Slack in MDS

Slack

We will be using Slack as our primary means of electronic communication throughout the MDS program. We will invite you to our UBC-MDS Slack workspace shortly before the program starts. Please note that you will be removed from this workspace around mid-July, after you have completed the program.

At some point, we will also invite you to the UBC MDS Alumni Slack workspace, which is completely separate from the main UBC-MDS workspace you use as a student. You will not lose access to this workspace after graduation and can stay connected with other MDS alumni.

Platforms

You can access Slack using any combinations of the following:

Channels

Our Slack workspace, UBC-MDS, contains many channels for conversation. We will enrol you in the channels for the 25 MDS courses, as well as several other useful channels.

  • #installation
  • #general
  • #announcements-v
    • Students are not allowed to post in the channel, but may reply in threads to ask follow-up questions.
    • CL students are added to #mds-cl-announcements instead.
  • #homework-submission-questions
  • #data-science-careers

You can create channels as well. For example, each year the students typically create a private channel for students only, and public channels for student-directed events.

Display name and profile picture

Slack’s default display name is derived from your email address, which usually needs to be updated. You can change your display name by following the instructions here. It is important to do this so that your teammates can find you and the academic team can reach out to you for specific requests.

To help create a sense of community, we encourage everyone (faculty, staff, TAs, and students) to upload a profile picture, instead of using Slack’s default ones. It would the best to use an image of yourself as the profile picture, so that others could get to know you. Howver, if you do not feel comfortable doing so, consider using a picture of something you like.

Professionalism

MDS takes pride in creating a close and inclusive environment in our teaching and learning spaces including our Slack community. We encourage participation in all private, public and direct messaging channels, however, we ask that you follow the Code of Conduct while doing so.

Although Slack is a great tool and is constantly available, we expect you to maintain a respectful and professional relationship with your peers and the academic team. Generally, instructors and TAs will attempt to respond to your questions in a timely manner, but it’s important to understand they do have a multitude of responsibilities. An example of unprofessional Slack usage is messaging an instructor late at night and asking for or expecting an immediate response.

Notifications

When we have important announcements that needs your attention, we will tag you by:

  • @channel
  • MDS-V: @v-students, @v-001-students, and @v-002-students
  • MDS-CL: @cl-students, @cl-001-students, and @cl-002-students

If you choose to change the notification settings, please ensure you won’t miss those announcements. In the UBC-MDS workspace, the default Do Not Disturb period is from 10 PM to 7 AM. If you have different hours you may want to adjust this accordingly.

Asking a logistics question

In Slack, there is a Course Coordinator Bot that provides provide answers to frequently asked questions about the program. You can open the bot by typing /cc in any channel and pressing Enter. If your question is not answered there, select the option Ask a question from the Main menu to contact the course coordinators.

You may also use the bot to submit an academic concession request, details please see Academic Concession Policy.

Asking about your marks

If you have a question about how your lab or quiz was marked, please submit a regrade request in GradeScope or an error report in PrairieLearn.

Asking about the course content

One reason we use Slack is so that you can ask for help. If you have a general question that is not about your specific situation or work, we strongly encourage you to post it in a course channel or the #general channel. If you message us privately we may ask you to re-post in a channel. The reason for this is that often many students have the same question and it is much more efficient to have them answered in a public forum. Beyond that, it’s often comforting for students to see other students asking questions, and generally encourages a vibrant Slack ecosystem.

Good practices

  • Search in the channel history to see if a similar question has already been asked.
  • Write your entire message before posting to avoid sending multiple messages in a short period of time.
  • Use the specific message thread to reply, avoid using the channel itself for replies to a topic
  • Do not tag instructors or TAs in your question.
    • This tends to discourage others (TAs or students) from responding, which increases response time and instructor workload.
  • If you are asking about a specific lab question, begin your message with the lab and question number in bold.
    • This helps other students with similar questions locate the thread.
  • Format inline code and code blocks use the single backtick (`) and triple backtick (```) respectively, to improve readability and help others understand your question.
  • Provide enough context for your question if applicable. For example, include the commands you have run, the error messages you received, and the various things you have already tried.
Example of a good post

Lab 2 question 1(b) I get the following error when I run the code with python test.py:

computer$ python test.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test.py", line 1, in <module>
    hello, world
NameError: name 'hello' is not defined

I tried the approach suggested by @otherstudent above, and I also tried removing missing data but the problem wasn’t solved. Any help appreciated.

Where to ask

Slack is intended for ephemeral content. If your assignment-related question is complicated and cannot be answered in just a few thread replies, ask your question in one of the office hours instead. If you have a question/post/comment that may be useful in the long-term, please open an Issue in the students repo of the relevant course on GitHub.

Examples of content that are better posted on Slack include:

  • a conceptual question about something covered in lecture/lab.
  • asking for help with a bug in your code.

Examples of content that is better posted on GitHub include:

  • useful resources/readings that the instructor may want to add to the course README for future years.
  • hints/workarounds/fixes for the labs that the instructor may want to incorporate into the lab for current/future years.

Messsage retention

All UBC MDS Slack messages (including your saved items) will be deleted at the end of each year. If you see something on Slack that you would like to save for after the MDS program, it is your responsibility to make a copy of it and save it outside Slack. Keep in mind that, after you graduate, you will be given access to the MDS course materials through github.com.

Data residency

Data for our our UBC-MDS Slack is stored on servers in Canada.