B.1 Contact me/the TAs

The discussion forum on Moodle is our primary communication platform. If you want to ask a course-related question – about the material, assignments, logistics – I recommend doing so in the relevant forum. That means your question, and my response, will be visible to your classmates, who might have the same question later on. You can attach screenshots and insert links to things (like an assignment or lecture) to help explain your question. I encourage you to respond to each other’s questions – this is a space to build that statistical community!

Email () is good if you want to contact me non-publicly, or if you need to cc someone who’s not in our class workspace. (If there’s someone you know you’ll want cc’d on our conversations frequently, like a note-taker, let me know and I can add them as a guest member of our Moodle course.) I check email at 8:00 am and 1:00 pm Eastern time Monday-Friday, and 8:00 am Saturday, unless I announce otherwise. If you send me an email later in the day than that, it’s likely that I will see and respond to it the next morning. Because your classmates also see the discussion boards, those are usually the fastest way to get a response!

Live conversations are good for more extended questions. We’re not supposed to spend too much extra time in the classroom before and after class, but I’m occasionally available at those times – we can just stroll down the hall to my office (401A).

Both office hours and special appointments (see below) can be either in person or over Zoom, but I assume they’re in person by default. If you need to drop in via Zoom, email me in advance to let me know so that I have the room open!

Office hours are the best kind of live conversation :) I’ll have regular drop-in office hours/help sessions. You don’t need an appointment, and I encourage you to come with your study buddies if you like. You can see my session times as “Prof T’s Open Office Hours” on Pathways.

I really recommend going to open office hours if at all possible, rather than making a special appointment. Sharing your questions with your classmates (and hearing theirs) is super helpful, and frankly, the whole experience is a lot more fun.

You’ll see that in some weeks it seems like there are quite a lot of special appointment slots available, to provide as much flexibility as possible. But I can’t actually spend that whole time doing appointments, or I won’t have any time to prep for your actual class :) Once a certain number of people sign up, I remove the remaining appointment slots. So, be considerate of your classmates – try and save special appointment signups for situations where you just can’t make it to office hours or you need a confidential environment.

If you can’t make the scheduled office hour times, or if you want to be sure of having a one-on-one conversation, you can sign up for an appointment using the “Prof T’s Special Appointment Signup” blocks on Pathways. Pathways will make you sign up for appointments in advance, at least the day before – this makes sure I see your booking! If you book a slot more than a week ahead, there’s a chance that my schedule will change and we’ll have to reschedule, but I’ll do my best to avoid that.

You’re also totally welcome to invite your study buddies along to an appointment, especially if you all have the same question. One of you can sign up for the appointment, then send the info to the rest of the study group.

When you’re looking for office hours or appointments on Pathways, be sure to double-check the title of the time block! Some times are for special appointments, and some are for drop-ins.

If you need to talk but can’t make it to any of my available appointment times, no worries: contact me, and we’ll find an alternate time to meet.

If you want to communicate with me anonymously, you can log in to the account using the password AssumptionsAndConditionsF23, and send an email to me or the TA. (If it’s about an in-class thing, I recommend specifying which class you’re in, so that I don’t think your message applies to the other one.) That said, I do encourage you to talk with me non-anonymously, if you’re providing feedback about the course; I will not penalize you for your opinions, and it’s much more productive if we can have a two-way conversation about your experience. Your feedback is how I make this course better!