0.2D - Discussion and Best Practices
The discussion forum is the main way for you to communicate with the course team and other students. We hope it contributes to a sense of community and serves as a useful resource for your learning.
Discussion forms an integral part of the 4.605x course. The primary purpose of discussion in this course is to engage students in a meaningful manner to focus and reinforce key topics and ideas from Mark Jarzombek’s recorded lecture material (discourse). A secondary purpose of discussion is to address technical questions about either course material or the online courseware environment (troubleshooting). These primary and secondary items are addressed through two distinct types of discussion, outlined below.
Discourse - Discursive discussion prompts and are issued on a rolling basis with lecture material. This prompt will be issued in a “discussion” component, filed in a sub-unit, within each lecture, placed after the lecture material. The prompt will address the topic of respective lectures, through one of the following frameworks:
- Asking students for further reflection or critique of a particular aspect of a particular building or topic discussed
- Encouraging students to relate a particular item to a contemporary event or analog.
- Soliciting personal experiences related to an item discussed in the lecture, or a particular theme.
These prompts will be released with each lecture, weekly.
Troubleshooting - Troubleshooting discussion will be initiated by students, and will be created by them to address questions they have about using the edX site and its associated materials. Specific questions about course content will be addressed here as well. Teaching Assistants will be responsible for addressing these questions on a regular basis. Student questions will be issued in the Discussion tab, under the topic “Troubleshooting.”
GUidelines
When engaging in discussion for this course, please follow the following guidelines:
- Don’t cheat. We encourage collaboration and help, but please avoid asking for and posting blatant answers to exam problems or Lecture Review Questions. Those caught cheating may have their accounts disabled and their progress erased.
- Be polite. We have learners from all around the world and with different backgrounds. Something that is easy for you may be challenging for someone else. Let’s build an encouraging community. • Upvote good posts. This applies to questions and answers. Click on the green plus button so that good posts can be found more easily.
- Search before asking. The forum can become hard to use if there are too many threads, and good discussions happen when people participate in the same thread. Before asking a question, use the search feature by clicking on the magnifying glass on the left-hand side to see if your topic of interest has already been addressed.
- Notify staff. If you want to have a staff member look at your post, please write [Staff] at the start of your title.
- Be specific. Choose a descriptive title, and provide as much information as possible: Which part of what problem or video? Why do you not understand the question? What have you tried doing?
- Write clearly. We know that English is a second language for many of you but correct grammar will help others to respond. Avoid ALL CAPS, abbrv of wrds (abbreviating words), and excessive punctuation!!!!