People in this course come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and to spend time in class lecturing risks boring a substantial portion at any given moment. Given the size of the class, time may be better spent addressing specific problems people may be having in understanding concepts and techniques. Never mind all that -- I just hate lecturing. So...

...there won't be regular lectures. Instead, lecture material will be put on the web as notes. We ask you to go over the notes in advance of the class for which they were prepared, then to let us know what areas you need more help on. In that way, we can arrange class so that it focuses on the areas that are most helpful to you. Study questions are embedded into the notes so that you don't go completely into passive mode. If you can't answer a study question, make a note of this.

In order to tailor the class to your needs, we need continuous feedback from you, hence the questionnaires that accompany each day's notes. The purpose of these questionnaires is to identify the problem areas. They are not graded (at least not directly, but see Course at a Glance: Exams ). Questionnaires are also a means you can use to tell us particular concerns you are having with any aspect of the course. There will always be a general question at the end soliciting your comments that don't fit elsewhere.