Policy
We have a no emails policy. Please speak with us during course sessions, or use the provided communication resources.
When seeking information or help, please attempt the following in order:
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find the answer yourself (course material, Google; find" function (CTRL+F) is your friend).
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ask students (in person, or on Slack; try pinging TAs), or people on the Internet (e.g. stackoverflow).
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ask staff (in the Github issue-tracker)
If your matter is private, then write to us privately on Slack.
Before writing to us, make sure to have read this (8-minute read).
Why?
We enact this policy for two reasons: managing our resources, and teaching you a skill.
- Managing Resources
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As much as I would like to provide plenty of individual counseling, doing so is not feasible. Speaking to each student for 1 hour in a week would take 200 hours. Even speaking to each student for 1/10th of that (6 minutes) in a week would take 20 hours, which is much more than the time I am expected to spend per week on the course (and then I still need to manage the course, prepare and give lectures, and so on). The TAs likewise have a fixed budget of hours spent on the course (including exercise sessions and grading). Our focus is therefore to ensure that our available resources are spent where they are absolutely needed: where you cannot find your answer yourself or from others.
- Teaching A Skill
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Being able to help yourself and others is a crucial skill; you are expected to keep yourself up-to-date on tech and to be able to explain tech and your work to others in your professional lives. This policy thus serves the dual purpose of teaching you an important, and valuable, skill.