At the end of the Spring 2012 semester, we sent out an online survey to the physics 104 class. A video had been made available for these students before each of their weekly labs throughout the semester. The responses of about 80 students are summarized here:

Q1. How would you rank your physics labs, compared with labs you've taken in other science courses?

Here the font size is proportional to the number of comments with a similar meaning-- in this context, for example, 'average' and 'about the same' both increased the size of the word 'average.' These groupings were based on my subjective interpretation of the student's meaning. The statements of 82 students are represented here.

Q2. Did you have a favorite physics lab? A least favorite? Why?

where font size is (linearly) proportional to the number of responses. 60 comments are represented here.

Q3. Was the lab manual helpful? Please comment.

Here the font size is proportional to the number of comments with a similar meaning-- in this context, for example, 'unclear' and 'ambiguous' both increased the size of the word 'unclear.' These groupings were based on my subjective interpretation of the student's meaning. 79 comments are represented here.

Q4. Were the videos helpful? Please comment.

A very positive response! Their comments were, more specifically:

Again, the font size is proportional to the number of similar comments. The opinions of 80 students are represented here.

Q5. Did you find your understanding of lecture extended easily to lab? Did the videos help make this connection?

Q6. What would help prepare you best for labs?

What to take away from this? Students respond very positively to lab preparation using video, especially in light of the more negative tone of responses to general questions about the labs or lab manuals. Most of the helpfulness is attributed to a clear preview and explanation of the experimental equipment and setup.