Discussion Forum Guidelines
This section describes our guidelines for interacting in the discussion forum. For information on how to add a post in the forum, refer to the edX Help Center article, “How do I add a post in the discussion forum”.
The discussion forum allows you to ask questions to other participants and course staff, to share understanding of the material, and to engage in meaningful discussions with other course participants and IMF course staff. Please use these guidelines as you participate in our online community.
A. ADD POSTS NEXT TO THE RELATED COURSE ELEMENT
Below each video and at the end of each set of questions or activities there is a “New Post” button. You may create a post by clicking there. Please use the “New Post” button in the Discussion Forum tab only for general posts (see below under “Tagging your Post”).
B. CHECK EXISTING POSTS BEFORE YOU ADD A POST
Check to see if someone else has already asked or discussed what you would like to know or say. This will help create conversations. To see all the discussion associated to a video or set of questions you may click the “Show Discussion” button located on each page next to the “New Post” button.
C. WRITE TO COMMUNICATE CLEARLY
Clarity in writing helps everyone understand what you would like to say. But also remember, that for many of us here English is our second language. Keep in mind these writing etiquette.
· Write in complete sentences.
· Avoid capitalizing statements and words. The internet convention is that you capitalize words WHEN YOU WANT TO SHOUT.
· Avoid abbreviating words (e.g. “abbrv wrds”) or using texting acronyms (e.g. LOL, TTYL).
· Avoid excessive punctuation (e.g. !!!!)
· Avoid words or phrases that are culture specific. Such as slang, jargon, colloquialisms, and/or a “play on words”.
D. BE RESPECTFUL AND STAY ON TOPIC
We all have different backgrounds, opinions, and perspectives. What is easy for you might not be for others, and what is easy now may be difficult later. The more you help, the more help you will receive.
Please note that we reserve the right to delete posts that are deemed impolite, or offensive, or that contain inflammatory language. Similarly, threads and posts should be relevant to the course. All posts that do not pertain to the course will be removed.
E. HELP OTHERS AND CREATE THREADS
The greatest benefit that you can get from the discussion forum is the learning from and sharing knowledge with your peers. Please try to answer as much as you can other participants’ questions and create threads.
Vote up posts that you like as this will help flag them to others. If you want to contribute to a discussion, follow the thread. If you wish to deviate from the topic discussed in a thread, start a new one with a new title. This will avoid confusion and help others discuss your new topic.
F. TITLE AND TAG YOUR POST
Title your post clearly and be specific, so that others can reply to your questions and search for your posts. To facilitate creating threads and conversation, we strongly encourage you to insert one of the following tags at the beginning of your post title.
[QUESTION] — Questions about the course content.
For Example: “[QUESTION] What is financial market analysis?”; “[QUESTION] Not sure how to answer question #.#”; or “[QUESTION] Explanation needed for video VID_M##_#_#”
[DISCUSSION] — Things you would like to discuss with other participants.
For Example: “[DISCUSSION] Policies that best support growth”
[HELP] — For seeking help related to platform technical problems, with specific questions, or general assignment questions.
For Example: “[HELP] DropDown question #.# does not have a dropdown menu”
[STAFF] — For seeking direct assistance from course staff.
For Example: “[STAFF] Interesting discussion on best policy to promote growth: what does staff think?” or “[STAFF] Typo in Question #.#”
[COUNTRY NAME] — For posting the result of your activity, please indicate your country.
For Example: “[ITALY] Contribution to GDP growth”
G. SEEK THE HELP OF OTHER PARTICIPANTS
The IMFx courses have a strong community of learners and problem solvers. Most common are problems when interacting with assessments. Unless you are certain that the system has marked your answer as wrong, please do not suggest that the question is incorrect or that there is a problem with the system. This may confuse others and/or lead them to make mistakes. In the event this happens, ask others about their input method or if they have had a similar experience. If it turns out that the problem is wide–spread, send us a message.
H. OBSERVE THE HONOR CODE
You may ask other participants to clarify concepts or help with checkpoint questions; but please, DO NOT post answers to assignment questions within the discussion forum here or on an external site. Posts of this nature made in the course discussion forum will be removed as they lessen the learning experience of others.
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