What is AskBot? How does it affect my grade?

answered 2014-06-22 11:41:08 -0600

This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.

updated 2014-06-22 18:05:42 -0600

Mark
166 ●1 ●5 ●12 https://sites.google.com/...

AskBot is an open source tool for creating Q&A sites similar those found on the StackExchange network. Using this tool, I've set up a small Q&A site for my classes. Anyone can look at the site, but only students I approve can sign up for full access - and you must use your UNCA email address to create an account and login. You can choose whatever screen name you like; your name is fine but you might choose to be anonymous, as well.

Participation in our local AskBot is mandatory and will have a definite impact on your grade. As you ask and answer questions, other users (your fellow classmates and me) can upvote or downvote your questions. As the asker of a question, you might choose to accept a particular answer as the best. All of these actions contribute to your overall karma, a numerical score associated with your account. Your Karma should be shown in your profile and on your site badge. Mine is indicated as a 1 in the following below. My badge also indicates that I have a bronze badge.

My intention is to scale your Karma to produce a number between 0 and 100 which will count towards your total points for the course. For this to work, it is imperative that folks participate by asking and answering question and by voting. If someone asks a good question, then upvote. If someone asks a stupid question, then downvote. (Users can always delete their questions, so that their grade won't be adversely affected.) Definitely upvote good answers and downvote incorrect answers.

My genuine hope is that this will facilitate class discussion, that you'll have a fun way to discuss the mathematics that we are learning, and that you'll learn how to use some interesting technical tools along the way.