Q & A Center

Here is the icon that is used for the Q & A Center:

Below the Q & A Center icon, you'll see how many questions are currently in the queue.

As a Student...

The Q & A Center starts off by offering you two choices: Ask Question and Retrieve Answer. First, the Ask Question option. Before submitting a question in the Q & A Center, you may save time by checking the Archives for an archived tutorial that is close to the type of question you're asking. You might find one that will give you clues and help you get the answer without submitting. However, if you do not find anything in the Archives or really need to see a specific problem worked out, submit it to the tutor for your class. To submit a question, click on the Ask Question button in the Q & A Center. The WWWhiteboard™ will automatically open in submit-mode. Enter your question on the board. Try to be as informative as possible by giving a page number, chapter and section, example, or problem number. When you're finished entering your question, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the WWWhiteboard™. Upon submission, you will receive a question code. You can use this code to help you retrieve your answer.

Note: You will receive email notification when your tutor is finished answering your question. The notification will include the question code, the tutor's name who answered the question, the question's submission time, and the question's answered time.

The second option is Retrieve Answer. To retrieve your answer from the Q & A Center, click on the Retrieve Answer button in the Q & A Center. A new window will open that will list all of the questions you have submitted. For each question, there will be a link labeled with that question's code. Next to the link will be a message stating whether or not the question has been answered. If the question has not been answered, clicking on the link will bring up information about when the question was submitted. If the question has been answered, clicking on the link will display the answer as an image. You can save this image or print it out using your browser's print option. There is also an ask a follow-up question link at the bottom of the page that will include this image on a new WWWhiteboard™. Submitting a follow-up question is similar to asking a question in the Q & A Center in that you need to record the question code and come back later to retrieve your answer.

As a Tutor...

As a tutor, you have a link in your Left Navigation Frame titled "Q &A Center ". This link will load the page where you can select which groups you want to answer questions for. There are also listings of how many questions are in each group's queue..

Answer Now  

When there are questions waiting to be answered in the queue of a class, you will see an Answer Now button next to that class. Click on Answer Now to bring up the WWWhiteboard™. The WWWhiteboard™ will automatically open in view-mode with Next and Reply buttons at the bottom. If you have more than one question, you can click on Next to scroll through them and answer them in whatever order you want to. When you find a question that you want to answer, click on Reply. At this point, you are in answer-mode and can alter the student's question and enter your response. This is your opportunity to spell check, line up equations, and organize the question. Try to make your answer as clear as possible and encourage the student to ask a follow-up question if they need to.

Note: If you encounter an inappropriate question, click Reply and then Delete. This will delete the question.

When you are done answering the question, if you believe it should be archived, click on the Send & Archive button at the bottom of the WWWhiteboard™. If you do not want to Archive the question, click on the Send button at the bottom of the WWWhiteboard™. The student will receive an automatic email notification that their question is ready to be retrieved. The WWWhiteboard™ will return to view-mode and you must repeat this process for each question in your queue until the queue is zero.

Note: If you are disconnected while in view- or answer-mode, you will not reconnect to the same question. The question will not be lost, you'll just have to start your response from the beginning.