Problems?

• Help using the computers
• Help provided by the Department of Computer Science
• Other sources of help

Help using the computers

If the problem relates to difficulty understanding what you have to do for homework or project work, you should raise the matter with your tutor in your next scheduled laboratory session or post a message to the newsgroup teach.comp1900.talk or contact the unit coordinator Carol Edmondson <carol@cs.anu.edu.au>.

If you have a more general problem related to the use of the Macs or the software packages (eg Word98) or your student email, try visiting the Student Consultants at the InfoPlace in Chifley Library.

A great deal of helpful information is available via the Student Network Access Homepage.

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Help provided by the Department of Computer Science

For most problems, you should raise the matter with your tutor in your next scheduled laboratory session.

If your problem is urgent, or is inappropriate for discussion in a laboratory session, these are the steps which you should follow when trying to get formal help with COMP1900:

1. If you require help with something which may concern other COMP1900 students, or for which other students may know the answer, you should post a message detailing your problem to the teach.comp1900.talk newsgroup. Solutions to your problem may be posted to this group by staff and/or other students. If your problem is considered to be very important by a member of the COMP1900 staff, a message will be posted to the teach.comp1900 newsgroup.

2. If your problem is a personal one (or otherwise unsuitable for posting to the newsgroup), send email to the unit coordinator, Carol Edmondson <carol@cs.anu.edu.au>.

   Note: If you email requests for help with project work directly to Ms Edmondson rather than to the newsgroup, she will not respond until after she has answered all the outstanding queries on the newsgroup and the answer to your question will be posted to the newsgroup.

The following points should be noted:

• When asking for help via the newsgroup or email (or in person), you need to identify your problem and the help you need clearly and accurately. Remember that staff members may be teaching several units at the same time. If you approach a staff member in person, you should make it clear which unit it is that you are seeking assistance for.
• If your question is a very specific one related to assessment (eg "What's the answer to Part B of Question 3?"), you will NOT receive a direct answer. Other students should not answer such questions by giving other students specific solutions to items of assessment.
• Some of our tutors are not full time members of the Department. This means that your tutor may not be easy to find or may not have the time to help you outside of scheduled laboratory periods. This means that the steps above are usually the best way of getting questions answered.

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Other sources of help

Other students

Your fellow students can be a very useful source of help, especially for practical advice in using computers. They may well have had (or still have) the same problem as you, and be able to either tell you the solution to your problem or work with you to solve it.

However, you should be careful not to use too much of other students' time (they have their own work to do). Also, treat knowledge gained from other students with appropriate care until you have verified the knowledge from another source. Your fellow students --- no matter how self-confident --- are just as likely to get the answer wrong as you would be.

Do not seek assistance from another student for assignment related work if that assistance would breach the plagiarism rules. (See the Department of Computer Science Student Handbook.)

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University Services

The Study Skills Centre offers ANU Students free and confidential help with their academic work. Telephone: 6249 2972

TLTSU, the Teaching and Learning Technology Support Unit provides a range of services for students. Telephone 6249 2763.

Infoplace is a joint intitiative of the Library and IT Services and is located on the ground floor of the Chifley Library.

The Counselling Centre is available to assist students with a variety of problems. The help given is confidential. Telephone: 6249 2442

The Disability Support Unit assits people with disabilities. Telephone 6249 5036

URL: http://computer/student/comp1900.1999/problems.shtml Last modified: Friday, 07-Jan-2000 15:09:54 EST