This is the first time I’m using Discord for the class, previous classes used Slack. I decided to switch since the free version of Slack is very limited. If you find anywhere on this website a mention of Slack, just assume that I mean Discord. Also please let me know so I can fix it. (Or contribute the fix yourself, you’ll soon learn how to do that through GitHub).
The main mode of communication will be through Discord. You should get an email invite to the Discord server for this class. If you haven’t received an email by Friday before classes start, or if you added the class late, let me know so I can send you an invite. We won’t use eLC, everything is going to happen on Discord or this website.
If you are unfamiliar with Discord, it is essentially a chat/discussion tool (similar to Slack or Teams or…). The main area for the class is called a server in Discord. Ours is called MADA-Spring-2024. If you use Discord for other purposes, you might be a member of additional servers. Each server has channels. Each channel corresponds to a topic. The names and descriptions of the different channels should be self-explanatory.
If you have requests for specific channels to be created, let me know.
If a channel is public, you can see it and participate in the discussion. For private channels you need an invite to see it and participate. For simplicity, all channels are public, though there will be channels which likely won’t be of interest to you. Specifically, you’ll be placed into groups during the course and will likely only be interested in the channel for your group.
Inside a channel, you can write messages. To respond to someone’s message, you can either respond as thread or type your message just below the previous one. The good thing with responding as new message is this is that everyone sees it easily. The bad thing is that if there are a good number of messages being typed, it can be hard to figure out which ones go together. An alternative, and maybe better way is to reply in a thread.
You can also use Discord to send one or more individuals direct messages (DM). You can use that to communicate with me or each other.
Overall, Discord is fairly intuitive, and hopefully much easier to use than the rather clunky discussion feature of eLC. But some features might need getting used to. If you have no previous Discord experience, I suggest you browse through their very comprehensive documentation to pick up a few more tips and tricks.
One useful thing to know is that people will get a specific
notification if you either send them a direct message or use their
handle in our message, e.g. by writing @personname can you take a look at the figure
below…. Specifically, if you want to get my attention, you need to
do it that way. I have too many things pinging me all the time
remoji::emoji(‘grin’)`. While I try to stay on top of all
the messages in our class, I likely won’t. To ensure I don’t miss
something directed at me, use the @ notation (or DM).
I will use the announcements channel to post any important course related announcements. Check regularly.
Use Discord widely to ask questions, to answer others’ questions, to notify me and others of things that are unclear/wrong, to post links to interesting resources, etc. I hope we can build a community of learners where you help and support each other. So please don’t always wait for me to answer questions or provide feedback! Engage with each other. I will regularly visit and read the discussions and participate, but I hope that I will end up as one participant of many, not the only person providing answers.
I prefer that you use Discord instead of email to ask questions. The reason is that if you have a question, it is likely that others have it too. By asking and answering online, everyone can see it. That said, there might be instances where the question only relates to you. In such cases, feel free to either send me a direct message on Discord or email me.
You might have already a Dischord user name or decide to choose a user name which is not your real name. In that case, please update your Discord profile for our server to your real name (and if you want, preferred pronouns and other information). Also, to make things more personal, add an image of yourself to the profile. It will help make things a bit more social, even if it’s not quite the same as in-person. You can do all that if you right-click your user name and choose “Edit Server Profile”.
I will offer weekly synchronous meetings through Zoom. Those are completely optional. Whoever wants to join can do so, and we will use the meeting for discussions, answering questions, and whatever else you want to talk about. Think of those meetings a bit like virtual office hours or virtual in-class discussions. To ensure everyone will be able to join at least occasionally, I plan to alternate between two times each week.
I want to emphasize that there is nothing covered in the meetings other than me addressing questions from individuals. I will not record these meetings to ensure students feel comfortable asking “dumb” questions (they are rarely “dumb”, but I don’t want anyone to feel limited out of fear of “looking stupid” in the recording). If any topic comes up that I think is worth sharing more widely, I will afterwards post a message and/or add content to the website. Therefore, if you can’t make these Zoom meetings, you are not missing anything (other than the option of asking me questions that might be tricky to discuss on Discord).
Tentative dates for Zoom meetings are listed in the Schedule document. Those are subject to change. If we need to move things around, I’ll post an announcement and also update the Schedule document. At the designated times, I will start the meeting. I’ll wait around for 15 minutes. If nobody connects, I’ll end the meeting. If people connect, we’ll talk until we covered everything, or until I or you need to move on to our next appointments. The information for the Zoom meeting login will be provided on Discord.
And of course, if you have something you want to discuss outside of those scheduled times, send me a message and we can schedule a meeting.
We will also use Github for some specific communications, related to exercises and projects. More detailed instructions on that are provided at the time you are asked to use GitHub.
We will not be using eLC. I might occasionally use the email everyone feature in eLC to send out an email to the class in the first few weeks until everyone has settled into using Discord. After that, I do not plan on using eLC.
In some semesters, I have a TA for the class. If there is a TA the semester you are taking the class, they will be another point of contact for you to ask questions. The TA will be posting an introduction to Discord with details of their availability and preferred modes of communication (Discord/Zoom/etc.).