Welcome (or welcome back) to SoCS!   The fall semester is rapidly approaching, and the staff and faculty of the School of Computer are busily preparing for the semester.   The purpose of this email is to enlist your help in establishing an online SoCS community that will provide a single online space to support students, staff, and faculty.   All you need to do is join this teams site.   You will be asked for a team code.  The code is: 32f9cxw

As you have undoubtably heard, the School of Computer Science has many more first year students this fall than expected.   While the potential impact on first year students is obvious,  many upper year students have been wondering whether the number of incoming students will impact them or not.   The answer is “probably at least a little”.   Upper year students are likely to notice that there are fewer free spaces to study and work on campus, that there are longer lines for services such as food or counselling, and that instructors have less time for drop-in help.    An active online space can help mitigate those impacts as it can be used by the new students to help them navigate the university independently and with fewer missteps.   It won’t take the place of any course communication channels that your instructors set up, but a central communication space can help students find solutions to problems that are not related to a single course, and it can be used to help students identify who should be contacted for course concerns when they are uncertain.  There will also be channels dedicated to specific interest groups (e.g.  WICS, GCC, and SOCIS)

We plan to combine this online community with a well curated intranet (under construction)  to provide B.Comp. students with immediate answers to university related questions such as course selection, minors, how to request emergency accommodations and even suggestions for resources or help with specific courses.     Please help us maintain a vibrant, helpful community by  joining the teams site.   You will be asked for a team code.  The code is: 32f9cxw

Dr. J. McCuaig

Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies

School of Computer Science

University of Guelph