It's a fine line between helping too much vs too little in lesson 1! For the next time we run part 1, we're thinking we'll have an optional weekend workshop to teach the necessary (non deep learning specific) software pieces - python, numpy, AWS, shell, etc. That would end up being a separate mini-MOOC I suspect.
Based on the discussions on the forums it seems most students are between these two extremes, and largely follow the video advice, branching off sometimes where they need to do some additional research, or are already familiar with some alternative approach.
Edit: actually thinking more about it - probably your best bet is to simply use http://crestle.com . All the data, notebooks, and software is pre-installed, so you can start coding right away.