Monday, September 29, 2008

Congratulations, You Found It!

Welcome to the blog for PG850: General Linear Models--Regression.

This blog is to be used for asking, clarifying, discussing, and checking out. No asked question is "dumb," but unasked questions may well hurt you.

The use of the blog is not intended to stigmatize those asking questions (or those who don't), but is necessary to ensure that all of us who will be evaluating your work are on the same page about the things that are seen as confusing AND about the answers you've received. To that end, it is to your advantage to check the blog while completing homework assignments and the final project.

Having said that, there are a few important ground rules for the class:

1. Do not email or call the TA or the instructor directly. Any questions submitted "back-channel" will be posted and answered on the blog. You will not receive an email or phone response to questions. This is the first and most important ground rule for the class. Although I am sympathetic to the desire not to be embarrassed by asking a question "in public," it is absolutely necessary that we do it this way for three important reasons. First, if you have a particular question, chances are at least one other person (and maybe 41 other people!) have that same question. It is much better for all of us if the question gets answered once rather than 41 times. Second, it is critical that I and the TAs are on the same page with our answers to all of you, and we can't be certain of that unless we see every question and every answer. That is, it is possible that I would answer one aspect of a given question, Kelly would answer a second aspect, Kris a third, Justin a fourth, and Ann a fifth. Although all answers would be potentially helpful, if I am looking for a particular thing in an answer, I need to know that you have actually heard that particular thing in response to your question. Third, an important part of your professional development is learning how to work together and how to constructively offer help/feedback. I expect that all of us--not just the TAs and I--will be working to increase knowledge and facilitate learning in this class.

2. Do not wait until the last minute to answer your question (and closely related 3. Do not be impatient for an answer). Unfortunately, if you wait until the hour before your homework is due to begin working on it, there may not be time for an answer to be posted to the blog before you need it. Similarly, it is unlikely that the blog will be checked very late the night before an assignment is due. Please plan ahead, because even if you call the TA or me in a panic right before class, ground rule #1 applies.

3. Do not be impatient for an answer. I understand that it can be very anxiety provoking to not know the answer to your question. Please have faith that the TAs and I have a schedule for checking and responding to the blog and that your question WILL be answered. One year, I had a student who became very worried that the question posed on the blog had not been answered. Imagine my surprise to find out that the question had been posted for less than an hour! We do check the blog and we will respond, but fortunately for us all, no one is permanently subscribed to the blog.

4. Blog and respond to others as you would have them do unto you. This goes without saying, but just in case someone is still worried about posting on the blog, the goal is to help you improve your stats knowledge, to help you figure out the question you have, and to help you move forward. Posts that are failed attempts at sarcastic humor or otherwise come across negatively will be removed by a moderator.