FIRSTCLASS ONLINE DISCUSSIONS
     Fall 1997

HEAR THIS! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! WE ARE OFFERING ONE ONLINE DISCUSSION SECTION, AND NEED ABOUT 20 VOLUNTEERS. This is in addition to the Web information and my emails to the whole class.

The online conferencing setup is called FirstClass, administered by DoIT, with this globe as its icon. It costs you nothing to download it, or $1.50 for a disk from DoIT. I want some people who will try FirstCLass as their sole source of help from me and from other students, and some who are willing to also go to some live discussions so they can compare them.

This has been proven to be a very effective way to do discussions for distance courses or students with jobs, etc., who can't go to live discussion sections; but any student is welcome. The main uncertainty I have is whether you and I will be able to discuss math concepts over the Internet. I've done it by email, so I'm optimistic.

FRIENDLY WARNING! To do FirstClass, it will help if you start out familiar with interactive Web-type projects. If you aren't, but have a real need for this class, tell me.

There will be group homework projects set up on FirstClass. I estimate that you will need to commit 1-2 hours per week to the whole-group discussions, plus 2-3 hours per week to working online with other students on your homework.

HEAR THIS! There will be a training session: Thu Sep 11, 1997 at 7:00 pm B147 Computer Science and Statistics Lecture followed by One-hour hands-on practice

If you are interested in volunteering, email me right away. If too many students volunteer, I will select the number I need.

You can get preliminary information about FirstClass at www.wisc.edu/firstclass/.