What have the students taught us about the course? In the course syllabus we tell the students that ``[t]his is a new, experimental course that we plan to offer regularly in the future. Therefore, your feedback and input are essential. In order to regularly evaluate our performance and keep in touch with your concerns, we ask you provide us with regular feedback. This will be done via the course website. We seek your candid observations and concerns. Your constructive feedback will not be taken personally, but rather used to improve the course as we progress through the term.''
Labs included a link to an anonymous evaluation form which students could complete at the end of lab (or at their convenience). These forms were collected each week, and the comments considered for possible implications to the course. In addition, an end of the year evaluation (which was not anonymous) was completed by each student, and the evaluations were summarized. In addition, we had the usual evaluations from the University, which are anonymous and come at the end of the course. In the following we evaluate the course including perspectives from the instructors and the students.