Help is Available

If you have a problem or question, technical or team related, we want to talk about it — do not put it off.

• Post to the course Q&A Board, especially if you have not made progress in the last hour of effort
• Request a meeting with your assigned mentor UTA (or visit UTA Office Hours, available only during the first two weeks)
• Visit Professor Duvall or the Graduate TA Li during their office hours or set up an appointment using email

When asking any questions you are expected to show evidence you tried to solve the issue yourself so that we have a starting point for working with you, especially because these are larger, more diverse, projects. You can discuss the code on your computer but having it accessible via the course Gitlab organization is best so we can try it out as well.

Posting to the Q&A Board

Post any questions you have about the course on the Q&A Board because it is seen by the entire Teaching Team and other students, ensuring a much faster response time than sending us email.

• Before posting a question, check all previous questions since it is potentially confusing to have two different answers to the same question
• Post exact error messages and describe steps you already taken to make it as easy as possible for us diagnose the issue
• Post as little code as possible associated with your issue so as not to give away the solution to your classmates
  You may be able to post only the single line causing the problem or replace some parts with comments representing pseudocode. Never post complete methods — if you are in doubt, post a private message to the instructors.
• If you solve your own problem, post your solution for others benefit

You are also expected to contribute to the Q&A board by answering questions in addition to asking them. We welcome you sharing things you think will be useful to your classmates in order to help build the class community.

UTA Mentoring and Office Hours

During the first two weeks only, UTAs will hold Office Hours to help you with any technical issues you may be experiencing with GIT, IntelliJ, and Java coding. These hours are posted on the Q&A Board.

After Add/Drop, you will be assigned a UTA as a mentor to work with throughout the course. You are expected to meet weekly with your assigned UTA mentor to review your progress. During the semester, as you master more of the basics, you will be expected to take on more leadership during these meetings to better direct your learning.

Meetings with UTAs may be held in the study rooms in the Link or Edge spaces in the library or via Zoom as needed.

Learn Better and Think Smarter

I believe strongly in the Academic Resource Center (ARC), which offers free services to undergraduate students, including Learning Consultations, Peer Tutoring and Study Groups, ADHD/LD Coaching, Outreach Workshops, and more. Because learning is a process unique to every individual, they work with each student to discover and develop their own academic strategy for success. Contact the ARC to schedule an appointment. Undergraduates in any year, studying any discipline can benefit!