PmWiki | Site / UseOfDiscussionForums

There are several discussion forums that have been created to cover different aspects of the class material, e.g., lectures, homeworks, (past) exams, projects, etc.

You are strongly encouraged to use these discussion forums as an interactive medium, as they enable everyone to benefit from both the questions and their answers (most often, if something is not clear to you, you are not the only one). In particular neither the instructor nor the TA(s) will respond to questions directly emailed to them, and instead will ask that any such request be directed to the appropriate Wiki Discussion Board. Again, the motivation is that everyone can then benefit from both the question and the answer, and it also helps eliminate the need for responding multiple times to more or less the same inquiry.

Answers to posted questions will typically provided within 24hrs, but if you have a really urgent question or more than 24hrs have elapsed without a response, you can email the TA(s) and/or the instructor to let them know that you have a pending question. You are also encouraged to yourself post answers or continuations to questions from other students, and in that manner contribute to the exchange of information.

In short, take full advantage of discussion forums and post as many questions as you can. There is no such thing as a dumb question, except for the ones you don't ask.

However, note that you are always welcome to come with questions during office hours of both the instructor or the TA(s).

How to Post on a Discussion Forum

To post on a Forum, simply click on the name of the Forum you want to post to in the navigation tab on the left. This should open the desired forum in the right frame. Go to the bottom of that page, and click on the "Edit" tab. This should then allow you to start typing your question following the guidelines given below. Don't forget to click on the "Save" tab once you are done.

There are some simple guidelines to follow for posting a question.

NEVER delete an old posting, even if it is one of your own. You can correct your own old postings, but only for typos or clarifications.
When posting a new question, always start at the top of the forum, and preamble your question by a time stamp (date and time, e.g., 1/08/11 - 5:45pm) that identifies when you posted your question, followed by the letter Q to identify the posting as a question. This ensures that questions are posted in chronological order. Questions will typically be answered in that order as well.
Include a blank line at the end of your posting to clearly separate it from the next question.
Answers will be preceded by the letter A and inserted below the question they target. You are free to post answers to questions from other students, but you should identify yourself if you do. This is to allow students to identify who posted an answer.

A typical forum will end-up looking something like that:

1/08/11 - 5:45pm. Q: This is my third question.

A (Gun): Answer to third question by Gun

1/07/11 - 11:45am. Q: This is my second question.

A (TA1): Answer to second question by TA1.

1/05/11 - 2:00pm. Q: This is the first question.

A (TA2): Answer to first question by TA2.