I have done the course (just the lecture part, wasn't interested in assignments etc). I do have a scientific background and knew a reasonable amount about the subject already so was able to skip through fairly quickly.
I had hoped to learn something new but didn't really - or not much - though it was interesting to refresh my memory about a lot of the background I had forgotten and to put the info into a wider context.
If you know little about the subject then this would be a very good course. Some scientific knowledge would help to progress more quickly.
I was a bit taken aback with the bizarre pronunciation of the latin names of the bacterial phyla, genera etc from people in the Knight lab - undoubtedly the result of Knight himself's mispronunciation. A minor quibble.