Online Office Hours
| Upcoming Office Hours | |
|---|---|
| April 18th, 2013 4-6pm EST | Enter office hours |
Office hours are regular events to get one-on-one help from Software Carpentry instructors, online. It's a chance to ask questions from your day-to-day scientific computing work ("stupid" questions encouraged!). For example, you might be stuck on a bit of shell or python scripting. Or perhaps you would like to write a script to automate something but want help figuring out how to begin. These are all great things to ask at office hours.
Here's how it works:
- During the office hours times, visit the web address for the office hour.
Think of this like the "hall way" outside of the office. Here you can chat with
the instructors and others who are waiting.
- Get started. You and your instructor will sort out how best to carry out the tutoring: over chat, video conferencing (e.g. Skype, Google Hangout), screen sharing, a shared whiteboard, etc. See below for setup instructions some of the tools we've found to work, and that you may need to setup.
Software Setup
The following are tools we've found work well across operating systems, and which instructors will have experience using.Google+ Hangout
Google+ Hangout provides video, voice, and text chat, as well as screensharing and shared whiteboarding.
To use it, you'll need a Google+ account. If you already have an account you can use it, or if privacy is concern you can always create an account just to use during the office hours.
When you first attempt to start a "Hangout" (i.e. video/audio chat), you'll be prompted to install the Hangout plugin.
Skype
Skype provides video, voice and text chat.
Download Skype and install it. Upon starting it, you'll be prompted to sign in or create a new account.
Screenleap
screenleap provides screensharing through the web.
To use it, visit screenleap.com and click "Share screen". This site requires that you have Java installed for your browser, and you should be prompted to install it if you don't.