered Fall

Most of these have an inclass counterpart (PALEO 201, STS 350, NS 200, INT D 280) and at the link you can find other 1 credit MOOCs at the link as well.

The first one I took is a basic free course from the University of Alberta. It helped me quite a bit in my knowledge of insects.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101

There's so much cool stuff to learn about them! If you're looking for a kind of "structured" way to learn about them there's a Coursera I really highly recommend. It's completely free! The instructors do a really great job explaining everything!

The end portion of the article hits the nail on the head - we as a culture have to stop hating insects. It’s the norm to kill an insect just for existing because they are “gross”. And we fail to understand that they pollinate our food and hold up the entire food chain.

The University of Alberta is offering a free entomology course for anyone interested in learning about these cool creatures (https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101). The more you learn about these creatures, the more fascinating and less they become.

There’s no question that our society has to change our practices of paving over forests and planting lawns as the only green space. Our urban areas have become such a large area that it has taken effect. Undoubtably our agricultural practices of growing a single crop with minimal numbers of other plants is illogical as well. Pollinators need to feed for more than the two weeks of blooming for any given plant - having wild spaces and a multitude of plant species is more sensible practice than shipping bees in trucks.

For those of us that want to do our part, no matter how small, consider growing native species in your yard. Exotic species are beautiful, but haven’t evolved alongside your local insect life and are thus less nutritious to them. Native species offer beauty AND nutrition. Even if you can only squish one local plant species into your yard, it would be of such benefit to do so - if we all did this, think how many acres it would add up to. Our page at r/NativePlantGardening has a list of suppliers and government rebates offered to help people get their gardens started for anybody interested

May I suggest https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketing&utm_campaign=tubHgKl7EempyReieZALEQ

And if your fear is more through lack of understanding of insects/spiders, do this free course! Insect based, but would pass the time while during these times of self-isolation! https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101

If you're interesting in learning about the basics, coursera has a free course about them.

Unfortunately, I do not know anything about colleges since I myself am an upcoming sophomore, but I can help you get started learning about entomology :3

I have no recommendations for books, but there is a course on Coursera called bugs 101. I recommend it. (https://www.coursera.org/learn/bugs-101?)). Overall, I REALLY recommend this course over everything else here (except maybe for the Scibug videos), you learn a lot about insect-like plant feeding guilds, the morphology, and just the overall anatomy of insects, things about their internal organs like how they breathe and digest things. The only thing I did not notice was that they do not really talk about pheromones, or the ways insect may communicate with pheromones and the different types of them. As well as taxis, there is no mention about them if I am correct so do look at the scibug videos too.

And there are playlists at SciBugs youtube channel of videos she has done going over Communication and Sociality(4 vids), Taxonomy(2 vids), Physiology(6 vids), and Arthropod and Insect Identification(5). And there are other playlists she has like entomologists explain. Overall I recommend her channel!
Then there are some cool Ted-ed videos like:

• Why the Insects Brain is so incredible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw3TNRnJ1I
  Inside the Ant colony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG-QZOTc5_Q
  Licking bees and pulping trees: The reign of a wasp queen - Kenny Cooganhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q93IfqUbEf4
  Mating frenzies, sperm hoards, and brood raids: the life of a fire ant queen - Walter R. Tschinkelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNdouBNrnM0
  The world’s most painful insect sting - Justin Schmidthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUe80HnKE3E
  Some Kurzgesagt Videos that I really recommend:
  The Billion Ant Mega Colony and the Biggest War on Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqECNYmM23A
  The Warrior Kingdoms of the Weaver Anthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3QTAgHlwEg
• Some Brain Scoop Vids I recommend. It's a very good channel:
  Dissecting Ants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0HGz4RPLwc
  Inside Insect Nests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3zoZ_1fcVA&t=151s
  Bullet Ant Venom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNCD3rLbCBk
  Do Insects feel pain? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsJreKgyhbY

And then they are just a Bunch of SciShow Videos I recommend:
How Do Insects Survive the Winter ?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSEQvyjACyA
These Insects are Smaller than a Single Cell...How?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb5Q-wQh4GI
The Insect That Thrives in Antarctica https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeeNyOAcviI
Why Aren't There Giant Insects? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l79FuGuk1qE
How Do Bugs Hang Upside Down? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXkVb-LdD7U

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Also if anyone notices, yes this is copy and pasted since I already did this for someone else, and, well, why retype it if I can just ctrtl c+v it.