I took Isbell's class as well, and perhaps here we can share our respective experiences.
In the year I did it, the class was structured as follows:
At the beginning of the semester, you'd pick two datasets.
Every two weeks, you'd apply two or so algorithms that were being covered at the time (maybe k-means and SVD, or a NN and SVM) to your chosen data sets. There would be a set of variations that you were supposed to apply to each algorithm. Typically you'd normalize or clean the data in some way. Perhaps you'd filter outliers, etc...
The result would be a set of experiments to run (2 datasets) x (2 algorithms) x (2^3 variations per algorithm). You would compile the results into a (10 page max) paper, with analysis about how the dimensions differed.
It was up to the student to figure out how to actually implement this pipeline (I used sqlite + numpy/scipy/scikitlearn, many used Matlab).
On paper, this sounds like a great class - what a wonderful way to learn about how different approaches relate to each other, and how crucial the process of preparing data is to the effectiveness of the algorithm. In practice, however, this did not happen for most students I knew.
These students spent most of their time finding implementations of the algorithms and hacking at them to actually run all the experiments. They then rushed through gluing the results together through some semblance of analysis. Alumni of the class I knew said the same thing about their experience.
This analysis was read by TA's. There were I think 3 of them for about 100 students. We wouldn't get the papers back for weeks (long past we moved on to new material). When we got our papers back there was very little feedback of the content - mostly it was noted that we submitted the work on time, and had successfully performed all the experiments required.
I agree that Isbell is a joy to listen to - he is charismatic, entertaining, and I too enjoyed his anecdotes. However, I felt like you would only get something out of his lectures if you already knew what you were talking about.
When I think about the quality of the class, I think about how responsive the class is to the individual needs and progress of the student.
If you say that it's up to the student what they get out of the class, and your bar for a good class is that the content is arranged in a nice manner, then here you go https://pe.gatech.edu/sites/pe.gatech.edu/files/agendas/CS-4... ... any self-directed student can grab Mitchell, and do the weekly assignments I describe above - all for free and in the comfort of their own home.