Getting Help

If you are struggling with any aspect of 6.1800, the staff is here to help. If you're unsure where to go with a question, just drop by office hours, post a message on Piazza, or reach out to 6.1800-personal@mit.edu. Below are some more details on how we communicate with students, and how you can communicate with the staff:

Canvas: We’ll use Canvas to send out any important class-wide announcements, and occasionally TAs and WRAP instructors may use it to send out communication to the students in their section. We also use Canvas to give you feedback on your assignments and to release grades. You should pay attention to communication that comes via Canvas!

Office Hours: Come to office hours for help with or questions about literally anything related to 6.1800! Clarifications about an assignment, one-on-one help with an assignment, questions about lecture or recitation material, questions about how to succeed in 6.1800, help with anything you’re struggling with, etc. If you come to office hours with a clarification question about the communication assignments, we might ask you to post it on Piazza instead (so that the WRAP instructors can weigh in), but there’s no harm in asking in office hours.

6.1800-personal@mit.edu: This email address goes only to our course administrator, Taylor Braun, and to Katrina LaCurts (the "in charge" lecturer for this class). This is a great place to go for any non-technical questions, as well as questions about how you're doing in the class. If Taylor or Katrina can't answer your question, they'll be able to get you to someone who can! That might include one of our TAs, your WRAP instructor, or one of our lecturers.

Piazza: We don't use Piazza for announcements; any important announcements will make it to you via Canvas (or live in lecture/recitation/tutorial), and corrections/clarifications to an assignment will make it to the assignment itself. But Piazza is good for quick questions about an assignment or the course material, and we actually prefer to receive questions about the communication assignments via Piazza. For example:

• Questions about an assignment that are applicable to the entire class (“Can you clarify Question 5 on Lab 3” as opposed to “Can you explain my grade on Lab 2?”)
• Questions about the communication assignments, especially clarification questions about the spec for the team project. “How much memory do the servers have?” “On page 2 you say that this link can handle 1Gbit/sec, but on page 4 it says 500Mbits/sec; which is correct?”
• Questions about the material, especially lecture material (“Can you re-explain how page tables work?”)

FAQ

I could really use a short extension on an assignment; can I have one? Almost certainly yes as long as you email 6.1800-personal@mit.edu to let us know ahead of time. You can assume you'll be granted a 24-hour extension for any lab or communication assignment (even if we don't respond to your email before the deadline). If you're in a situation where you think a longer extension would be helpful, please read the next question.

I have personal circumstances that are affecting my performance in this class. What should I do? We can usually accommodate this. Get in touch with Student Support Services as well as with Taylor. We will work with you and S3 to come up with a plan.

I have a question about something in the class and I'm not sure who to contact. Get in touch with Taylor (via 6.1800-personal@mit.edu), who will either be able to answer your question or direct you to the right person. We want you to feel comfortable reaching out for help

I'm looking for personalized, one-on-one help in this class. Where can I go? Office hours are the best place to start, and are usually pretty chill. Another option is HKN Tutoring, which provides free one-on-one tutoring for hundreds of Course 6 students each semester and is another resource for students looking for extra help. Sign up to be a tutee (or tutor!) here.

I'm having trouble working with my team for the project, but I'm worried that if I say something, one of my teammates will be penalized. What should I do? Please reach out to us. Your WRAP instructor is likely the best point of contact for this, but you can also reach out to Dr. LaCurts. We will work with you and your team to find a solution; no one will be unfairly penalized. In some cases, a member of your team may be having difficulties outside of class, and this gives us an opportunity to help support them while also making sure the design project goes smoothly for everyone. (See more about project teams here.)

I'm having trouble accessing some part of the class. The staff of 6.1800 is committed to the principle of equal access. We encourage you to meet with Dr. LaCurts to discuss your disability-related needs, including accommodations which you may need in order to fully access this course. If you have a quick issue—you can't login to Gradescope, you don't know what room your recitation is in, etc.—reach out to Taylor or post a question on Piazza and we'll help. [an error occurred while processing this directive]