The best aspects of the course included the hands on learning experience and group projects. Students got to see and work with the machines that they were learning about, making the course very practical. The worst aspects of the course included the disorganized lectures and vast amounts of material that had to be covered. The course would improve if the lecture material was more organized and structured. Students also recommend a concise study guide so that they could have known what they needed to study for the exams. Prospective students should know that this course wil teach them material characterization techniques thoroughly and they will find it useful.

Students believed that the best aspects of this course included the field trips, which they thought real y helped put the concepts they were learning about into context. Although students liked the professor, many found the lectures to be difficult to fol ow and a bit tedious at times. They thought that some of the lectures covered too much material, which made it difficult to know what to study for. Students suggested focusing the lectures to cover less material, but more in-depth. Students also wanted the midterm split into multiple tests to make it easier to study. Prospective students are encouraged to take this course because of its light workload and hands-on application of concepts studied in class.

Students praised this course for its approachable and helpful instructor who covered a very interesting topic and included a variety of hands-on learning challenges. While students generally liked the instructor, students found the course was disorganized and that the homework didn’t align well with lectures. Suggestions to improve the course included a belief that the course could have been better organized. Students in particular found that the instructor’s PowerPoint slides could have been more focused with less extraneous information. Prospective students should know that students found the course was useful and interesting and it had a manageable workload.