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Section 3 Communication

The following communication channels are available in this course:

  1. Forums.

    There will be a primary course Q&A forum using Campuswire. We are switching to Campuswire for the first time this semester, because the forum we used to use (Piazza) has switched to a paid/ad-supported model. Use of Campuswire is not mandatory (some of you may have privacy concerns) but it is strongly encouraged.

    As far as I can tell, Campuswire provides a better product in any case. We still get a Q&A forum, and the forum still has useful features, like support for mathematical notation, and the ability for students to remain anonymous to their peers.

    What's better is that the forum uses individual replies, rather than a single wiki-style reply, where one student ends up overwriting the reply of another. You can also upvote questions and answers that you like.

    Another useful feature is the availability of chat rooms. Students have the ability to set up chat rooms, and you can make these private. (Yes, a private chat room can even exclude your instructor.)

    Campuswire should be your primary communication channel. In particular, any questions about homework and course content should be asked there, since I can reply there with mathematical notation. You will also get a much faster reply on the forum than you will from email. If you have a question you don't want to ask publicly, you can send a direct message instead.

    To access Campuswire, use the signup link and PIN code provided on Moodle. But note that to sign up this way, you will need to use your U of L email address. If you prefer not to provide your school email address to a third party company, you can ask me to send you an invite to a different email address.

  2. WeBWorK.

    There is one exception to the “put all homework questions on Campuswire” rule: in our WeBWorK online homework system, there is an “Email Instructor” button you can click to send feedback. This is useful if you think there's an error in the question, or if you've tried it several times and can't figure out why you're wrong. That email comes with a link I can use to jump directly to your version of the question, and see what answers you've tried. See Subsection 4.1 for details.

  3. Email.

    You can email me for questions that aren't related to course content. For example, if you have to miss class, or a test, you can email me to let me know.