Saturday, January 17, 2009

How to post into Discussions for HW tips

There is a new discussion area, "Motion, acceleration and trajectories," where you can post questions about HW and class notes etc. When you do, it is helpful if you can make it easy for others, including me, to understand exactly what you are asking about. Here are some tips:
  1. In the Subject box, type in something specific like
    The new speed v2 in exercise 6 is eluding me
    instead of
    Help me, please!
    although the latter IS more dramatic.
  2. In the message area, be even more specific. Jot down on scratch paper the phrase or equation you have a question about, and then type in as much of it as you can.
  3. If you reply to someone's query, do not give away the answer, but think of it as coaching. I.e., you coach them up a little bit, but THEY do the execution.