Community/Slack inquiries 1.How many hours should I spend on Slack every week? You should spend 2 hours per week for every single session/group you are handling, your 2 hours can be divided over the week, so you can be available there on a daily basis to answer students' inquiries.-In other words: If you are managing 3 sessions, that means you have to spend ( 3 sessions x 2 support hours/week = 6 hours/ per week) a total of 6 supporting hours to the students on Slack. -A best practice for students’ support on Slack:Maximum time to answer student questions is 8 hours. Also try to manage your time to check-in with students on Slack 2x per day. 2.Should I ask my students to mention me if they want to ask any question on Slack? No, it’s better not to mention the name of their SL, since it is a technical question, it will cut the wait time and allow any available SL to answer the question. Having a prompt answer will enrich the learning experience of the student. 3.Is it allowed to communicate with the students through channels other than Slack (e.g. WhatsApp ,Facebook)? No, communicating with a student outside of Connect Sessions and Slack is a violation of Udacity policy. Slack is the only allowed channel because it is the only one that is authorized and moderated by Udacity. Communicating with students on Whatsapp or Facebook can lead to your off boarding. It is really important to keep all interactions with students in the Connect Sessions and on Slack. 4. Is it allowed for the student to send me a private message/DM on slack? Yes, it’s allowed. Yet if the question is urgent and you can’t answer it, it’s preferable to type it in the main channel so another available SL can answer. It is preferable to encourage the students to avoid sending direct messaging because this discourages community participation. Advise the students to share their questions on the ND private channel. This often sparks a public conversation that is beneficial to everyone involved. 5. Should we reply to abusive or insulting language written in Slack by angry students? No , as a Udacity Session Lead you should abide by Udacity’s Code of Conduct. If the language used in Slack by a student is not appropriate you should report it to the community moderators for further action. 6.What should I do with the student who shares a material/video that shows how to solve the projects and can be considered plagiarism? You should report it to the community moderators. They will delete it and will discuss the rules of the community with the student. 7.Can I create a private Slack channel just for my group of students? We understand that communicating using the free version of Slack is challenging, especially with this number of enthusiastic students. But appreciate the following: Conversations, questions and support for the Nanodegree content should always be on the main ND channel. Because the purpose of having one main channel for each ND for technical or career support is: To encourage peer to peer support; To provide mentors the ability to network with and support all learners; and To support the community team in the moderation process of all channels to be able to address any violations and maintain a healthy and safe workspace for all members. If you would like to create a temporary channel for your sessions' students only for the purpose of one time session reminders, or unexpected changes, this is fine. This will also contribute in not spamming the main ND channel’s members with irrelevant session reminders. When you want to create such a “temp channel” please, ask one of the moderators to do so and it will be archived after its main purpose is done. Another recommended solution to reach your own students only on the ND channel is creating “user groups”. Here you can find a tutorial on “user groups” and another one on how to extract your students usernames and emails from Slack 8. If I have a question related to my role, who should be my POC? Your performance manager or your ND Lead. You will be introduced to them during your on-boarding session. 9. I am new to Slack, how can I use it? If you are using slack for the first time, checking this video will help you know its features. Also make sure to be aware of Slack guidelines when you are communicating with the community members . 10. Is there a guide on how to build my Slack profile? Change BOTH your “Full Name” and ” Display Name” as follows: “[Your Name] - [Nanodegree]- [Career Coach/Session lead] for students to easily reach you over the community. Example: Mohamed Hussein - Machine Learning - Career Coach”. And please avoid using abbreviations such as “SL” or “FSND” because students won’t be aware of it. Upload a photo of yourself to serve as your picture - it helps everyone in putting faces to names
